Sunday October 6, 2013

Another sunny day this morning.  We have been so lucky with the weather this trip and have enjoyed summer like temperatures since we started the trip.  Today mom wanted to go to her favorite little restaurant for breakfast/brunch.  It is a cute place a couple blocks from her home named Clarey's and everyone there knows her and makes a fuss when she comes in.  They are famous for their pancakes apparently and that makes the kids excited.  We picked up mom at 11:30 AM to try to get a jump on beating the after church crowd.  We have to wait a few minutes for a table but then we enjoyed the server and other waitresses that came by to talk with mom.  The kids loved their pancakes, eggs and bacon and cleaned their plates which was amazing to see.  Chris said he would rate it a 5 out of  5 and wanted Teresa to take his photo outside when we left.  Mom was not feeling really well this morning so we took her back to let her rest until our dinner.  We planned to pick her up at 5:15 PM to go to Courthouse Pizza since Teresa wanted another steak sandwich from there and it did look good.  We decided to take a drive through Wildwood and let the kids shop for souvenirs on the boardwalk.  They got to ride some rides and I bought them a T shirt then we went for a ride down the beach and enjoyed looking at the old motels.  Wildwood is a place that has kept that retro 50's look and feel over all these years and it was fun to experience that again. 

 

We went back to the condo and the kids got to swim for an hour or so before the pool closed for the day.  This complex where we stayed is called Seapointe Village and is I believe the only gated community in what is known as Wildwood Crest/Diamond Beach.  This area is located closest to Cape May which is the southern most point in New Jersey.  We have been fascinated by the features of this resort meaning its use of electronics.  There is an electronic key for the car to enter and exit the gates that just gets swiped across this pad by the gate.  There is also a similar fob that you swipe to work the elevator (without this the elevator will not access the garage area where someone could gain access by walking onto the property).  A fob swipe to unlock doors from the public areas into the condos but also has keypad access as well.  There are houses here as well but it appears that most of these are second homes to everyone.  It was relatively empty in our building which was called Centre Court.  The pools in front of our building were already winterized and empty but there were tennis courts and a large playground in that area as well.  This building and the homes around it appear to be the last built since they are a distance from the beach and don't have beach views.  The heated pool is located near 3 buildings that are 7 stories.  The beach is very wide in this area.  The kids had fun on the beach again and even found a dead shark that was a couple feet long.  We all showered and got ready to go get mom.  When we drove to Courthouse Pizza they were closed..apparently closed every Sunday.  So we went in search of another place.  We found a place called Rio Steaks and Pizza and again it all turned out to be really good.  Everybody enjoyed the food and we had plenty left over to take home and they were very nice people.  After we left mom's we made our usual stop at "Retro Wawa" for dessert and Tastykakes and then headed back to the condo.  We watched the Amazing Race and Teresa checked football scores and we started washing clothes and towels in preparation for leaving the next morning.