For Cheryl's birthday weekend, we took Loren to NJ on Saturday and turned her over to Cheryl's parents. Then Cheryl and I, for what is probably our last weekend as just the two of us before the new baby comes, drove to Ocean Grove, NJ where Cheryl had picked out a nice little B&B named the Ocean Plaza. Comment from Cheryl: Actually, this would be our first weekend as just the two of us since Loren was born.
From the town website, "The Year was 1869, and a group of spiritual lay leaders assembled as The Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association to form and incorporate the town of Ocean Grove. Now New Jersey's finest year-round family seashore resort, this one square mile of natural beauty has welcomed and delighted vacationers, including U.S. presidents, for over a century. On Ocean Grove's tree-lined streets is the largest assemblage of authentic Victorian architecture in the nation."
After we got checked into our room, we took a walk around town. We so rarely go somewhere without Loren, and therefore neither of us brought anything to read with us. While we were in town we picked up some chocolates for Loren and Cheryl's parents, and 2 books for us to read.
The Great Auditorium:
Some of the original beach cottages still stand.
The scenery was quite spectacular.
And if you walk a few blocks north, you reach Asbury Park where the scenery is not quite as nice.
After the sun set it was quite cold and we returned to our room for a leisurely couple of hours reading our books. For dinner we made reservations at Bia in town (easily walkable from our hotel). The food was really good, although the pace was a bit leisurely. I had scallops and Cheryl had short ribs. Altogether a really enjoyable experience. Another comment from Cheryl: "Leisurely" is Curt's diplomatic way of saying SLOOOOOOW. But the food was excellent.
We returned to the room and read some more before falling asleep. I was up around 7 and Cheryl slept in a little bit. We ate breakfast and then checked out. On the way back to Cheryl's parents' place we even stopped and did a little Christmas shopping.
Loren was great for Grandpop and Grandma, and Cheryl and I had a very relaxing 24-hours together. Cheryl actually did all the work in selecting the place and the town, which was an interesting choice because even though it is only 30 minutes or so from where she grew up, she had never been there.
Two thumbs up on the Ocean Plaza, Bia, and Ocean Grove!
NYC
1 comment:
Slow in that there was a lot of time between courses, and a long wait for the check. Also for coffee and dessert the coffee came first and there was such a long wait for the dessert that the coffee was cold by the time it arrived.
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