Here I am at home with a low grade virus that has given me a low grade fever and general ickiness.  I felt all shivery Tuesday night but got up and went to work on Wednesday and felt ok all day.  Then last night, the icky feeling came back so I gave into Peter Kevin's entreaties that I "take care of myself" and stay home.  I'm vaguely nauseous but not enough to be sick, vaguely feverish but not really.  If it  hadn't been a week ago, I'd blame my flu shot.

Our anniversary was a good one. I'll give you a run down and then show you some of the photos.  That way, anyone who hates vacation photos can click off.  We enjoy each other's company and can talk about anything and everything and are avid people watchers so we're hardly ever bored.  We had a lovely brunch on Sunday, followed by walking around the touristy shops at Smithville, drove to Wildwood to stay at our b&b, The Sea Gypsy. 

The Sea Gypsy is a lovely place.  Opened in 1903 as a boarding home, it's filled with tiny rooms and those tiny rooms are crammed full of stuff.  Our bedroom was, um, cozy.  I think Emily said "snug".  There was room for the bed and a dresser and not much else.  That was ok, but the bed was short and Pk is not.  There was not much sleep had on Sunday night.  The bed creaked (loudly) and he couldn't get comfortable.  We did have a nice deck area outside our room which we made use of after dinner on Sunday.  We sat outside drinking champagne with raspberries and watching the stars.  It was lovely.

Dinner on Sunday was a place recommended by friends so we went to The Lobster House in Cape May.  Now, Cape May is an upscale tourist seaside town.  It's beautiful and expensive.  The restaurant doesn't take reservations and when we got there at 5 (on a Sunday, off season) we had a 90 minute wait.  We chose to wait and were sorry we did because the food just wasn't worth waiting that long for.  It was ok, but nothing special.  And it was expensive (which we expected).  I had a lobster bisque that was delicious but Pk's dinner was something I could have made better at home.

We spent the evening (it was 8:30 by this point) sitting outside on the deck drinking champagne and talking.  We tried to sleep but that was futile so we were up early for pancakes and sausage for breakfast.  There were two other guests there for breakfast (which was delicious).  We left and were about an hour up the road when I remembered I'd left my mp3 player on the bed.  We called and went back for it.  Somethings you just have to turn around for.

We got home late Monday afternoon and went to sleep for 2 hours.  We ordered steak sandwiches for dinner (a very romantic anniversary dinner) and watched a video and went to bed early. 

We laughed about it and actually had a good time.  The weather was exceptional, almost summer like and it was fun.  Now, we're back in the real world and that's ok, too.




breakfast at Smithville.  Yum!

 

The Sea Gypsy












Pk across the room.  Snug!



Our deck outside the bedroom window (there were steps leading up to the outside)

Wildwood has wide beaches.  This is the beach from the boardwalk (which was boarded up and empty, all except for the tattoo/piercing places which were open for business).  If you click and make the photo bigger, you can just make out the ocean on the horizon there.  It's flat and easy to walk on but if I was a parent with kids and all their stuff, I'd be exhausted by the time we got down there.  Wildwood is a teenager kind of summer town.  It's loud and the boardwalk is aimed at families with teenss.  (unlike Atlantic City which is aimed at gamblers and older people and Ocean City which is aimed at families with smaller children).

And I tend to forget that New Jersey is a coastal state since I live about 60 miles from the coast.  This sight always reminds me.  This is what it looks like as you get close to the coast.  There is as much water as land.  Salt marshes where you can see egrets standing around.  This is outside the moving car but you can just see the buildings of Wildwood in the distance.  The smell is salty and wonderful.  This is were we put down the windows and just breathe.  It (like being in the woods) smells like home to me.  If we could afford it, I'd retire down at the shore.  I love being near the ocean.  Properties are so high, even in these depressed times.  But, if we win the lottery.......

So, that's our weekend.  I have more photos but I'm having some trouble uploading them today for some reason.  I did some knitting on a Christmas sock sitting in the sunshine and thought that life was just about perfect.  I could look through the window and see the love of my life sitting (watching a soccer game) and look up and see seagulls and smell the ocean and knit all at the same time. 

And, as Pk reminds me, it's now been 30 years and 3 days.

PS:  I noticed if you click on the photos, they do indeed get bigger, but the format is different.   I don't know when that changed and I'm not sure I like it. Maybe it's all just weird today.