Ocean City 2006

Ocean City, Maryland. If anything, Ocean City is not only known for its fabulous beaches (Rehobeth Beach is right down the road) but also for it's crab and ribs (JR's Ribs). I took of from work to spend some quality time with the family and relax a little. Ill go by and caption each frame as it was taken.

We got to the Ocean on July 5th; you can imagine that it was PACKED for the July 4th weekend. To illustrate my point, we took this picture when we got here. Seems everyone checked out (signed out) of the hotel that evening or the next morning (saw many people packing up to go home). That is how busy the beach was, at 2:00pm on July 5th. Not too many people, perfect kite flying weather, but I needed to get a kite!

We stayed at the Dunes Manor Hotel, a nice Victorian style hotel with its own hottub, pool (wow big whup) but also an amazing lobby, a huge chandolier, antiques, HUGE paintings, a piano, its own gift shop, and of course its own gym, bar and casual restaraunt. I love coming down to listen to the piano player in the evening; they play everything from folk onto classical (thank the heavenly maker there was no singing of Opera or such sort). The gift shop is cool, sells what you think it would: Postcards, keychains and what not, but as a Victorian Style hotel, they specialized in Jewelry (at affordable prices) and a lot of porcelin... The only thing I did not like about the hotel is that some of the dolls were not only porcelin, but clowns. More on this in the future, but clowns frighten me; they are the agents of the Devil. Discussion Ended. The food is pretty good there I must say, but it is nothing spectacular or amazing. I had a quick burger there for lunch and I would give it a B+. Tasty, edible, but nothing "OMG this is sooo good!" The picture is of the boardwalk from the 4th floor of the hotel. The Dunes Manor is located not even 150 feet from the boardwalk, a 3 mile long stretch of walkway where shops galore sell their wares. We call it the boardwalk because the walking surface is planked with boards. There you can find all kinds of shops, antiques, a picture gallery (Seinfeld fans, my dad bought a picture of Kramer for his office), home items and decor, T-shirts, beach necessities, tatoo parlors and what not. The one place we always stop at on the boardwalk? THRASHERS French Fries. The absoloute best french fries that have EVER had the PLEASURE of entering your mouth. They are so good I would go as far as ordering them shipped to my house kind of good. Not overcooked in grease, and at affordable prices, you know your paying for good stuff. 3/4 of a medium bucket is enough to fill me for the afternoon. Sometimes there are long lines; trust me it is worth waiting for.

There is a tram entrance/exit at the end of each side of the boardwalk so you can get to the end and back within about 10 minutes, instead of walking for an hour and a half or so (Hey, good exercise!). One thing I would like to point out though, is every year sand sculpturs come and sculpt beautiful art into the sand about 1/4 to half way down the boardwalk. They are usually done by Christian artists; and the art and attention to detail is absoloutly amazing. One was done of Jesus on the Cross and it read in sand: Thankyou Jesus. I felt guilty letting myself know I didn't put money in that water cooler jug. Probably the best art I have ever seen not on some form of paper.

My advice to you, is WEAR TENNIS SHOES YOU SOCK WEARING SANDLE LOVING TOURISTS. Wear tennis shoes while walking on the boardwalk, or its blister paradise for you back at the hotel. I warned my Dad not to wear his sandles because I wanted to walk a bit, but nooooo. I ended up going to the Kite Loft about half way down the boardwalk, and ended up purchasing a better kite for myself. I wanted a kite that could withstand heavier winds, faster winds, but still be freaking big and awesome. I ended up buying a 10ft wingspan kite along with a nice windsock (its 24 feet long but I thought it read 24 inches, go fig) and a 110lb line, heavy duty stuff. I didn't take it up until the day after due to thunder storms.

Another Shot of the beach that morning on July 5th, later on when the sun was going down.

And then everyone else shows up! more Tourists! there will be no kite flying here, and I stayed up in the hotel room watching TV and playing the Playstation 2.

Me the next day getting my kite up at about 6pm. It was easy to put together and behaved VERY well in the wind I was given. No heavy tension on the line, no flapping of the kite, It behaved like a gem. The sock really helped out, I nearly flipped out (in a good way!) when I saw the tail sock! This is a shot of me (see my pretty face) from the 4th floor of the hotel getting the kite somewhat up there. Later on I let it out fully, and I was amazed at how big the kite was; but how tiny it was in the sky!!

The kite, zoomed in. I forgot to move the side bars down a little, thus the "V" shape, it still held up fine despite MY screwup. Notice the length of the tail, hehe. The end did not have an opening in it, but the front did, adding extra stability to the kite. Always, when you can put a tail on the kite, because nose-dives down back to earth can tear open the kite (old one, fixing it it wasn't that badly damaged). I bought it of Nylon material so it will last, and the pockets are extra big for the side bar. Awesome kite, but for something that is reliable and works, with accessories, it cost me $95 USD, or 75 Euro, 52 GBP, or 11,054 Yen. The money variations are linked, because although the links will always change with the fluctuation of money, other currencies vs. each other ALWAYS change.

Backside view of the Dunes Manor Hotel. It is all beachside viewing and it is great. We stayed on the 4th floor (the lowest rooms count as 2f, so count up 3 from the deck and thats the 4th floor) all the way to the right. It was PERFECT viewing.

And that is it for now on my 2006 vacation! you can visit the gallery of it at http://www.maj.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=118630 , I will add new pictures as I find them and obtain permission. You may use these photos that I have posted and taken, but I ask that credit is given is all. You don't need too, but it is appreciated. Thanks!