We took advantage of the 50-degree weather (because compared to what it had been, 50 degrees is positively balmy) on Sunday and trekked off to the Jersey shore. We landed about an hour and 15 minutes from home in Ocean Grove, a Victorian beach town we’d visited once before. We spent time on the beach, wandered around town, visited an “apothecary cafe” where we enjoyed interesting pharmaceutical memorabilia and a good lunch, took a walk on the boardwalk, spent a little more time on the beach, and then went home.
The Ocean Grove boardwalk is really nothing more than boards you walk on – there is no commercial activity to speak of. We figured walking to one end of it and back would be nice exercise after our large lunch, so we picked a direction and headed off. It turns out the the Ocean Grove boardwalk ends at a fascinating old casino. Walking through the open structure puts you on another boardwalk in Asbury Park.
I don’t think I’ve ever been to Asbury Park before, and I have to say the experience was a little surreal. I’m used to exploring new towns from the seat of my car, but never on foot. When we set off down the boardwalk, it never occurred to me that it would lead to a famous shore town and such interesting old architecture – much of it abandoned.
The last pictures I took on this trip were as the sun was setting, and Eamonn was making sand angels on the beach. Perhaps some errant grains of sand found their way into my camera as I was brushing them off of his back? I’m not sure. All I know is that as we walked to the car, my camera started giving me “lens error” messages and refusing to close.
I’ve since gotten it to the point where the lens will open and close for regular photos, but it will not zoom at all. I have to say, a lack of zoom puts a real damper on my picture-taking enthusiasm. I found a place that will fix it and make my fabulous second-hand camera like new for about $100, but we’ve declared a necessary moratorium on all non-essential spending around here for the forseeable future, and so I can’t get it done.
I can’t even kid myself that it’s a business expense – I can theoretically still take shots for my website without the zoom. My recreational photo-taking, however, is going to take a big hit. That’s a real downer for me, as I think about the approaching spring and summer, and all of the photo ops that brings. *sigh*
Maybe I should see if Canon would send me one of these in exchange for a review on my blog? It’s the newest version of my current camera. It’s also Wishful Thinking!
Anyway, we did have a really nice little adventure on Sunday, and I’ve had fun editing those photos (more here). For many of them, I used Paint Shop Pro scripts I found at sheilsoft.com. I downloaded a whole pile of freebies (I’d have taken advantage of the offer of 70 scripts for $10, if not for our spending freeze) and I’ve been having fun experimenting with them.
On another topic, I’ve got two new jewelry-making books to review in the next few days, and I plan to have a giveaway for each one, so be sure to check in this week for that. Now, go enjoy your Wednesday!
You were in my neck of the woods. Glad you enjoyed lunch at Nagle’s in OG. I love their omelettes and they make an awesome chicken noodle soup. (Next time, stop at the bakery if they’re open: the red velvet cupcakes are to die for.)
AP is my favorite town these days – I know you just got the boardwalk experience, but there’s a lot of fun places to eat and shop there now. I can’t wait for summer so I can spend more time there. Love the pic of the ‘flapper girl’ from the Casino — think I’ve got one of those too.
We did stop in to the bakery, actually, while we were waiting for a table at Nagle’s. If it wasn’t for the fact that whatever we bought would have to survive an hour or so in my purse, I’d have been all over those cupcakes. They were the first thing to catch my eye. Instead we just got cookies for the kids for the ride home. I hear they were tasty.
I never saw the downtown area of Asbury Park while I was there. We walked part of the boardwalk, and then we also did drive through to go home, but the GPS only took us through some sad-looking residential areas. I never saw any of the more prospering areas. We’ll have to go back – it’s the perfect distance from home to make a good day trip.
Sorry to hear about your camera. The same thing happened to my <1 yr old Nikon except I was trying to take pictures of the snow. 🙁
Thanks for the sympathy. I hope your camera is easily fixed! Less than a year old – that’s a real bummer. At least mine had a chance to put some mileage on it!
I used to go to Asbury Park with my grandfather and aunt every summer as a kid; I spent many hours in that casino in your pictures (the downstairs part of it was all arcade games and ones where you win tickets that you can redeem for prizes [we’d collect the tickets from year to year], plus a funhouse and a few rides; there was a beautiful old carousel in that round dome in the fifth picture), and just out the door by the carousel and across the street was Palace Amusements, an all-indoor amusement park that had a Ferris wheel sticking out of the roof. (It was closed in the late ’80s and torn down in 2004.) We’d go down there for the day, and once my aunt had her fill of the beach (I was never a beach person, even then, so I just put up with it because I wasn’t allowed to go off by myself), we’d head for the casino and the Palace, where we’d play games and go on rides until after dark. There were a few rides and a bunch of arcades and stores on the boardwalk, too, but the best ones were at the casino and the Palace.
We stopped going sometime in my early teens as the town started to deteriorate and things on the boardwalk started closing, so when I went back to Asbury once after college, it was like seeing one of the few bright spots in my childhood die…just broke my heart. Unless they ever decide to renovate the whole thing, I decided then that I’d never go back — it’s just too painful to see. I’m sure I’d find it fascinating if I didn’t have so many memories of how it used to be, though.
Sorry for the lengthy ramble; you just brought back memories.
I can understand how it must be tough to see the site of happy childhood memories all run-down and abandoned.
I was doing a little poking around online after our trip, and it seems that Asbury Park is making a comeback. I don’t think I walked far enough to see all of the progress, though…
I live in New Jersey, too, and Ocean Grove is our very favorite beach to visit-winter, autumn, spring, summer-it’s always beautiful and charming. And you can’t beat Nagle’s chrome griddle pancakes and cherry lime rickeys!
.-= See Sarah’s latest blog post: Our Exotic Day Out: Part III: The Vintage Cookbooks =-.
I had a foot long hot dog and a cone of coffee ice cream – everything was delicious! And they were very sweet about a mixup at the grill. We’ll definitely go back next time we’re in Ocean Grove.
Hi Lisa
When I started to read this article I was a little confused. I thought to myself “What! Lisa came to Aus and never told us. I live in the state of Victoria in Australia and we have a beachside town called Ocean Grove, so when my eye caught those words Ocean Grove, a Victorian beach town I was stunned. hahahahaha
Oh, how funny! I suppose there are a lot of Ocean Groves out there, but not many that can call themselves “Victorian” in whatever sense of the word!
[…] If you will recall, the event that led up to the purchase of this camera in the first place, was a lens failure on the part of my previous camera, while on a day trip to – you guessed it – Ocean […]
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