At the end of July, my family and I spent two weeks down the shore in Ocean City, New Jersey. After getting settled in, we started the trip with a visit to our favorite restaurant, Kessels Korner. It’s not a trip to the shore if we don’t go to Kessels at least twice. Following dinner, we headed down to Fourth Street, where there is a public pier and park benches perfect for seeing the sunset. I’m glad we went because it ended up being such a pretty sunset. No better way to start off the vacation than with a beautiful sunset.

The next couple of days were dedicated to spending the days at the beach. We got lucky with beautiful beach weather; there were even nice breezes making the temperature comfortable. I took off Monday and Tuesday so I could relax and enjoy the beach. The rest of the week I had to work, but even just the change of scenery while working was nice.

After work on Friday, we met up with some family friends at Somers Point Brewing Company – something we’ve been doing for a couple of years now. We ordered pizza to the brewery and enjoyed good brews, laughs and company. Later that night, we headed back to our house for a game night with some friends that happened to be down the shore that weekend as well. The rest of the weekend brought more days at the beach and dinner with another group of family friends.

The beautiful weather continued until Monday. The day was very dreary, and it even rained a little bit. We decided to spend the morning on Asbury, the street with all the local stores and boutiques. I definitely spent more money than I should have, but I did get a lot of good finds, including a new one-of-a-kind Philadelphia Eagles sweatshirt I can’t wait to wear this season. Later in the day we decided to try to get some time on the beach in. It ended up drizzling a little bit, but we decided to stay, and I’m glad we did because we got to see a bunch of dolphins close to shore.

Throughout the week I had to work, but I didn’t mind because it was rainy and the weather wasn’t great. Luckily it cleared up in time for Thursday when we had dinner reservations at The Deauville Inn. The Deauville Inn is located right on the bay in Strathmere. We go every year, sometimes for dinner but sometimes just for a drink at the beach bar to watch the sunset.

Rounding out the trip on Friday, I had the day off, and we lucked out yet again with beautiful weather. One of our friends met us on the beach later in the afternoon, and we ended up staying at the beach until 8 p.m. — the perfect end to a great vacation. Until next year, OC!

— Mary Melnick, social media & editorial coordinator