Having spent most of my years in Ocean County within 30 minutes of Seaside, Belmar, Point and Manasquan, I’ve always been too close to the shore to ever justify spending money on any type of summer share. After last summer, the crew decided to get a house for a week down in Sea Isle City – far enough and different enough from the usual spots for everyone that it made too much sense not to jump in. 

After all the hype all off-season and into the summer, Friday night brought the arrivals for the West side of the house, a ton of excitement and… the immediate plunge into alcohol. It took a little time to shake off the cobwebs after a fairly low-key build-up in the weeks prior, but a few beers and some “Death by Crystal Light + Vodka” turn things around in a hurry. We jumped off to the OD for Mr. Green Genes and were suddenly immersed in the loudest of South Jersey shore scenes. A packed house, a rowdy crowd and a last call a full hour later than what we get up north. After a few hours of SIC’s best, we did the obligatory late night food runs and soaked in the situation outdoors, reminiscent of ‘Squan after the Osprey lets out.

Saturday, therefore, brought the first set of hangovers as well as the other group of 11 sharing the other East half of our house. Chilled at the beach for much of the day, adjusting to the finer sand of SIC and slightly wetter beach due to the impact of high tides on the ‘front. The new arrivals were all fired up to go out, but our side was a little banged up and slow to move, going surfing or grabbing some food before joining for the tail end of the “No Shower Happy Hour” at the OD. There, Go Go Gadjet put on a solid little show while we had a few beers, figuring this night was going to fizzle toward an uneventful conclusion hanging out on the house deck. Not so!

Rock Band was powered up, beers were handed out and the rallying effect kicked in. Soon it was drinking games, followed by one of the most lively games of Flip Cup I ever played, complete with sh*t talking and custom celebrations for each win. This included crowd dives from the granite countertops (I imagine not what the owners envisioned), chicken fights and the Karate Kid crane kick, all concluded by a messy bout with silly string. For a couple hours this went on until everyone was sufficiently out-of-their-minds – at that time, all fired up, we went racing out the door towards La Costa to burn off the energy. There, the Rockets were on the mic, doing their thing covering the usual 80s and hip-hop tunes to… Lady Gaga medleys.

The story of the night, however, occurred back at the house, where one unnamed young lady from our crew got up to go to the bathroom and ended up two flights above her room, curled up on the floor of another room. Not a big deal, right? Well, said lady’s BF meanwhile thought she wandered off into the night, leading to a comical drunken grid search outside until she was discovered.

And thus, Sunday brought the vicious two day hangover from two straight nights of going hard. After the beach, we hit up Mike’s Seafood, a casual BYO, for dinner with wine and Bud Light Limes, while some went back to the OD yet again for another happy hour. The majority of our side of the house kept things cool and chilled on the deck for the evening to close out the opening weekend.

In spite of this, we march onward, the good shore soldiers that we are.

 Friday actually was beautiful – at least, for a brief window in the mid-to-late afternoon. A group of us spent some time at the beach in Ortley in the evening to watch the Surf Taco-sponsored surf contest at the Surf Club. Hanging out on the beach as the sun set with a light breeze – it finally felt like summer. This was exactly what we were missing and you could see the relaxation on our faces. Having spent the afternoon jogging or surfing (or for some, both), we opted against forcing a big night out (especially with Joey Harrison’s and Seaside Heights as the nearest options…) and instead conserved energies for the return of several friends, last seen MDW.

Saturday, surprise of surprises, brought back the rain as yet another beach weekend got washed out unceremoniously and early on, it took some additional coaxing just to get everyone out. The evening was our big night out in Manasquan, and what was to be our first foray into the Osprey of the season. We started off early at O’Neills to watch the Yankees game, grab a quick bite and have some $2.50 PBRs and Miller Lites. The crowd was small, but lively; a perfect pre-game setting. The music started off a little weak and weighted heavily towards Adult Contemporary, but at around 8:30 there’s this sudden and dramatic shift – 90s and current hip-hop, 80s favorites begin to dominate. By 10:15 or so, the gang got anxious and we lazily cabbed it over to the Osprey at $2 a pop (so worth it). That’s where the night changed.

Mr. Caboose was on the mic, and most of the time, we wish they weren’t. While not that prototypical “angry benny band” in the mold of Big Bang Baby and Bitter X, this hodge-podge mix of members from multiple other cover bands broke out the harder rock songs and did a mildly unimpressive job at that (at one point, forgetting the lyrics to “Pour Some Sugar on Me”). What made things worse was instead of playing crowd pleasers in between sets, the Osprey DJ busted out house/club music, which usually is left reserved for the Boom Boom room. Then you factor in the higher quotient of gweed that is typical on a Saturday night and overall, it was just off. So much so, that one unnamed team member decided to sneak out to grab a slice of pizza, cab it back to his car and take a nap! On the plus side, it was fun seeing some old “summer shore friends” again and observe young 20-somethings act wildly inappropriate. And while not a great night, I suspect better weather and a good cover band can easily restore faith.

The big “takeaway” of the weekend really was O’Neills. Left for dead after the 2007 season, I only made one trip in 2008 early in the evening and had a fun little night. Granted, we haven’t stayed past 11 there since Labor Day ‘07 – which didn’t go well – but between the good food, the beer specials, and the reality that we all are getting older, it is beginning to move up on the old depth chart.

This upcoming summer already has a slightly different feel and one might say anxiety about it; since we last left things in July, parts of our crew have either gotten married, broken up, turned 30, started new relationships or moved across state lines. But probably most crucially, while the balance of power resided in Belmar last season, this year we are without a true home base so spontaneity is less of an option. Taxi cabs and party vans need to be reserved in advance, and no man shall, nor really can, be left behind. So this is a recipe for a big letdown, right? No way.

Despite lack of happy hour specials, we are all absolutely pumped to be kicking off the big holiday weekend in style at the Parker House with the music of Generation Next in support. We’ll be rolling in strong with a group of at least a dozen and ready to make an entire night of it in Sea Girt. Saturday nights plans are a little shakier, but make no mistake, we will be out in large numbers and spirit again, ready to put the cold, dark winter behind us!!

Happy Summer 2009!