A Day at the Beach

     This past Saturday I spent a glorious day at the beach. My beach of choice is Ocean Grove, NJ, or, what I like to refer to as “Victorian Lambertville by the Sea”. Generally, Ocean Grove is one of the quieter, less crowded beaches that I’ve come across. More often than not, there is ample parking at the beach entrance, which is obviously quite convenient. Such was not the case on Saturday, however, as there was an event, and the streets were already quite congested when we arrived. We drove around for about 20 minutes looking for parking, and all the while I was keeping a wary eye on the temperature gauge of my 17 year old tortoise of a car. As the engine temperature crept exceedingly higher, I was compelled to turn on the heater so the engine would not overheat. Did I mention that the outside temperature was 96 degrees Saturday? My friend and I nearly had a heat stroke by the time we parked. Not only that, but then we had to cart our overloaded beach bags, lounge chairs, and a tray of goodies from Dunkin Donuts, countless blocks up to the beach. In retrospect, I should have deposited my friend, armed with our week’s worth of essentials, by the beach, while I parked the car. How much easier would that have been? Hindsight really is 20/20. Speaking of hindsight, my friend indicated that she has a small dolly at home that would have been ideal for carting our stuff…. Great minds think alike!