Travel

Down The Shore

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On Saturday, I took my emoji-faced boyfriend on a day trip adventure “down the shore” i.e. to the beach in New Jersey. This term is well-known in the northeast, and even the New York Times recognizes it as a thing. Other terms like Bennies and Shoebies are less well known, but well-documented. We were gone for 16 hours, and we returned with memories of Wawa Hoagiefest, full bellies of fresh clams (both of us), very sunburned legs (mostly just me), and salt in our hair.

Our adventure started at 8 am. During the summer, there are select NJ Transit express trains to Bay Head on Saturday mornings, so we wanted to make sure we got on the 9:01 am train! We had to first stop at the bodega, because you know what they say, “never leave home without a bodega sausage egg and cheese.” #DietStartsThisWeek. After the bodega, we got to the subway to find out that the next train was not coming for 14 minutes. SURPRISE SURPRISE, foiled by the MTA’s “constant service” yet again. We hopped into a cab and made it to Penn Station with plenty of time. The NJ transit was surprisingly reliable compared to the MTA, and we arrived on time!

I haven’t told you the reason for this adventure, but here we go: Wawa towel delivery. Yes, you read that correctly. I dragged my boyfriend on a $30/person train ride down the shore to hand-deliver a Wawa Hoagiefest towel. It was THAT important!!

Backstory: My dad works at Wawa, and before he started working there, he heard they had a cult-like following. However, he had no idea the extent of it. Sure enough, as soon as he started to tell people that he worked for Wawa, their first response, WITHOUT FAIL was “OH MY GOD I LOVE WAWA!” My dad soon realized that he had access to some great perks, like employee benefit drives selling Wawa paraphernalia! As soon as word spread to my friends, they were asking for things left and right. I now have friends in Ft. Lauderdale, FL, Las Vegas, NV, Burbank, CA, and Chadwick Beach, NJ who wait on the edge of their seats for the yearly fundraising drive items. This year, we were lucky enough to have the holiday sale AND an extra Hoagiefest towel sale to benefit Associates in Need.

Rewind 33 Years and Fast Forward to Last Saturday: One of my sister’s friends, Sara, from nursery school 33 years ago, grew up going to the Jersey shore and she has been obsessed with Wawa ever since, a shore staple. She even celebrated her 21st birthday with a 1 am Wawa trip! Needless to say, she needed a Wawa towel. I was happy to be the messenger and hand-deliver the precious cargo, and make a day out of it! Sara picked us up from the train station and our first stop was, OF COURSE, WAWA. We picked up $4.99 hoagies and to my chagrin, they were selling the very towels I came to deliver RIGHT IN THE STORE! WOOPS. I was disappointed, but hey, at least the one I was toting was for a good cause! Also, I got a day at the beach and I got to visit with old friends.

Sara’s husband, Dave, was already at the beach holding down the fort with their almost-3-year-old daughter, Lyra, and he didn’t mind waiting, since we came bearing hoagies and Wawa Iced Tea (absolute necessity at the beach; Half and Half, diet). We brought 2 liters. We settled in, and then Sara and I went for a swim while Lyra had a snack. Sara and I started chatting with two guys in the ocean and they told us that sting rays were out in full force. We spent 30 minutes chasing waves and we finally saw a huge sting ray in one of the waves! It was amazing, in a #CrocodileHunter way. #RIP. No photos, unfortunately

We headed back to our chairs, put Lyra down for a nap, and cracked open a couple of beers. Perfect day, except I forgot one crucial accessory: SUNSCREEN! I’m not used to being prepared for the beach with chairs etc. When I was in high school, we just pulled up to the beach with a towel I mostly stayed laying on my stomach, usually hungover from the night prior. Now as a full-grown 30-year old, lounging on chairs, I totally forgot to use sunscreen on my stomach and legs!! #HelpMeCoppertone I remembered my shoulders and face, but as you can see (below), my legs turned lobster-red. Oops. Around 4 pm, we were evacuated from the beach due to lightning spotted nearby, and we moved to Sara’s family’s shore house, where we lounged on the deck, ate happy hour snacks, and drank refreshing Portuguese white wine. Lyra helped me put lotion and aloe on, while commenting on how pink my legs were. #NoSh*tSherlock #KidsHaveNoFilter.

Soon enough, the storm caught up to us, so we moved inside, I took a quick shower so I could reapply aloe and protect my poor red legs, and then I had a Duplo-building party with Lyra. Why are large Legos so much more fun than the regular-sized ones? So much less stressful. Also, almost-3-year-olds’ structures are easier to build than the elaborate sets my brother used to make me help with. Soon enough, it was time to sit down to dinner beginning with amazing fresh clams that Sara’s dad Ray had found the day prior. We ate them raw with cocktail sauce and hot sauce. Check out this boomerang of me shooting it.

Sara’s mom, Olga, is an amazing cook. She apologized profusely for “only” cooking what was left in fridge. Well let me tell you, I have never cooked such a great meal even with much preparation! There was fresh corn on the cob, steak, tomato salad, sautéed escarole, and roasted potatoes. YUM! What a great end to our day! I love when I don’t have to cook!

Emoji-Bf and I said goodnight to Lyra and headed back to the train. Unfortunately, there were no express trains and we were a bit delayed, but we eventually got back to NYC. It was pouring rain when we got back to the city and there was not an empty cab in sight. Luckily, I had my sunburned and aching legs with me to remind me of our amazing sun-filled day. Three days later, my legs have faded to light pink, and I already can’t wait to go back (assuming I’m invited)! I will need to stock up on some more Wawa swag to make sure I am needed.

 

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Big City Living

Rainy Daze

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It has been raining all morning. And afternoon. Ok, it’s basically been raining since Saturday. In New York City, this weather brings a certain type of lethargy. It’s the “why is the subway 4 blocks from my house” lethargy. Or the “I am soaking wet by the time I get to work because the bus didn’t come for 14 minutes” lethargy. Or it’s the “I was stabbed in the eye 5 times by an umbrella and now I can’t see” lethargy. People look soaked, dejected, and depressed. Sort of like an entire city of Eeyores.

I never had an appreciation of how this terrible weather can affect your mood until I started living in a city that requires an outside commute. In Florida, you got in your car and besides driving 5 MPH below the speed limit, you were fine. It sucked when it was raining because you couldn’t go to the pool or beach, but most of the time it rained for an hour, and then you were back out on the beach, or on your chaise lounge. Here, when it rains, it POURS. Literally. In New York, when it starts to rain, you know it is not likely to stop for a few days. Also, the rain here is not like god saying “oh the grass looks yellow, let me give it a sprinkle,” it’s more like god saying “YOUR ENTIRE CITY HAS WRONGED ME AND THEREFORE YOU ARE TO DIE OF A FLOOD LIKE NOAH AND HIS ARK.”

The one respite from this monsoon weather is scaffolding. TGFS. Thank God For Scaffolding. I often plan my walks during monsoon days by picking the side of the street with the most scaffolding. Most routes have scaffolding on one side of the street or the other. So I zig zag my way to my destination. But just when you think you are safe under some scaffolding, a car pulls up too close to the curb, into the huge puddles of water (because why would the drainage in this city be any better than the public transit system?) and sprays a high-tide wave of water on all innocent bystanders. This morning, I decided to take the bus to work because the subway never works in the rain. Don’t ask me why. It baffles me that a public transit system specifically designed to go UNDERGROUND, away from the rain, is somehow ALWAYS effed up when there is any sort of weather. Hot, cold, snow, rain, anything besides 72 degrees and sunny. Anyway, I digress, you have already heard me gripe enough about the subway. This morning, after waiting 10 minutes in pouring rain for a bus, I was already wet. Like to the very last layer. And then the bus finally pulled up and it sprayed a tsunami-like wave puddle. Happy Monday to us.

Now as I mentioned, some New Yorkers find it necessary to carry umbrellas. I do not understand this because the rain here does not fall from the sky. It comes from east and west, north and even sometimes from the south. An umbrella does not help protect anything except MAYBE the top of your head. And even then, the wind is constantly turning umbrellas inside out. There’s a phenomenon here called the “5 block umbrella.” Basically, you buy it on the street for $5, and it lasts you exactly 1 block per dollar you paid for it. On every corner, you will see what I call an “umbrella graveyard,” where piles of these 5-block-umbrellas have reached their 5-block capacity, and are laid to rest in various stages of broken. Torn from their metal bones, inside out, and tossed away. Not worth it.

A few years ago, I invested in a rain jacket, and it is the best purchase I have ever made in New York. Don’t get me wrong, I still get completely soaked wherever my rain coat doesn’t cover, but at least it gives me a semblance of dry, and I can maneuver easier around the aforementioned umbrella dummies. The one great thing about this rain, the temperature has dropped 30 degrees! It was 68 degrees this morning. I’ll take it! Stay dry, y’all.

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