Summer KickOff

TGIF!!!  Not only is it Friday BUT it is also the start of a long weekend – Memorial Day weekend.  For those of us at the Jersey Shore, this is the official start of “tourist” season or better known as summer.  It is a love-hate relationship.  We love the influx of people for the seasonal businesses BUT we hate the traffic.

Starting today, I will travel the back roads more than normal.  I will avoid the beach and boardwalk area on weekends.  I will secretly pray for Labor Day weekend to come and all the tourists go home.  Don’t get me wrong, growing up at the shore was AWESOME!  I loved working at Kohr’s on the boardwalk in Asbury Park.  I anticipated the start of the season and was excited when we opened at Easter for weekends.  I knew that summer wasn’t far away.  Then I dreaded the final closing of the store in late October for winter.

When I moved to South Jersey, it never really hit home the difference in the traffic or influx of people during the summer.  We were a year round tourist destination.

I think old feelings of owning the beach and boardwalk resurfaced when Belinda and her friends wanted to go to the beach in the summer.  We always took the kids during the week and on weekends prior to Memorial Day.  Then if at all possible, we avoided the boardwalk except for occasionally in the evenings in the summer.  Belinda’s first job was on the Ocean City boardwalk.  UGH!  Traveling back and forth was always a test of timing – not only with traffic but with the 9th Avenue bridge opening.  That love-have relationship was passed on to my daughter.  Shore residents truly believe the best time for the beach and boardwalk is as soon as the weather breaks 60 before the “tourists” (or better known as shoobies) arrive and then after Labor day until you can’t stand the bitter cold anymore.

So, what is your fondest memories of Memorial Day weekend?  Share them with us.

Have a ThirtyOne-derful day!