At the end of June, Bill and I packed up and headed east. Our first stop was in Lancaster at our home Elks Lodge in Ephrata. There was another rig there when we first arrived, but still plenty of space for us. After getting set-up, we walked up to the lodge to check in, and get an adult beverage and some dinner.

What I was most excited about was I was getting my hair cut by my favorite stylist, Jamie – followed by lunch with a dear friend, Cherie. We also spent an afternoon with Mike & Mandy, with a cameo appearance by Neil & Nancy – all fellow RV Dreams family! A visit with Ken & Nancy was also on the agenda; Bill actually dusted off his golf clubs (which are kept in the storage container) so he and Ken could play a round. Last, but not least, a stop anywhere near Berks County wouldn’t be complete without a stop at the Fairgrounds Market, where we indulged in broasted chicken wings from Penn Dutch for Bill and a Blue Plate Special (crab cakes, jambalaya, and remoulade sauce) from Jambalaya Jay’s for me. One of us may have stopped to get a double scoop of ice cream from K&L Dairy (it was me hehe).

Next up was our annual visit with one of our fav families – the Infosino’s. They keep inviting us back to park on their ample driveway so who are we to say no? We enjoyed a wonderful 4th of July holiday, including plenty of time with Oma. We did miss the newly engaged Rebecca, who was still in CT finishing up her doctorate in physical therapy.

We arrived at our next, and final, NJ location in Egg Harbor Township looking forward to some sun and sand time! This was our second year at Colonial Meadows and Mike and Adriane welcomed us back. They are a great couple and the pride they take in the campground is obvious. They offer 30amp sites and unfortunately no sewer on-site, but we don’t mind the once per week honey wagon service. Bill was able to set up our solar to run everything else in the RV so when we were at home we could run both A/C’s. We would turn off the bedroom one when we would go out for the day. Last year our adapter got too hot and we didn’t want to risk an issue when we weren’t home. Thankfully all went well and we stayed nice and cool inside.

In between days on the sand, we drove down to Cape May Courthouse to see Lisa & Matt, who have a place there. They grilled some steaks and we brought a salad and relaxed while enjoying each others company.

My brother Jay still lives in Cliffwood Beach and we drove up there one afternoon. We missed sister-in-law Caroline, who was working, but Danny was home; Jaime came over with her girlfriend Jen (pronounced Yen). It was wonderful seeing everyone and taking our annual drive through the old neighborhood. (Sadly we didn’t get any good pics)

While we were at Jay’s, we participated in a family zoom call. A remembrance for my Aunt Aura, organized by my cousin Jane (Aura’s daughter). Her funeral was in Israel and while we could have probably had a zoom call that day, the funeral was in Hebrew so I would not have known what was being said anyway. I believe there were 20 people on the video call. We all told stories about Aunt Aura and Uncle Arnold (Arnold passed back in 2011). While there were lots of tears, there was also a lot of laughter, which my aunt would have loved. I still miss her terribly and think of her often.

One of the larger highlights in NJ was we attended our 40th High School Reunion. Bill and I attended the same HS and graduated the same class. We actually sat next to one another on the field, even though we were supposed to be in alphabetic order. Thankfully the teachers realized that would be impossible to keep everyone in order and everyone got a slip of paper with their name printed on it. Out of a class of about 387 graduates, about 40 attended this very casual reunion. They held it at The Sandbox in Atlantic Highlands, right on the beach. The location offered free parking in their huge parking lot and the only fee was the $5 per person beach badge. There were food trucks for those who got hungry and a cash bar set up right near the rented cabanas. It was a beautiful afternoon, the sun shining and an occasional gentle breeze. The band that was playing nearby was very good; it was far away enough to not interfere with conversations yet we could hear it well enough to enjoy it. While the sun being out in force was nice, the temps were over 90 all afternoon – way too hot for dancing. It was great to catch up with fellow Husky’s! After a few hours we decided to head to nearby Bahr’s, where we could cool off and enjoy a delish early dinner before following RT 36 along the ocean through Sea Bright and other beach towns on our way home.

Our class has decided to have a second reunion weekend celebration in early October. They are planning a buffet dinner and probably a DJ, attendees will be going to a Friday night football game, and there will be a tour of the High School Saturday morning before the main event. Bill and I will most likely be moving south by then, so we are glad we were able to attend this summer gathering.

Another day, we went to visit the newly remodeled and reopened Barnegat Lighthouse. We did not arrive in time to climb it, but we will make a point to get there earlier next year.

Dinner with Michael and Johanna was a priority, and this year I got to chose where we ate. We generally prefer outdoors with a water view dining, but since it was so hot and rain was threatening, I picked an Irish pub in Barnegat called Doyle’s Pour House. The food and drink were all delicious, but the conversation and time spent with one of our fav couples was the BEST!

And if all that wasn’t enough, we spent one afternoon in Cape May, just walking about the town while checking out the Victorian homes the town is known for. We shopped a little and got rained on!

I think it’s safe to say Bill had a favorite day this trip – check out the pic below.

Last, but certainly never least, we visited with Bill’s Uncle George. I found a diner nearby that is known for having great food for lunch.

Wow! All the above, plus plenty of toes in the sand and walking the boards time – a great vacation at the Jersey Shore!

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