Friday afternoon Donna and I drove up to Loveladies, a town near the northern end of Long Beach Island, an 18-mile long barrier island on the New Jersey coast. Donna spent the summers of her youth in Harvey Cedars, one town down from Loveladies, in a house on the ocean and a short walk across Long Beach Boulevard to Barnegat Bay. Her family sold the house in Harvey Cedars and built the Loveladies house around 25 years ago.
It was a beautiful evening, warmer than you would expect for mid-October. We unloaded our stuff, turned on the house's heat and hot-water heater, and headed out to one of the few restaurants on the northern end of the island to stay open year round. After dinner, when we got back to the house, we went out on the deck. The stars were spectacular and the night so clear you could see the light band of the Milky Way stretching across the sky.
We slept in until 7:30, practically a record for us, turned on the gas fireplace and had coffee at the same table we have had coffee during our annual beach week for the past quarter century. Then we headed to the grill counter at Neptune Market, about half a mile down the boulevard, for pork roll sandwiches.
For those of your not from New Jersey, pork roll is a spiced processed meat, sort of like bologna with New Jersey attitude. Slices of the meat are grilled, then stacked with layers of American cheese and served on a Kaiser roll or a bagel. Throw a fried egg in there and a little yellow mustard, and you're good to go. The proper name of pork roll is Taylor ham, but that is giving way too much prestige to the lowly roll of pork by-products. Ham it ain't.
From Neptune, we headed to the northern tip of the island, to Barnegat State Park, and walked out on the immense jetty that was built maybe 15 years ago to improve the inlet that offers passage from Barnegat Bay to the Atlantic Ocean. The air was cooler than the day before, but still magnificently crisp and fresh as ocean air is.
On our way back to the house, we stopped at Matthew's Point Park, a favorite little place on the bay with outstanding sunset views. Then we headed back to Loveladies, and walked down to the beach.
Thankfully, Hurricane Joaquin, which some weather models showed making landfall along the Eastern Seaboard, stayed well out to sea and didn't cause much damage to the beaches or to property. The water, strangely, was calm as a lake, with no waves at all. I had never seen the ocean like that before.
We returned to the house, gathered our things, and drove to Watchung to celebrate the birthday of Donna's mom. All Donna's siblings -- two sisters and four brothers -- were on hand with their spouses for a special dinner out, and we all had a wonderful time.
I don't know when Donna and I will get back to Loveladies, or to Long Beach Island, for that matter, but for a brief moment this weekend, we had a magical time there.
It was a beautiful evening, warmer than you would expect for mid-October. We unloaded our stuff, turned on the house's heat and hot-water heater, and headed out to one of the few restaurants on the northern end of the island to stay open year round. After dinner, when we got back to the house, we went out on the deck. The stars were spectacular and the night so clear you could see the light band of the Milky Way stretching across the sky.
We slept in until 7:30, practically a record for us, turned on the gas fireplace and had coffee at the same table we have had coffee during our annual beach week for the past quarter century. Then we headed to the grill counter at Neptune Market, about half a mile down the boulevard, for pork roll sandwiches.
For those of your not from New Jersey, pork roll is a spiced processed meat, sort of like bologna with New Jersey attitude. Slices of the meat are grilled, then stacked with layers of American cheese and served on a Kaiser roll or a bagel. Throw a fried egg in there and a little yellow mustard, and you're good to go. The proper name of pork roll is Taylor ham, but that is giving way too much prestige to the lowly roll of pork by-products. Ham it ain't. 
From Neptune, we headed to the northern tip of the island, to Barnegat State Park, and walked out on the immense jetty that was built maybe 15 years ago to improve the inlet that offers passage from Barnegat Bay to the Atlantic Ocean. The air was cooler than the day before, but still magnificently crisp and fresh as ocean air is.
On our way back to the house, we stopped at Matthew's Point Park, a favorite little place on the bay with outstanding sunset views. Then we headed back to Loveladies, and walked down to the beach.
Thankfully, Hurricane Joaquin, which some weather models showed making landfall along the Eastern Seaboard, stayed well out to sea and didn't cause much damage to the beaches or to property. The water, strangely, was calm as a lake, with no waves at all. I had never seen the ocean like that before.
We returned to the house, gathered our things, and drove to Watchung to celebrate the birthday of Donna's mom. All Donna's siblings -- two sisters and four brothers -- were on hand with their spouses for a special dinner out, and we all had a wonderful time.
I don't know when Donna and I will get back to Loveladies, or to Long Beach Island, for that matter, but for a brief moment this weekend, we had a magical time there.
Nothing like the Jersey Shore in the off season!
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