Happy Birthday To My Pocket Ferengei!

So, the PF turned 45 today. I asked him what he wanted to do, and he said "I wanna go to the beach!". So, we went to the beach.

We had a nice breakfast at a diner on the way to Long Beach Island, "The Garden State Diner". It was pretty good (we've passed it often enough, but never stopped before). It's near Fort Dix, so there were some Army people in the place. (Funny conversation #1 we overheard today was at this diner: Husband: "Now she's got her mouth open showing her food!"; Wife: "She's 4 and in front of a mirror!", end of conversation.)

We usually go to LBI going through New Egypt Route 537 to Route 539; but the hubby suggested a different way. It's his day, who am I to say no. So we went through Browns Mills, Wrigtstown (Route 545 to Route 70 to Route 539, then the road to LBI).

He couldn't have picked a nicer day to go for this ride. It was partly cloudy in the AM, and the drive was uneventful. We got to see some new places (I don't remember going through Wrightstown -- blink and you miss kind of town) and we drove on the outskirts of Fort Dix (so we got to see some of the Army men in action, nothing special, just training).

We got to LBI and it was really nice out down there (?over there?--we live in Western/Central Jersey, so we drove across to Eastern/Central Jersey). We hung around Barnegat: went to the Lighthouse (didn't go up it, been there done that), but we walked around the inlet and watched some people fish (one guy caught a baby flounder, he did the catch and release--too many people watching). Bunches of people (mainly New Yorkers -- some really uninteresting conversations) around. We met a 'brain surgeon' on the way back to the parking lot: as we were walking away from the BIG LIGHTHOUSE, a woman came over from the restrooms and asked if the way we came led to the lighthouse...PF respectfully waited for her to turn the bend before saying "nah, it leads to the parking lot").

So after that we drove to the bay side and sat and watched the boats coming and going in the inlet. That was nice, until the green head fly's started biting. So, we took off for the beach.

This was nice, we only had to go up and down one street before we found a decent parking spot (we usually have to go around 4 blocks). Made our way up the dune and onto the beach. It was really nice. Only 'almost' lost one sandal in the water (the PF's kind of quick for a 45 year old)...I had them both in my hand and we were standing at the edge of the water...and my left hand twitched/spazzed and I dropped a sandal...great response from him too "all you had to do was hold the shoes?"

We got to watch some surfboard parasailers (or whatever you call them...they ride surfboards and they hold on to parachutes while surfing)...that was neat. There weren't a whole lot of people on the beach (at least from what we could recall from when we were kids; lots more people on the beach back then).

After we made our way back to the car (after stopping to get the sand off, and I found a tick on me (that's always nice)), we stopped for dinner at a place called "Kubels". We've been there before, and I remember the food being better. He got New England Clam Chowder and a muscle appetizer and a beer, and I got the same soup, a salad and I tried their "Crab Pot Pie"...it's not sitting too well with me right now...like I said, I remember their food being better. (And this was where we heard the third "huh" conversation: Wife to Husband: So what's the difference between crab cakes and fish cakes?" to which I responded "there's crab in crab cakes and fish in fish cakes", they were kind of quiet after that (I think they heard me).

After a quick stop at fudge place (have to stop for some Country Kettle Fudge), we made our way home.

So, all-in-all it was a good day for the both of us. (Below is the picture I made for his Facebook).



More later...Booboo