Well, we made it back from the Jersey Shore, that is the wet and foggy Jersey Shore.

Diane and I rented a beach house at Ortley Beach, New Jersey, for the week and were joined by her daughter, Tammy and her 14-month-old little boy, Brandon. We had stayed a few blocks away at the Waldorf Condominiums about 10 years ago, and we really enjoyed ourselves.

That visit was during the end of June and through the July 4th holiday. I remember the surprise I had seeing the beautiful white sand beaches for the first time, something I never had imagined for New Jersey. And the water was a very warm (for the ocean) 76 degrees. We had sunny skies and warm temperatures for the entire stay.

Last year, we spent two weeks in New Jersey in mid August and again, we had beautiful weather with no rain and temperatures in the low 80s and high 70s. We went to the shore one day and found the water to be about 70 degrees.

So, what was it like this time? I checked the Internet before we left and saw the water temperature at Seaside Heights (the next town south of Ortley Beach) was 58 degrees! The forecasted highs for the week were mainly in the 70s with a few 80s and a chance of rain and thunderstorms four of the seven days we would be there.

Let me tell you, the weather people on TV in that area have their work cut out for them.  Unlike here, where the forecast is generally the same for most of the year, we noticed that the forecast can almost change by the hour in New Jersey.

Our first full day there was on Sunday, June 7. It turned out to be the best beach day we would have. It was 79 degrees and mostly sunny. I rubbed in the sunblock, but that was the only time I needed to do that for this trip. The high temperatures at the shore were mostly in the low 60s.

In the late afternoon, we started getting hungry, and we decided to drive to the Boardwalk at Seaside Heights. The place has a long line of shops, restaurants, games of chance (with plenty of pestering hawkers) and amusement park rides ranging from kiddie rides to a Ferris Wheel and a roller coaster. It is junk food heaven. We shared a cheesesteak sandwich, a sausage, peppers and onions sandwich, some fried calamari and the largest slice of pepperoni pizza I have ever seen.

Where are the Tums?

Unfortunately, we didn’t take Brandon on any of the rides that day, thinking we would come back another day during the week. As it turned out, when we came back, most of the Boardwalk was not open. Someone told us it was the weather, another said they were doing repair work on the rides and then we got the real story from an elderly lady working in a gift shop.

“Most things are closed because it’s not the season yet. We go on summer hours in about two weeks. The kids are still in school now,” she said.

 We found that most businesses in the entire area were not open from Monday through Thursday.

Getting back to the weather, after having one of the driest springs, the northern New Jersey area is making up for lost time. It has rained all but two of the last 21 days. Everything is super green. It’s beautiful.

Despite the rain and fog, we still had a good time at the shore. It turned out to be a lot more relaxing. We took walks along the boardwalk daily, sometimes twice. We drove along Ocean Avenue to sight-see.

We drove through the communities of Lavalette, Point Pleasant and Bayhead.

I picked up a newspaper called the Ocean Star. Big news in the area was a vacation visit by Vice President Joe Biden the previous week. The front page picture was Biden with a 7-11 clerk where he had bought a cup of coffee.

The police chief in the town of Bayhead had been notified prior to the vice president’s arrival with his wife, but he was told to keep everything low key. Most people did not know he had been in the area until he was gone.

As I said, it was a good, relaxing week. We used the opportunity to get to know our grandson better. He’s just starting to talk and was a lot of fun.

We did find some good restaurants despite most places being closed.  If you are ever in the area, try the Crab’s Claw Inn in Lavalette and the Atlantic Bar & Grill and the Berkeley Restaurant, both in South Seaside Park.

We left the shore on Friday morning and drove to East Hanover, where Tammy and husband Brandon are living while their home is being rebuilt after the fire. We went to see their residence that had the basement fire in East Orange.

Thank God for smoke detectors.

Actually seeing the charred beams under the floor of the main level gave you a sick feeling. If Tammy hadn’t been awakened by the smoke alarm, they could have been dead within a matter of minutes from smoke inhalation, the firemen told them.

The fire started in the wiring of a ceiling light in the basement that had been used earlier that evening, but had been turned off. The lesson to learn through all of this is, check your smoke alarm batteries!

We had a surprise at the airport. Our flight was three hours late taking off. That wasn’t the surprise since the Newark airport has the worst on-time record of all U.S. cities.

I thought I had noticed some familiar faces in the waiting area, but as we were finally about to board, I heard a woman’s voice say, “I know you.” I looked up and it was Cindy from the local CVS pharmacy department.

She told me she was one of a group of parents and teachers that accompanied 27 Fountain Hills Middle School students on a trip to Europe.

The group was exhausted. They had been up since 4 a.m. Paris time for their long journey home. The last thing they needed was a three-hour delay for the last leg of the trip.

We plan to get a story and some photos of their travels around Europe.

As always, it’s good to be home.