It rained all night long–a steady, light rain into the early morning hours. When we got up at 8:00 the rain had stopped, but it was cloudy and 61 degrees. Auggie got a nice long walk this morning after being cooped up most of the day yesterday. We got ready and left for Atlantic City around 10:00. We took a secondary highway down to the Boardwalk to avoid all the toll roads. As we crossed Laker Bay to Atlantic City, we could see the skyline of the city.
We drove down Pacific Ave. to get a feel for the area. It was pretty deserted at this time of the morning.
Our first stop was the Abecon Lighthouse on the north end of the boardwalk.
It is a restored 1857 lighthouse, the tallest beacon on the Jersey shore and the third tallest masonry lighthouse (171 ft.) in the country. It still has its original Fresnel lens.
Bob couldn’t understand how this lighthouse ended up in the middle of these tall buildings. The lighthouse was there first and the buildings got built up around it.
The 6′ waves were rolling in at the shore with the winds blowing 15 mph, gusting to 25 mph.
The neighborhoods around the north end of the boardwalk were rundown and had lots of vacant lots and boarded up houses. We discovered that Hurricane Sandy of 2012 had really done a number on the boardwalk and the area around it. We found a safe looking place to park on the street and walked 2 blocks to the boardwalk.
When we began our walk along the boardwalk at 11:00, there were not many people around.
As we continued to walk south, more people joined us on the boardwalk as the temperature rose to 67.
We stopped in the Hard Rock Cafe to use the restroom,check out the casino, and continued on.
We walked over to the beach to get a view of the casinos on the boardwalk and the water.
We got good view of the Steel Pier from there.
The Steel Pier is the amusement pier where you can ride on the ferris wheel, the Crazy Mouse roller coaster, bumper cars, and or play carnival games. We walked quite a ways on the boardwalk, almost to Central Pier, and decided to turn around. We had been walking WITH the wind, but once we started back, we were walking against the wind and WOW! What a difference!
It was quite a workout! We decided to take a break from the wind and grab a beer at the Landshark Bar and Grill–one of the few places open.
We walked back to the truck and headed out past the commercial fishing boat pier.
We stopped at Wal-Mart for some groceries and new windshield wiper blades. We got back to the campground at 2:00 and it started to rain again. It rained lightly most of the afternoon. Auggie was happy to have us home. We hung out, watching some TV and had an early dinner. Tomorrow, we planned a drive down to Cape May. Hopefully, the weather will be nicer.
[Kudos to Bob on this trip. He has gone out of his way to find me lighthouses, covered bridges, and waterfalls. He has found places where I can get great photos and made sure I had the opportunities to see all the places and sights I wanted to see. Our marriage has always been a partnership and he is the greatest partner a woman could ever have. Thanks, honey!]
