Delaware Seashore - May 29 - June 3, 2007

Fran and Michael, our friends from Springfield, VA, have a beach house in South Bethany, Delaware, so we decided to spend a few days at the Delaware Seashore State Park  and visit a bit more with them.  The state park is located on a strand separating Indian Bay from the Atlantic Ocean so we could watch the sunrise over the Atlantic and set over Indian Bay.  Yeah, right!  Like we ever got up that early.  We did enjoy walking along the beach and watching the surf fishers, and visiting some of the beach communities.

One day we took the bikes to Lewes to catch the ferry to Cape May, New Jersey for a bit of biking.  Cape May, established in the early 19th Century, claims to be the country's first seaside resort.  It was rebuilt in the Victorian Era after two fires destroyed much of the town.  The downtown area is now a Victorian architectural time capsule and the boardwalk has a gracious turn of the century appeal.

After an appetite-stimulating ride from the ferry into town we enjoyed a much-needed lunch at the Mad Batter.  Then it was off to check out the community, boardwalk, white sand beaches and lighthouse.  We were happily exhausted by the time we caught the ferry back to Delaware.

After a quick shower we drove to South Bethany for a late dinner with Fran and Michael.  Susan had visited their Bethany home several times over the years and looked forward to sharing its charm with Bill.  After dinner we went to the beach to watch the full moon rise over the sea.

The next day we joined Fran to browse the annual Bethany Crafts Fair while Michael caught up on paperwork.  That evening Fran and Michael came to our "palace on wheels" for a glass of wine and the 30-second tour, then out to dinner.  The next day we were heading north to Egg Harbor, New Jersey, so after dinner we were sad to bid our friends adieu.

We were scheduling our travel days on Sunday assuming that Sunday travel would be better than weekday travel in the urban areas.  On this trip we discovered that Sunday traffic out of beach communities could be quite sluggish, thus our trip to Egg Harbor, NJ was quite a bit slower than anticipated.  The rain didn't help much either, but after a few missed turns we arrived safely at our next home-for-a-week.