Visit to the Jersey Shore

I had an opportunity to make a day trip down to the Jersey Shore last week and I throughly enjoyed seeing an area of the shore where I spent many summers in my younger days. I visited Pt. Pleasant, Spring Lake and Sea Girt. It had been quite a long time since I had last visited “the Shore”. In fact, I don’t remember exactly when I was there last, but I do know it had to be at least 5 years since I was there and certainly long before Super Storm Sandy inflicted so much damage on coastal New Jersey. I had read that most communities on the shore had since recovered from the monster storm, but I was eager to see it for myself. I was very pleased to see that the three towns I visited had indeed completely recovered. Other than the rebuilt boardwalks and the slightly bolstered dunes on some parts of the beach in Spring Lake and Sea Girt you could not tell that Sandy had visited just a couple of years ago.

Here is a picture a picture I took on the Point Pleasant boardwalk. I spent many summers at “The Point” as a youth because my grandparents owned a summer home only about 25 yards off the boardwalk on the northern end of town, near the inlet.

The beach at the northern end of Point Pleasant is one of widest beaches on the Jersey Shore. When I was a kid I loved going down to beach late in the afternoon, after most of the crowds had left, to do some kite flying

Here is the view north from Pt. Pleasant across the inlet to Manasquan…

Took a walk over to the docks to see the fishing boats over at Ken’s Landing.

Later in the day drove a few miles north to Spring Lake and neighboring Sea Girt. I’ve always enjoyed visiting these two towns.
Both towns have many elegant homes, great beaches and wonderful boardwalks. At 2 miles in length the Spring Lake boardwalk is the longest non commercial boardwalk on the Jersey Shore. I discovered this boardwalk in my late teens and became enamored of it almost immediately because it is such a terrific place to run and I was a fairly serious runner back in those days. In the 1990’s I briefly lived in Spring Lake and commuted to NYC via the New Jersey Transit commuter train. That is a long haul every day and I ended up moving north,  a bit closer to the city after a few months, but I enjoyed living there in the off season for a little while and I loved taking runs up and down the nearly empty boardwalk.

Also paid a visit to The Parker House in Sea Girt, one of my favorite restaurant/bar’s in that area. The Parker House was built in 1878 and it retains the charm of a building from that era. I first remember going there back in the late early 1980’s with my Dad. The place certainly has not changed too much in the last few decades. Great place to go for lunch or dinner, especially if you dine out on the porch during a warm summer day.

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