For Republicans, Rape Is Still Rape

I am a proud Republican, and more than that, a proud Conservative, which I happily type with a capital 'C' in front. I do not support every plank that the party puts forth, nor do I support every politician that takes up the 'Red' banner. And those who get my vote, such as George W. Bush, sometimes only get it because they are better than the lousy liberal alternatives.

I am also a proud father and grandfather of three beautiful daughters and a wonderful granddaughter, the husband of a loving wife, and a brother-in-law, cousin, uncle, nephew, co-worker, neighbor, and friend to many outstanding women.

All that prefaces my position now in full support of a bill (HR3) put forth by New Jersey's outstanding congressman Chris Smith that would essentially end any taxpayer funding of abortions, as well as any tax breaks for health insurance that covers the same.

You see, the usual suspects in the liberal community, from the radical fringe such as MoveOn to the agenda-driven Planned Parenthood to supposedly mainstream Democrats looking to protect their political power, are predictably against this legislative initiative. However, as usual, they don't stop at simply voicing common sense opposition in a debate of ideas. Instead they have stooped to the usual tactics of code words, divisiveness, and misinterpretation.

The tactic chosen to oppose the anti-abortion legislation, or as those of us firmly on the side of right and good choose to call it, the pro-life legislation, is incredibly and intentionally ugly. They have chosen to paint Republicans as somehow supporting, denying, or minimizing the crime of rape.
They are saying that Republicans are trying to "redefine rape", and have actually stated in some forums that to Republicans, rape is no longer rape.

I find that kind of rhetoric, and that's all it is, political and social rhetoric, to be patently offensive. As a man who has all of the above listed women in his life, I can tell you for a fact that to me and all Republicans, rape is rape is rape. I would be wholly sympathetic to and supportive of any woman in my own life who might experience this crime, in fact, a couple of them have experienced it. The same statement of sympathy and support can be said for Representative Smith, Republican leader John Boehner, and every other Republican politician.

This is, of course, not the issue that the legislation relates to at all. The legislation aims to back up with concrete action one of the basic platform items in the party's 'Pledge to America' when it won control of congress in the elections of November 2010. As Boehner has stated "Our members feel very strongly about the sanctity of human life."

A simple reading of the actual legislation easily shows that Republicans indeed have a heart. The first handful of sections, 301-304, state the long-held party position against the murder of innocent babies in the womb as they call for a prohibition on the funding of abortions themselves, for health care plans that cover abortions, on tax benefits relating to abortion, and on federal facilities and employees being used in the killings.

Then section 309 clearly reads that these limitations shall not apply to "situations where the pregnancy occurred because the pregnant female was the subject of an act of forcible rape or, if a minor, an act of incense." It further reads that the limitations shall not apply in the case "where the pregnant female suffers from a physical disorder, physical injury, or physical illness that would, as certified by a physician, place the pregnant female in danger of death unless an abortion is performed, including a life-endangering physical condition caused by or arising from the pregnancy itself."

Common sense legislation that respects and allows provisions for women who have been attacked, abused, taken advantage of, or placed in danger while also standing up against the killing of innocent lives simply because someone was irresponsible, lazy, careless, negligent, or just plain-old heartless and uncaring. Once again, and per usual, a simple actual reading of the actual legislation being presented shows the truth for those who are willing to seek it out.

So do not allow yourself to be persuaded by headline-grabbing, blog-clogging, radical lefty propaganda campaigns currently underway. Read the legislation yourself by simply clicking on the title of this article, which is a link to that legislation as actually proposed in it's entirety. Then make your own decision. But make no mistake, we Republicans love and care for the women in our lives, and we will not be "redefining rape" at all. Rape is rape, and it is morally wrong. Just as morally wrong is the murder of innocent children whose only "fault" is one of being an inconvenient burden to an irresponsible parent.

'Wildwood Ultimate' Returns This Weekend

This isn’t your typical game of Frisbee.

Teams will race competitively across the sand, tossing the flying disc to teammates in an attempt to score a goal in the opponent’s end zone.

The game is called the Wildwood Ultimate and on July 24 and 25, between Mariner’s Landing and Surfside piers, about 400 teams will showcase their skills in a sport that is steadily gaining popularity on the Wildwood beaches. Players are expected to arrive from all over the country and even from a few other countries.

Tournament coordinators Mike Adlis and Len Dagit can remember the beginning of the grass roots event.

What started with a few teams playing an informal game on the beach has evolved into what they said is the largest beach ultimate tournament in the world.

Adlis said they started with 12 teams the first year, last year the count reached 400.

Ultimate is a variation on the game of Ultimate Frisbee. The game mixes elements of soccer, basketball, and football into a non-contact fast-paced team sport. Teams of four play on a rectangular field.

The offense attempts to work the disc up the field toward the end zone. Players can’t run with the disc, they must throw it to another player. The defending team tries to stop the team with the disc from making it up the field by guarding them and making an interception.

The tournament is co-ed with no referees.

“The players handle all the discrepancies themselves. If there is a foul during play, the players work it out amongst themselves. It is all done fairly quickly because they want to get back to the game,” said Adlis.

Dagit said that Wildwood was an ideal location because of the size of the beach and the attitude of the town.

He credited former Mayor Fred Wager with first recruiting the tournament to come to Wildwood. Things weren’t easy at the start, he said, but “it was a learning experience” and the tournament has become more successful each year.

This year the 18th Ultimate Beach Frisbee Tournament donated funds from the event to the city. In turn the city donated the funds to Wildwood High School and Wildwood Catholic High School.

Dagit presented two checks for approximately $1,500 each, calling it “a beginning.”

He also presented Wildwood with an official Frisbee.

Jersey Shore Acts As Muse For Local Artists

It's her vintage Shore cottage, not her work, that first enchants visitors touring artist Cathleen Engelsen's home studio on Long Beach Island.

"They walk right past the art and want to know about the house," said Engelsen, 70, who grew up in the faded-blue bungalow her father, Capt. Sidney S. Pearce, built of native white cedar and pecky cypress around the time she was born. "They eventually come back to the paintings."

There is an organic connection between the house and Engelsen, one of a number of commercially successful artists - such as Patricia Rainey and Marie Natale in Cape May County - who have found a muse in the Jersey Shore.

It was near her homestead, shrouded by cedars and a bramble of bayberry just yards from Barnegat Bay, where Engelsen first saw the glow on the marshes in the waning sunset. Down the road, she watched fishermen's muscles grow so taut she thought they might burst as the men maneuvered heavy rowboats into the surf to conduct the now-lost art of pound fishing.

In the decades since, Engelsen has seen her island transformed from a string of primitive villages into a place where expensive vacation homes are torn down to build even more lavish getaways.

The tourist season is in full swing at the Jersey Shore, and so is the art scene, with dozens of shows and exhibits scheduled in July and August up and down the coast.

Such activity blossoms nationwide at vacation destinations, where local artists market their works to visitors seeking a meaningful souvenir, said John Villani, author of The 100 Best Art Towns in America. Villani first recognized the Jersey Shore as an arts hub when he placed Cape May on his list in 1996.

Rosalyn Lifshin, executive director of the Ocean City Arts Center, is a fan of indigenous Shore artists like Natale, Rainey, and Engelsen because of the "exuberance" they infuse into works inspired by the places they love.

"It then creates a special memory for the person looking at the work," Lifshin said.

Engelsen is among dozens of area artists showing their works this weekend at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in Brant Beach. The show is open 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday. She also has a gallery at the Tuckerton Emporium on Main Street in Tuckerton.

Many Jersey Shore artists focus on places that no longer exist and they find that others share their nostalgia.

"I like to share memories . . . about places that are really the favorite place of a lot of people and hold special memories for them," said Engelsen, who has painted historical scenes for decades.

The artist, who studied at the Philadelphia College of Art (now the University of the Arts) and the Samuel S. Fleisher Art Memorial in South Philadelphia, has done commissions for such buyers as a McDonald's franchise and Atlanticare regional medical centers.

"Everything about where you are raised goes into what you are doing today as an artist. There are pictures I'll always have in my mind about what this place looked like, how it was," said Engelsen, whose images have made their way onto beach bags and other gift items.

When she picks up a paintbrush and records her thoughts in watercolors, acrylics, and oils, what emerge are breathtaking coastal scenery and everyday places such as the old Ship's Wheel shop in Harvey Cedars, where she bought art supplies as a girl; the docks at Viking Village; and one of the island's favorite watering holes, Kubel's.

In contrast, Rainey, whose home and studio are steps from the Delaware Bay in North Cape May, didn't begin to paint until well into adulthood. She was so moved one day by the beauty of Cape May's architecture that she bought brushes and paint and taught herself to convey her impressions on canvas.

The result is a 16-year watercolor study recently published as Patricia Rainey's Victorian Wonderland, which showcases nearly 100 Cape May landmarks, including Congress Hall, the lighthouse, and dozens of historic homes and bed and breakfasts.

Rainey has painted other coastal places, such as the rugged coast of Maine, but now prefers to stick close to home.

"When I first came to Cape May, I was so impressed by all the incredible Victorian architecture," said Rainey, who also paints in oils. "I just wanted to take in all that I saw and then share it with others because it's so remarkable here. It's this amazing place with all these buildings, but it's really a small seashore town."

A senior citizen who prefers not to disclose her age, Rainey maintains a busy summer schedule, exhibiting her work at museums and shows including the 46th Annual Cape May Promenade Art Show, under way this weekend.

She will be at Art in the Park in West Cape May on July 24 and the celebration of National Lighthouse Day on Aug. 7 at the Cape May Lighthouse. Her work is in a number of galleries and shops at the Jersey Shore and in New England.

Egg Harbor Township's Natale - the focus of the exhibit "Ocean City: Through the Eyes of an Artist" at the Ocean City Arts Center through July 30 - keeps a similarly ambitious schedule that includes teaching painting in Ocean City, Island Heights, and Cape May.

"I think there is something so unique and special about Ocean City. It's such a fun, happy environment that holds so many important memories for so many people," said Natale, who started painting at age 12 when a teacher recognized her potential.

She earned a master's degree in art education from Rowan University and taught in public schools. She then created a line of children's clothing and branched out into industrial design, creating garden containers for retailers such as Lowe's and Wal-Mart.

Natale has now returned to her roots, she said. She specializes in Shore scenes and Ocean City landmarks such as the Chatterbox restaurant, Mack & Manco pizza, and the 4th Street Cafe. One of her recent favorites is a watercolor of the iconic Ninth Street Bridge, which will be taken down as part of the Somers Point-Ocean City causeway project.

"I like to be able to show a side of a place that people know and love, but that they may not have noticed," Natale said.

"On the bridge," she said, "I saw how the amber glow of the rust of the old structure was reflected in the water around sunset. I just loved the color and the texture. And when I put the colors all together, they bleed and run together on paper and create a look at something in a way that hasn't been seen before."

WRITTEN BY: Jacqueline L Urgo with original article at The Philadelphia Inquirer available by clicking on the title of this entry

Pensions Not the Problem

Last night the local Fox News affiliate here in Philadelphia chose to devote a large portion of their 10:00pm news program spotlighting what they call "The Pension Problem" in Philadelphia, New Jersey and other places. In calling pensions the problem, Fox misled the public and missed an opportunity to highlight the truth for tax-payers.

Once again, the local news media, this time Fox in particular, cow-towed to liberal politicians and let them off the hook for a mess that they singularly have created. But not only that, they also portrayed hard-working city and state employees as the problem, seemed to be trying to pit tax-payers against pensioners, and never once keyed on the real problem.

That real problem? Out of control spending on issues, services, and frankly outright budgetary 'pork' over decades and decades as well as regular, intentional under-funding of employee pensions. All of that going on with little to no outcry from media watchdogs.

Fox missed an opportunity when they once again identified the real problems improperly in stating that "Pensions are at the heart of budget troubles in the state of New Jersey and in the city of Philadelphia."

Pensions are not the problem, politicians are the problem. Politicians who spend money that the city's citizens simply do not have and never did have on programs that make them feel and look better.

No, I am not going to take any time whatsoever to point out any particular program or project that I feel falls into this category. I will make one simple statement, however. If any fiscal conservative individual had been put in charge, this would not have happened.

A critic of my position might call that a copout. Frankly it is a simple acknowledgement that there are far too many such spending debacles. Get yourself a copy of the budget and go through it for yourself. Why are we spending any money on some of the programs at all? What made them Philadelphia's tax-payers responsiblity in the first place? There are many such items in every budget.

And further, Fox tried to blame a part of this on the stock market downturn. I have heard the exact same lament from Mayor Michael Nutter and other politicians. The fact is, the stock market should be almost a non-issue. If the city had funded the pensions fully all along, and invested that money safely, and not used it to cover other expenses, there wouldn't be any problem right now, or those would be minimal.

Further, nothing will change in Philadelphia until the city follows the lead of the citizens of New Jersey and begins to toss the liberal Democrats who have run our town into the ground over decades out onto the streets.

Governor Chris Christie has begun the difficult task of straightening out New Jersey's problems which were created by Democrats and RINO Republicans over decades in our neighbor state. Philadelphia needs exactly the same changes here in order to have any chance at saving itself from ruin.

Pensions are not some burdensome extravagance lavished upon privileged people. Speaking as someone who has been working for two decades with the promise of a city pension at the end of the line, what pensions are instead are a fringe benefit based on a solemn promise.

When I decided to take on the job of a Police Officer and go out onto the streets of Philadelphia day and night to fight crime, that promise of a decent pension at retirement was a huge reason for making that decision. The city gave me it's promise of that pension, and I along with numerous other officers gave them decades of hard work in return.

It's always bemoaned as some obvious fact that police officers "don't get paid enough" for the work that we do. Chasing bad men with guns up dark alleys, searching through dark buildings for wanted criminals, standing in the middle of thousands of vehicles to direct traffic safely are all on the enormous list of dirty, dangerous jobs.

Most of us do this job because we love it, that's true. Many, like me, are part of multiple familial generations of public servants for whom a part of the attraction is that knowledge that we are making a positive difference in our communities.

But we also have traded off that relatively low salary for dangerous, hazardous, and as we have seen highlighted here in Philadelphia over the past few years deadly work in exchange for benefits that are important to us including quality health coverage and secure retirement.

Again, those are things that the city of Philadelphia promised to us when we took this job decades ago. It was a promise the city made to my own father back in 1960 when he began to work for thirty years for this town as a police officer. It is a solemn promise that they owe both realistically and morally.

Now there is a little problem here. The "they" of whom I speak is a city. That means in functional terms it's tax-payers have to share in footing the bill for these services. They also have to share the blame for the problems for continually voting in the same politicians and Party and mentality year after year.

Those fiscal problems can be solved by fully funding all pension obligations, providing basic services, and cutting out the pork entirely. Not a single politician or official working for the city of Philadelphia should have a 'take-home car' for instance. Why should tax-payers be paying for the vehicles themselves as well as costly maintenance, fuel, insurance, and so on? Outrageous on it's face.

If the city of Philadelphia had real fiscal and social conservatives running the show, the budget and services would be slashed and taxes lowered rather than raised. This would make Philly attractive once again for residents and businesses. More businesses here, more jobs. The cycle would reverse.

But no, the liberal socialist mindset is not only alive and well in Philadelphia and most other big cities in America today, it has spread to our national government as well. Tax and spend, spend and tax: the liberal socialist mantra.

No, Fox Philly, pensions are not the problem. The out of control spending of politicians is the problem. And since the vast majority of those politicians and all of the power are liberal Democrats with socialist thought processes, there should be the proper direction for your news features and stories.

When the media begins to challenge the power structure that has been in place in Philadelphia for decades, begins to call a spade a spade in naming specifically the Democratic Party and the liberal spending policies as the true problem, then they might have some integrity and credibility.

Stop pitting citizens against citizens, tax payers against employees, one hard-working Philadelphian against another. Instead, Fox Philly and other media outlets, turn your Constitutionally-mandated and protected power against the powers-that-be who got us into this mess and keep us wallowing in it. That is your job. Go earn your pensions as we earn ours.

Jersey Gets Same-Sex Marriage Right

All across the United States and all across the spectrum of ideas, liberals and progressives have been attacking traditional American values for the better part of a century now. These attacks have gained momentum in recent decades thanks to persistent, pervasive, and often subversive campaigns by leftist organizations.

One of the most recent attacks came in the State of New Jersey, where a bill that would legalize same-sex marriage was being pushed through the legislature and being vocally supported by ultra-liberal Governor John Corzine. In today's editions of the Philadelphia Inquirer, Corzine actually implied that gay marriage is a "fundamental human right" and to deny it would be a violation of civil rights and liberties.

Thankfully, the New Jersey Senate did not see it that way. They voted by a solid 20-14 majority yesterday to protect marriage as solely between a man and a woman, as God intended. The vote comes on the heels both of New York's rejection of the idea and the electoral victory of Chris Christie over Corzine in November. Christie will take over the Governor's office in 10 days and had promised to veto such a measure should it have passed.

The 'gay marriage' (sic) issue is yet another in a surge of issues over these last few decades that liberals and progressives simply could not win in referendums at the ballot box, and so they have resorted to pressuring and bribing politicians, infiltrating the media, and bringing law suits in jurisdictions where the courts are known to be solidly liberal in their rulings.

Traditional Americans are beginning to both understand these threats and to grasp the seriousness of their nature when taken individually and as a whole as threats to our society. True mainstream America has begun to fight back and win. In November 2008, California passed 'Proposition 8', which put an end to court-backed gay marriages begun months earlier and recognized marriage as only between a man and a woman. Maine voters then followed suit in November of last year.

The issue, of course, is not one of whether or not some State or Commonwealth may come up with some type of civil union legislation allowing couples of the same sex to reap the same civil benefits as opposite-sex couples. The issue is the protection of a particular type of union called 'Marriage' or 'Matrimony' the basis for which was established by God Himself as being between a man and woman at the creation and which has been in existence for millenia.

If there are men out there who wish to insert their penis in another man's anus or mouth and call that a normal, loving, sexual experience with a straight face, that is their business within the privacy of their own home. But for them to foist such an idea on the rest of society as something that we should all embrace as a normal, human act to be celebrated and sanctioned under the moral umbrella of 'marriage' is ludicrous on it's face.

Marriage about morality? You bet it is. How does that jive with the legality of divorce and the practice of adultery? It doesn't, frankly. Having gone through them myself, I can tell you that divorce and annulment are serious processes that should not be entertained, supported, or granted frivolously, and that certainly have no business being celebrated. And adultery may be the dumbest and most hurtful thing in which any married person could ever engage.

The marital ceremony is about bringing together a man and a woman as one, as were Adam and Eve by God. Marriage is about a loving celebration on a daily basis between a man and woman, husband and wife, in the course of developing more fully their own relationship with one another and with God, and in attempting to build a family. If you are not a man and a woman committed to these concepts, then you shouldn't be married or entertaining the idea.

I am extremely fond of my dog, Petey. He is a good dog. Loyal, faithful, fun. We have lots of great times together. In fact, I would say that I care more about Petey than some gay people care about their partners. Should I be allowed to marry Petey? I mean, I love him, and would love to have society pay for his veterinarian bills. If I have to pay for the medical bills of some gay person's 'partner' then why shouldn't they pay for Petey's vet bills?

Once men can marry men, and women can marry women, would we move next to allowing such further obscenities to the institution of marriage as me marrying my dog, or some farmer marrying his cow, or some shepherd marrying his sheep? What about a computer programmer marrying his computer-generated, life-like, animated, 3D female character? Where does it end?

Think that is stupid, inane, ridiculous, trivial? Well that is exactly how many of us in normal society sees the idea of men marrying other men, and women marrying other women. It has nothing at all to do with hate, or fear, or discrimination against gay men or lesbians. It is about protecting a particular God-given institution and Sacrament that is meant solely to be between a man and a woman. There is no Biblical or historical basis for, or constitutional right to gay marriage.

Currently there are 39 of the 50 U.S. states already fully and specifically prohibiting gay marriage with laws modeled after or pre-dating the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, including Pennsylvania, which thankfully despite the ultra-liberalism of the Philadelphia area actually remains the most socially conservative state in the northeast region.

We can no more make a gay person straight than we can make a stone come to life. Gay people were created that way by God. It is something with which they will have to go through life dealing. We don't need to hate, we need to be compassionate. But compassion does not extend to supporting every action of an individual. It also does not mean surrendering our most cherished institutions and our God-given Sacraments to the ideology of a tiny minority.

The State Senate of New Jersey got it right yesterday when they voted to hold back the abomination of same-sex marriage. They also got it right a couple of months ago when they tossed Corzine out on his typical high-taxing, low-morality, America-hating can. Here's to hoping that Americans continue to awaken to what has been going on in our country and continues to take it back, as New Jersey may have begun.

Bell Tolling for Jersey Residents

The results of electing a Democrat to a major executive office, especially at the state and federal levels as the Governor or President, can be seen no more clearly than what is happening in the state of New Jersey. The residents of the Garden State elected the bearded hard-core liberal Jon Corzine as their Governor back in 2005 in a virtual landslide. Corzine won by a 53-43 margin over Republican candidate Doug Forrester. This was expected, as New Jersey is generally considered to be one of the strongest Democratic Party states in the nation. That's fine, the residents there can vote for whomever they wish. Problem is, they stick with the Democratic Party over and over and over, the Dems continue to shaft them with tax and toll increases while lessening the actual services delivered, the voters then scream and holler and wring their hands...and then they go back out the next election and vote for more Democrats! It's always amazing to me when people continue to do things that hurt them over and over again. Now comes the news that the toll bridges connecting Philadelphia and South Jersey are going up by a full dollar beginning today. Who will be hurt the most by this? New Jersey residents, who use the bridges far more than their Philly counter-parts. Jersey residents come across into Philly to work every day. They come across to attend sporting and cultural events at places like Lincoln Financial Field, Citizens Bank Park, the Wachovia Center, etc. The toll increase is a de facto tax on New Jersey residents, yet another by the Democrats in charge there. Jersey residents seem to be infatuated with Dems like Corzine who spread their own personal wealth around to get elected (Corzine has spent tens of millions from his own vast personal wealth to overwhelm his political opponents, in effect buying his elections) while hurting the constituents' pocketbooks. During just his first six months in the Governor's office, Corzine raised New Jersey residents taxes by $2 billion dollars. He forced into law a measure to get mandatory health care to Jersey residents, but did so without specifics. His measures are expected to cost at least $1 billion dollars. Where do Jersey residents think the money is going to come from to pay for this program? Corzine shoved a full 1% state sales tax increase down the residents throats, raising the rate from 6% to 7% by shutting down the state government in the summer of 2006. While 1/2 of the tax goes to the state budget directly, further bloating the size of their government that will need repeated tax increases to support, the other half went to 'property tax relief' in the form of checks mailed out to residents. The fact is, the folks who received the checks paid it out of their own pockets. The vast majority of New Jersey sales are to New Jersey residents, and every single purchase that they now make inside their state costs more, funds a bigger government, and will far-oustrip the brief happiness that getting one check in the mail created. Everything they pay for every day costs more. But hey, they got a check last year, right? Fact is, they will continue to pay for that check every single day, and it is only the beginning. Corzine proposed an 800% toll increase earlier this year, and when the public nearly revolted he sunk into the background, now quietly supporting a plan in the state legislature to double tolls in the coming years. New Jersey residents have a chance to begin to make a change in November, when they can vote for Republican Dick Zimmer in the U.S. Senate race over more of the Democratic taxation in the person of Frank Lautenberg. History would suggest that Zimmer has little chance, and that Lautenberg will win with about 50% of the vote or so. New Jersey residents will then assure that there will be at least six more years of Democratic influence over their state, six more years of liberal policies that will severely hurt their households. They will probably vote for Barrack Obama for President as well, and his policies will raise their taxes even more from the federal level. They will then complain yet again. But they never seem to complain when it most matters - at the ballot box. The 'Retirement Living Information Center' recommends good places for folks to retire based on tax policies in that state. Their recommendations can also explain the reasoning that businesses normally use when deciding where to locate. Their website instructs folks that: "If all other things are equal, a state with a lower burden is a more attractive place to retire than a state with a higher one. To get a true sense of which state is less expensive, you need to look at state and local tax burdens. Only then do the low tax states stand out...New Jersey residents paid 11.8%, topping the charts (as the highest taxation state)." Which state is at the bottom, the best state for residents, the one that taxes the least? Alaska, home state of Governor Sarah Palin, the Republican Veep nominee. John McCain's home of Arizona is in the bottom ten, another great state for residents to keep their own hard-earned money. The bridge tolls are going up, taxes are up, services show no improvement for regular folks, Jersey residents are once again digging deeper into their pockets on a daily basis, but they continue to do nothing about it. For whom does the bell toll? It clearly tolls for the residents of the state of New Jersey.

On Vacation

Matt was on vacation with the family in the Wildwoods. His blog entries resumed on Saturday, August 9th, 2008.

Love Those Wildwood Days !

I've written before about the Wildwoods, New Jersey, but it's summer time, and you can never get enough of that Jersey shore town once the bug has bitten you. The bride and I drove on down last week and stayed overnight at one of our favorite Wildwood Crest beachfront motels, the Olympic Island Beach Resort, and it was a fantastic little getaway as always. Spent the first afternoon down on the beach for hours, and I can report that the water is really starting to warm up. For me, the ocean water temperature has to be around 70 degrees at a minimum to really enjoy it, and we were actually surprised that it was that warm already. Often up in the northeast section of the country, the air temps can be hot and muggy, but the water temps remain a bit cool well into July. Not anymore, so be ready for wading into the waves if you head down now. We soaked up a very sunny and warm afternoon just hanging on the beach, taking advantage of the umbrella rental joint. The young guy who popped in our umbrella was down for the season, staying with a bunch of friends from his Delaware County neighborhood. Ah, to be young and have nothing to do but work and hang down the shore all summer! After the sun finally burnt us out, we headed back up to the Olympic for a short stint in their nice, warm swimming pool. They have a deep end with a diving board, and it was a chance to get that little kid feeling of diving off a board which doesn't come along often anymore. After a little rest and cleanup, we headed out to dinner at Neil's, the best steakhouse in Wildwood. Neil's is located on Schellenger, between Atlantic & Pacific, and is well worth the stop. Deb had a delicious prime rib, and I had something called the BBQ Special, and man was it special. A loaded plate of ribs, chicken, and pulled pork with a baked potato and corn on the cob. We were so full that we cancelled a boardwalk stroll and headed back to the room for some R&R, it had been a long day that took a lot out of us. We both had a tough time falling asleep on the full moon night, so we spent some time just watching out over the beach before finally going in and zonking out. In the morning, we woke up to yet another sunny, hot one, and so we spent a couple of hours in the pool before we dried off and packed up our car. Before leaving the shore, we headed down to the Olympic's quaint little breakfast-joint restaurant and fueled up. But that wasn't our last food stop. There was the obligatory stop down at 26th & the Boardwalk to pickup a large Sam's Pizza to take home with us, which later became our dinner that night back in Philly. Oh, and before we left, we made reservations for later this summer to go back for a few days with our granddaughter, Elysia. In Wildwood, the four main amusement piers on the boardwalk have more rides than Disney World, and the beach is free here. How can you beat that? It will be yet another chance to enjoy the beach, the boardwalk, the rides, the restaurants. You just cannot beat the Wildwoods, New Jersey, for a relatively close little vacation stop. And if you're from far away, make the long trip. It's well worth it. If you haven't gone, make plans. The title to this blog entry, as always, is a link to more information on the topic. Hope that you and yours have a great, happy, safe summer season.