I’m back from Ocean City, MD. Actually, we got in last night. I got through all of the things I wanted to accomplish during the trip:
– Frontier Town: check. What a great place. There’s a water park with lots of kid-friendly stuff, and unlimited miniature golf. They also have campsites. We’re looking into staying there some time.
– Eat pizza at Dough Roller: check.
– Eat breakfast at Dough Roller: check. We stayed on 41st street; Dough Roller was right across the street.
– Hit the beach: check, check, check, check, check…
– Ride the Sea Rocket: check. I love the Sea Rocket. It’s cool to see the beach and boardwalk from the ocean, and the ride’s a blast. You get soaked if you sit toward the back of the boat. And the crew is always a hoot. Two kickers this time. First, we saw dozens of dolphins. Usually when you see dolphins in Ocean City, you might see one or two and get a glimpse of the top of their dorsal fins. But there were many dolphins out that day, and they were jumping completely out of the water. But the best part was that they let Gracie drive the boat for a while. That was seriously cool, and she loved it.
– Discovery Nature Cruise to Assateague Island: check. My parents and my sister’s family did this last year and convinced us to try it. It was pretty cool. The guide was obviously a science teacher somewhere; we figured this was his summer job. He was extremely intelligent and told us all sorts of stuff about Ocean City and the bay. The tour lasts about 90 minutes, and in the middle, they drop you off on Assateague Island with a net and tell you to catch whatever you can. Then the tour guide came through with a huge dragnet and told us about all the critters that he caught in it. He got my two nephews to help with one end of the net, and he had Gracie assist him on his end. The kids really got a kick out of that.
– Dumser’s: check. Mmmmmm. Dumser’s.
– Check out Randy Hofman’s sculptures again: check. This guy is so amazingly talented. I can’t believe the things he can do with sand. A couple years ago I was lucky enough to walk up to his display while he was working. He talked to the gathered crowd briefly, then left. I got the impression he doesn’t like crowds.
– Quality time with family: check. ‘Nuff said. Most of my family is still down there and won’t come home until next week (my parents, my grandparents, and my sister and her family). Me? I was ready to come home. I’ve got a ton of work to do this week, and I kind of missed Jackie Boy.
– Boogie Boarding: check. We actually had decent waves this time, and Jen and I were able to spend a lot of time on boogie boards. I had to correct Grace repeatedly that they’re boogie boards, not buggy boards. I don’t think she gets it yet. The waves were so good that we had to replace one of the boogie boards we borrowed because it snapped in half. Then, as I finished riding it in, I nose dived and front tip snapped.