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Sunday, August 14, 2016

Beach Getaway! (Part 2)

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Paul and I just got home from a very short beach getaway! On Tuesday, we headed down to Cape May, NJ and spent the day there. Wednesday and Thursday were spent in Wildwood, NJ. I'm not going to tell you every single thing we did, but here are some highlights!

(I realized this was a little long so I broke it up into two parts. Check out Part 1 if you missed it!)

Jet ski/Running Date

On Wednesday morning in Wildwood, we had a jet ski/running date... AKA Paul rented a jet ski and I went for a run. He never went jet skiing before and he had the best time ever! I was so glad he had fun. 



My run was not fun. This is going to sound crazy, but I hate running at the beach. Too many cars. Too many people. It's just impossible to find several miles of road to be able to zone out. And I am definitely not a boardwalk runner. First of all, it feels weird on my feet. Second, I hate dodging in and out of people. I hate people.



Boardwalk @ Wildwood

We spent our last evening in New Jersey walking Wildwood's huge boardwalk. There were lots of shops, lots of food , and three piers full of amusement rides and attractions. The boardwalk was very crowded and I realized I am so over the boardwalk. Every single shop is the same and everything is overpriced ($4.50 for an ice cream cone!?). We actually walked the entire length of the boardwalk but were lazy and took the tram on the way back.



Raging Waters (This is the long one!)

Did you know I freaking LOVE water parks? Water slides are the best. Not the scary speed ones, but the safe ones. (Actually water slides statistically are the most dangerous amusement rides there are. I know this. I researched.) 



One of my favorite beach memories from childhood was going to water parks. When my family went to Wildwood, we went to Raging Waters, and I remember my brothers and I having a TON of fun. There was this one slide called Shot Gun Falls, where you slide down a steep slide, then free fall 6 feet down into a tank of water.

Obviously my goal was to recreate this awesome memory with Paul! We decided to do the early bird ticket where you could ride from the opening at 9:30 to 12:30. I figured 3 hours was enough time to squeeze in some good water park fun.



My goal was for us to be the very first people in line to buy tickets, so we rolled up the the park at 8:52am. There were only two other guys in line in front of us. Score! 

As we waited in line, we could see the lifeguards doing safety drills. It made me feel very safe to see this in action. Also on a side note, I have to say that throughout the day all the lifeguards were on POINT. After riding certain slides several times, I started picking up on some of the safety rules they had. Like after a rider goes down Shot Gun Falls, they wouldn't wave the next two riders down until BOTH of the previous riders had touched the ladder to get out of the pool. That's just one example. All in all, they knew what they were doing, and while I'm a strong swimmer, you never know what could happen and it was good to know the lifeguards, while young, were taking their job very seriously.

As I suspected, they started selling tickets around 9:15am, and since Paul and I were literally the second people to step foot in the park, it was probably only 5 minutes between the time we bought our tickets, threw our stuff in a locker, and were climbing the stairs of our first slide. See, my planning pays off sometimes!

For the first hour and fifteen minutes, Paul and I were in high speed mode. We went from slide to slide riding most of them several times because that early in the day there was either no line at all or a two minute wait at the most. This is going to sound silly, but we were exhausted by the time it was 10:45! So we took a little breather and floated through Adventure River that winds through the park. It felt great to just lay on a tube and relax for ten minutes. But after that, it was time to get going again!

By now, it was 11:00am, and it was starting to get crowded. There were actual lines for rides, but some were still shorter than others. We went hard for about another 45 minutes, but after that, we were ready to call it a day. Not only were we tired, but it just continued to get more crowded.

I bet you are wondering if I rode Shot Gun Falls again. I sure did! I went down that slide 6 times! Other cool rides were a rope swing, where you literally would swing like Tarzan and leave go into a pool of water. Then of course there were lots of twisty slides that you either went down on your back or on a tube. I loved the tube ones- they went very fast!


That's Shot Gun Falls!

There was also a cargo net stretched above one of the pools where you had to go across sort of like monkey bars... but it was a lot harder because it was a cargo net! Of course I had to go across the thing, and I actually was able to do it thanks to all the pull ups I do at Planet Fitness!

**Funny story: The next day when I went to the gym to lift, I noticed my shoulders and triceps were sore before I even began. Then I remembered the cargo net from the day before and realized that's what I get for being cocky!

**One more funny story: All the warnings said don't wear your sunglasses on the water slides because you will either lose them or break them. I did not heed the warnings so of course mine broke. Dang, and I'm always such a rule follower!
Have you ever been to Cape May or Wildwood?
Where do you like to hit the beach?
Do you like water parks?

20 comments:

  1. I never go to the boardwalk anymore when we are in Wildwood. Its just too overpriced and crowded. I like running near the water on the beach. I find that the sand is thick enough that it doesn't feel too difficult. I also like going out nice and early before it gets crowded!

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  2. WOW you guys made the most out of time at the water park! I would have been happy to lay on the lazy river raft ALLLLLLL day. I looooove laying on rafts and just relaxing like that for hours! Especially under the warm sun that makes you a little bit sleepy... ah!

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  3. I love that you guys made the most of this little trip. I actually love water slides but I HATE waiting in line. I always hold my sunglasses during, and I only go on the slides that have inner-tubes because I don't like getting wedgies from sitting on the slide itself lol! I'm with Kristina though - the lazy river is my favorite!

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    1. I hate waiting in line too! It gives me anxiety. Today I had to wait in line at the library and I didn't like it! And the library is a very calming place.

      I almost had to get out my teacher voice when two little kids cut in line in front of us for the lazy river. I was so annoyed.

      The inner tube slides make me go way faster than like the body slides.

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  4. Oh, I hate people too. Crowds--not a fan. And people just aren't nice these days. That will be Trump's legacy he leaves us with.

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  5. I haven't been to a water park in years. I loved them as a kid, but now it's too chaotic for my adult psyche now. I'm also always thinking sunburn! sunburn! now. I'm definitely more of a mountain person than beach person.

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    1. I completely understand. Water parks are VERY HYPE.

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  6. Your trip looks awesome! What fun!! I have never been to that area before. The water park looks great too. I have been converted to liking water parks. When I was a senior in high school we went to a water park. I went on a high speed body slide and ended up almost loosing my top and having to pick my bottoms out of my crotch. I was MORTIFIED. Not to mention I am claustrophobic and was freaked out with water splashing in my face in a tube slide. Issues!! Anyhow, since having kids I have eased back into water parks (love them now mostly) and have a blast on almost all of the rides. But never fast body slides! ;)

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    1. I know exactly what body speed slides you are talking about, and while I remember riding them once or twice as a kid, I would never, ever get on one of them now! They HURT at the end!

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  7. Looks like you guys did a lot in the three days you were there! I have only been on a waver rider/ jet ski one time in my life and I will never do it again. Scott and I rented one when we were in the Bahamas one year and till this day I say it has been the scariest thing I ever did in my adult life..lol. They made us take a class before we went out in the water and gave us all these tips in case we flipped over. They mentioned flipping over so casually like it was bound to happen at least once. I was determined that we were NOT going to flip over. When we would turn into a have instead of turning in towards it (like you were suppose to do) I turned away. Oh I hated every moment of that..lol.

    Now on to water parks... my parents love water parks and of course would drag us along. My sister loves them but of course I was always frightened of the big ones. I'm more of a lazy river person!

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    1. If I had to guess, I would have guessed that Lacey was the sister who liked water slides and you were the one who liked the lazy river!

      I do not think I would like jet skis either! It does sound scary to me. What if the jet ski landed on you? What if there is a shark in the water??? Glad I stayed on dry land!

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    2. OMG I was so scared of just being flipped over that I never even gave it a thought about sharks!!! Oh BTW did you hear about the boy who was killed on the water slide last week?

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  8. Omg I hate OCMD. That place is so busy and crazy. It was fun when I was like 22-25. Not anymore! How did you get injured on a water slide??? :(

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  9. That looks like so much fun!! Recreating good memories at the water park sounds amazing!

    The picture of grumpy cat in this post is me in one meme!

    My favorite beach to visit is Rehoboth DE, I could live there! We go there so much, that it's starting to feel like home.

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    1. I can tell from your blog you enjoy the DE beaches. :) They are just so far away. It seems like it takes 4+ hours to get to them with all the traffic.

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  10. That is soooooooooooo scary!!!!!!!!!!! Were you up high? Yes you should have sued. You'd own the park and be living in a mansion with 30 cats.

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