USVI-On-Line

"We noticed that for the air conditioning, you have to use your key card. There was a holder on the wall to leave your key in it to activate the AC. I assume this was to prevent the air from being on while no one is in the room."
Very European.

Interesting that the Atlas had a make-over to become the Ocean Club – good thing, otherwise you might’ve had one of those shag carpet hotel experiences.

We always do a B&B down there – The Fairthorne is about the best we’ve experienced. Also interesting that you went to and enjoyed many of the places we tend to avoid for various reasons. I think all of the restaurants in town have upped their game in recent years. Our dining favs are Tishas (which was wonderful when it was right on the Boardwalk, but had a shaky relocation to the mall), Louisa’s, and 410 Bank Street; Louies Pizza and Geckos for lunch (true southwestern food with Christmas sauce); and Mad Batter and McGlades for breakfast. It is amazing how many good restaurants are in that town.

We haven’t been to one of the wineries in many years – looks like that is worth checking out. Another option for a cloudy or rainy day is the Cape May Zoo up by the courthouse – surprisingly well done for both the animals and people. Otherwise, Cape May is ideal for beach book reading, walking, early morning coffee on the beach or lifeguard stand, admiring Victorian architecture, fat tire bike riding, and deciding where to have a great meal and what kind of wine to pick up at Collier's to go with the meal, since many places are BYOB.

I also see that they have painted the lifeboats…

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jmq/113795791/" title="0508capemay1 by jmq, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/19/11379 ... 4803_z.jpg" width="640" height="470" alt="0508capemay1"></a>

Pat wrote:Connie I second that! We're in Wildwood Crest, the most southern part of the Wildwoods. We have no boardwalk and I have the entrance to the beach at the end of my street. The island is only 5 blocks wide so we've got the bay and the ocean. My 87 yr old mother says it's "too quiet."

Pat, we really should get together when we're both down there.

My Mom, 88, also says it's too quiet )

jmq...about the Cape May Zoo. It's FREE!!! I really don't know how they do it because it's a great Zoo and depends on donations.

Cape May is a great place to go around Christmas time. It's absolutely beautiful with the Victorian homes, the lights, the snow. They have a bus that you can take and it takes you around to see the lights and you sing Christmas carols and have a ball. I highly recommend visiting during that time.

I have heard that there are parts of Wildwood that are quite pleasant and normal. But people driving down from Stone Harbor or up from Cape May aren't going to Wildwood to visit those areas. We come for The Boardwalk!! We don't visit Wildwood because of its pretty, quiet areas. We go there because this is there, then we go back to Avalon:











If Wildwood didn't have The Boardwalk, we wouldn't leave Avalon just to go to the beaches there. Living there, you do probably have a different perspective, but for the rest of us, The Boardwalk is the heart and soul of Wildwood. These pics were taken on a weekday morning. You can see why I was tempted to see what it looked like on a Friday night.

Lex - There are some great weekends to visit Wildwood to see the Boardwalk at its finest form - Irish Weekend and Italian Weekend both have thousands of visitors spilling [literally] out of the host establishments with street fairs and parades and the Boardwalk is booming - The Firemans Weekend has hundreds of Fire Vehicles in town with many, many Firemen and their friends totally enjoying their time off in a quite festive celebratory way - -- The famous ' Roar to The Shore' brings a gazillion motorcycles into town for the weekend and the sounds of all these exhaust pipes punctuate the party and excite the finely well dressed and costumed riders all day and night - the Hot Rod Show has miles of cars lined up on the Boardwalk all weekend to look at and each stoplight provides a perfect starting lines for wheel smoking contests during the nightly car cruising.

There is no way you should miss an occasional visit to these events and feel the pulsing excitement of a real Shore Town and the Boardwalk. If you can find a parking lot in Wildwood for the car it is a real change from a quiet weekend in Cape May or Avalon!

Connie wrote:jmq...about the Cape May Zoo. It's FREE!!! I really don't know how they do it because it's a great Zoo and depends on donations.

I was so impressed with the Cape May Zoo. We were having dinner in Strathmere (I am sure I spelled that wrong) and the table next to us starts up a conversation and the man said we should not miss the zoo. Our son was 3.5 yo at the time and we were just so pleasantly surprised by the zoo. It is wonderful.

I agree Exit. We're lucky enough to live close enough to North Wildwood, that we can walk to all of the events.

Also, have you seen the walking wall in North Wildwood? It really took off and it's a great, pretty walk.

I'm just glad that my child is older and I don't have to "do" the boardwalk anymore. We never go up anymore, but if you have small children it's a big deal. I wish I knew how much money we've spent over the years

Connie wrote: We never go up anymore, but if you have small children it's a big deal. I wish I knew how much money we've spent over the years

Ha - 35 years ago my Dad used to say the Wildwood boardwalk cost him $20 an hour.
And when I got to my teens, I really wished that I had taken French in high school so I could flirt more effectively with the girls from Quebec who came down to Wildwood in droves with their families from Canada.

Connie wrote:I'm just glad that my child is older and I don't have to "do" the boardwalk anymore. We never go up anymore, but if you have small children it's a big deal. I wish I knew how much money we've spent over the years

Oh Connie, this made me laugh.

I remember the first time my dad took me to the boardwalk. As most (if not all) kids do, I begged, begged, begged for money. He was NOT the type to "waste money on stupid shit" and thought walking on the boardwalk should be more than enough entertainment. 30+ years later, I still remember my disappointment.

Through my teen years, I would go on vacation with my best friend's family and her dad was so generous and gave over spending money happily. It was awesome.

I know several families in my town that absolutely will not visit any shore town with a boardwalk because they don't want to fight with the kids about money.