Ocean City, Maryland

In the past, I have taken a lot of teasing from my friends who spent summers going east with their families to Ocean City, and my family always went west to visit family in the mountains of West Virginia and Virginia.

So when I finally got to experience Ocean City, they had a lot of laughs at my questions. Like…Where’s the boardwalk? (Apparently I was standing on it), and “They don’t have chocolate pop tarts here?”

Since then, I have learned a lot about Ocean City culture with more than a few visits back. However, my last trip was a long time ago, and there have been some changes made. For one thing, getting there was different from my last time. Apparently we now by-pass Salisbury completely and they have made a new exit around it.  Upon arriving at OC, I noticed the long-standing haunted house was now gone too.

Since it was a long time since I had been to Ocean City, it was basically unknown to my youngest two. So, I wanted to give them a special day of fun, and show them all that I had enjoyed years ago. So after some planning weirdness, I took Miquel, Laura, and Anna away for the day.

We had the fortune of finding parking close to the boardwalk. It was centrally located and we could make frequent trips loading and unloading back to the car.

The boardwalk looking north…

…and south.

I made sure they knew about Fisher’s Popcorn

And Thrasher’s French Fries.

View of the pier, now without the Haunted House, but still has the familiar Ferris Wheel.

Ripley’s Believe it or Not was amusing to them.

I was anxious to show them the work of the sand artist, who during summer months, around dusk, creates a new Bible scene, and gives a message while he creates.

The Kite Loft was a must visit too.

Anna seemed to appreciate the kites, and got into the spirit of it.

I made sure they knew where the best breakfast in town could be found- The Dough Roller.

Unforunately for me

Obamania hasn’t escaped vacationers. I didn’t see one tee shirt for McCain.

Laura was noted the risqué tee-shirts that most definately makes up the culture of Ocean City.

I didn’t have to point out the Art Gallery of O.C., it has a way of showing itself off.

Once up and down the boardwalk a few times, it was time to go even more east, to the water. 🙂

The waves of Maryland’s Atlantic…

The gulls…

The sand…..

…and even a sandpiper or two!

Once sunning ourselves and taking a walk on the beach, Miquel got some new sunglasses.

Then we walked to the pier (Something else new, you can’t walk out as far as you used to without paying).

The girls at the pier

Miquel and Anna

Towards late afternoon, I showed the children where I must have disposed of a lot of money in the past, the arcades!

In the early evening, we took too long in eating our dinner at Tony’s Pizza, with full stomachs and a back full of camera gear, Laura and I made a mad and long dash to get an image of the sun setting. By the time we reached the end, we had people cheering us on, and pointing us to the best place to get a photo. Alas, arriving at the end of the boardwalk, the sun had fully set, but the images were still nice.

Before leaving for Ocean City, and the big recent accident on the bridge heavy on my mind, I had asked Miquel to pray for the Lord’s care and blessing on our day. The prayer was more than answered, and the end of the day was a mini sermon by the sand sculpture, and from where I stood, the man said everything right.