We haven’t really taken a vacation in years, so we decided to take a long weekend to get away and celebrate our 34th wedding anniversary. On our way we first stopped at my brother’s sailboat. He and his wife sold their business and their house and now live on a sailboat. Soon they are sailing from NJ to the Florida keys for the winter! Now that is an adventure. We ended up going to Long Beach Island, NJ. When our kids were very little, for quite a few years, my parents rented a house there and invited all of us (their six children and our spouses and children). It was crowded and chaotic but we loved it and always had a good time. But as the saying goes, you can never go back home. It was great to go back but it wasn’t the same. Many of the places we liked to go were no longer there. The damage caused by Hurricane Sandy last year was still evident and sad, although it didn’t damage  the north end of the Island where we stayed. We did climbed to the top of “Old Barney” as they call the lighthouse. That was always an annual event.  Â
The beach and dunes get rearranged from time to time but the ocean is still the same. Going there after labor day was nice too. It’s not hot enough to want to take a dip, but I’m not that big into swimming in the ocean. I love walking on the beach and watching and listening to the waves. Dean can hardly get me away from the beach to do anything else. We haven’t been there in 20 years and I’m so happy we had a chance to go. Now I’m feeling refreshed and ready to go back to work.