We had a beautiful traveling day from Delaware City to Cape May. Coming into Cape May through the Cape May canal kept us on our tip toes as it was very, very shallow in spots and very narrow in others. This can be exciting with smaller weekend boaters buzzing all around and jet skiers anxious to jump our wake. 

Upon entering the canal, I kept noticing what I thought were coconut shells floating in the water. First one, then two, then three. When I looked closer, however, these little rascals looked like turtles. When I mentioned them to Tom, he took a look and informed me that these were actually horseshoe crabs. Huge! 

It was great to see some sea life in the wild again and we were doubly excited to spot a couple of dolphins as we neared the Cape May Canal. 

Pulling into Utsch’s Marina in Cape May was nearly impossible to wiggle into—especially at low tide. We gingerly made it into the narrow slip with the help of two experienced dock hands. I’m always grateful for the guidance from those who do this all day long.

Dinner our first night in Cape May was spent with a couple we met at Delaware City who were docked at another marina very close by.

 Note:  There are many, many more Loopers this year than we encountered last year and we’re all eager to share our Covid stories with each other.

We took one day to drive around beautiful Cape May. Until now, I thought I had seen a rather nice collection of Victorian style houses. I think this town may be the grand daddy of them all. 

The next day, we drove two hours to Doylestown, PA. Doylestown is where Tom grew up and made it all the way through high school. We drove past the old homestead, Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Elementary and Central Bucks East high school. We found some lunch and a cool boutique hotel before heading over to the Rockafellows. 

 Pete Rockafellow is Tom’s great friend from way back—ninth grade to be exact. We spent a couple of hours reminiscing at the Rockafellows home then took another drive with Pete and his lovely wife Pam as our tour guides. Afterwards, we had dinner downtown and invited the Rockafellows to meet up in Atlantic City.

On our way back to Cape May, we stopped through New Hope, PA which is another lovely Pennsylvania town along the Delaware River. This general area is famous as being the place where Washington crossed the Delaware. We had a bit of lunch along the river and I did some shopping before we made our way back to Cape May.

Leaving Utsch’s marina at high tide was much easier than docking and we started up the Jersey coast towards Atlantic City. This was another beautiful day to travel and we encountered blue skies and sunshine the whole way.

Our Atlantic City destination was Farley State Marina which sits alongside the Golden Nugget Casino. Woo hoo!

 We checked out the Golden Nugget casino where we promptly left $120 then explored the 6th floor pool. Being tied up next to a casino provided lots of entertainment options including a live band dockside. More of a party atmosphere, if you will.

Friday, we hosted the aforementioned Rockafellows and another high school buddy, Bill Henry, on Therapy for a boat tour and snacks. Tom hadn’t seen Bill in 45 years but assured me that Bill looked “exactly the same” as he did in high school. We were having a nice visit when Bill invited us all to his home in Ocean City (20 minute drive) for a barbecue!

This turned out to be great fun! Bill and his wife, Sue, live in a home that was built in 1920 in the Prarie Style and they were able to restore it Beautifully—with a capital “B”. They prepared a fantastic meal and even better conversation. Again, one of the reasons we embarked on this trip is to experience moments such as these. 

On Sunday, we took an Uber down to the Atlantic City Boardwalk. The old boardwalk runs for miles along the beach and is dotted with casinos and little bodega type shops and restaurants. We found a spot with reclining beach chairs under some palm trees for a cool drink and bit of people watching. 

 The coolest part about Atlantic City for me was the mild temperatures (70s to 80s) with an almost constant cool breeze. I have no idea if this is normal for this area, but I like it.

    Our next exciting destination is New York Harbor where we will meet up with our favorite daughter. She has been unable to join us as of yet so we are so exited to have her!