NJ Shore Points Trip - Part 1

On June 26th, we set out on the delayed family trip to Point Pleasant with the only drawback that day being the heat. It was my mom and I, plus my grandmother (who loves going to see the ocean) heading up to Lakewood. There, we picked up one cousin and unexpectedly, my aunt decided to go as well. Before we left their house, other shore points were suggested to avoid the possibly more crowded Point Pleasant.

The five of us left the house and while not sure yet where we'd end up, we decided to grab lunch at a nearby Cheeburger Cheeburger. Another cousin, the youngest of my cousins in this part of NJ was working there in the cool 50's themed diner. As we walked in, the first thing I saw was this cardboard likeness of film legend James Dean.

Lunch was great...food, service, atmosphere. With my burger, I had a sugar-free raspberry Shake-a-Soda which was served in a style that reflected the diner's theme.

After lunch, we were on our way again to pick up one more cousin from the area and it was decided that we'd go to Manasquan. Once there, it turned out to be a bit crowded and we were unable to find a place to park. It seems like a nice beach area to visit another time, and it was an area of NJ that we hadn't seen before...the first of many that day. Here are some photos I took there as we attempted to look for a place to park.

This old structure looks like it has some stories to tell, with how weather-worn it appears. I didn't catch a glimpse of any signs indicating what the structure is, but very interesting.

With no parking spaces to be found, we continued on our way again to see how things would be at Spring Lake. In Spring Lake Heights we spotted an Irish pub and decided to stop there for a few moments, so I took these photos.

I found out later online that Spring Lake has a very large population of people who are of Irish descent. Irish is what makes up the majority of my ancestry, so it was interesting to find out about the town's Irish connection.

The next time on the road, we were heading to the shore point of Spring Lake and we saw so many beautiful beach houses before parking the car. Some were across a lake that was being occupied by a large flock of swans. The best photo I managed to take of a swan was of one with its head underwater for a moment.

I'm going to leave off here for now, since there are still a lot of photos I want to post with the stories behind them. The trip so far was already interesting what with seeing so many things and being in places for the first time. To be continued...