My pandemic memory is last summer’s shore trip with my friends. As the pandemic appeared to wind down towards the end of the 2019-2020 school year my roommates and I had decided that we would like to take a break from our day to day life. We had talked about going camping for a weekend in the summer, but camping meant very different things to each of us. To some it meant driving 4 hours one way to get a view of the stars in a tent on the ground. To others it was a glorified log cabin Airbnb in the woods complete with running water. To me it sounded like a prime opportunity to take my friends down the jersey shore.
My family has owned a trailer in Cape May Courthouse, NJ since I was a little kid. I wanted to share the joy that I had always experienced as a kid with my friends and so we set up a weekend getaway. I loaded up my dad’s convertible and drove down 309 to the city. I picked up one of my friends and we headed off, top down, Queen blaring out of the stereo. The others had piled into a car and were well on their way by then. My car happened to arrive first and by a good margin (they probably didn’t know the way as well). We quickly went to the grocery store and then we all checked in. The first thing we did was hop back into the car and traveled to Sunset Beach, the home of the best sunsets in the state. We checked out the gift shops and then came back home for some board games and a campfire.
The next day we got up bright and early (around 10) to go to the famous Wildwood beaches. The two drivers for the trip dropped everyone off with the gear and went to the free parking. We spent ages at the beach building castles, digging holes, sunbathing, eating our sandwiches, and wrestling each other in the waves. We quickly showered and returned to walk the boardwalk (wearing masks) and taking pictures underneath the Wildwood sign. After most of our group’s legs had become worn out we drove out to dinner on the bay. It was a cute little restaurant, near where the boats parked, that had amazing views and food. We decided to work off our dinner playing mini-golf on a 2 story course.
The next day we quickly decided our thirst for mini-golf had not been quenched and returned to play at a different course. The day was scorching and the course was brutal. The only escape was the “cave” with a waterfall overhead. We grabbed ice cream at a local shop after tallying the score. We packed up out bags and followed each other up the highways to the city. There we stopped at our apartment, said our goodbyes and parted ways.