Planet Of The Rednecks

Being from New Jersey, you would think that I would have spent more time at the Jersey Shore, even as a kid. But, the first time I’ve ever really been there was last week with my best friend. I have to say that it wasn’t really any different than I had imagined.

The ocean was beautiful; it was pretty cool to sit on the beach at 8 in the morning and watch the boats going in and out of the fog as the sun slowly burned its way through and warmed up the water. It smelled like fish, saltwater, and well…the ocean. 

We spent the day down there (lucky for us, there was hardly anyone at the beach); the morning we spent laying on the beach until the sun warmed the water up, then we went to play in the waves and tried to avoid as many of the tiny jellyfish that were in the water as possible. There were millions of them dead washed up on the shore, we didn’t know what they were since neither of us had ever spent any real time at the ocean. It was kind of gross to walk on a carpet of squishy dead jellyfish in order to get to the water.

By the time noon time rolled around, we were sufficiently tan, a little sunburned, very hungry, and our hair was completely tangle from the salt water. We headed to a little restaurant called Surf Taco and got something to eat. Then, we decided to take a stroll out on The Boardwalk before we headed back to the beach.

For anyone who has never been to the jersey shore, The Boardwalk isn’t just a boardwalk. It’s a boardwalk out along the ocean that has hundreds of vendors, restaurants, carnival rides, anything you can think of. And that was where we started to feel a little like we were at the zoo. Everyone looked the same pretty much; it was like everyone was a clone from the show Jersey Shore. Which totally made sense since that’s where it was filmed. Seriously that show has given a bad name for everyone who lives in Jersey. We aren’t all like that, I swear.

Walking down the boardwalk, I felt like I was from another planet. Planet of the rednecks maybe??? And I’m not sure what would be the name of the planet I was in at the shore.

Walking past a restaurant we saw a group of guys in camo hats and sunburn lines around their biceps. For second I felt like I was back in Sussex County.

We ended up going all the way to the end of the boardwalk, stopping at the arcade and winning some water pistols, and stopping at a food vendor for some deep fried oreos. It took us an hour and a half to walk the whole boardwalk, and I have to say it was an interesting experience.

It was definitely a fun day; I loved the ocean and the beach and the good food, and it was definitely interesting to walk along the boardwalk. My best friend said it was better than a trip to the zoo and I couldn’t have said it better.

We’ll probably head down there a few more times before I move to Ohio, just to sit on the beach and play in the ocean. It’s a good place to visit once in a while but I prefer to stay on a planet where I can relate to the people around me. It made me appreciate the rednecks in North Jersey.