Going For A Walk: The Jersey Shore

Even though I grew up in New Jersey, I never felt particularly connected to the shore in the way some people I knew were. I had friends whose parents rented the same house in the same town for two weeks every summer. When I was very young, my grandparents had a shore house. My aunt and uncle have had a home in Ortley Beach for years, where they spend half of their time these days. Still, anyone who’s lived in New Jersey knows there are “shore people.” I am not one of them.

So I’m going to take a walk. The entirety of the shore, from Cape May Point to Sandy Hook. This is somewhere in the neighborhood of 110 miles, done in about two non-consecutive weeks. I don’t honestly know where this idea came from. But I can say seeing Neil King tweeting about his walk from DC to New York City made me decide that yes, people do these kinds of things. And I’m at a unique point in my life where I’ve got more flexibility than I’ll probably ever have again.

I’ve hesitated to post about this and even tell my family and friends, mostly because I don’t really know how to respond when people ask me why I’m doing it. Why? Because it’s there, and because I can. I like walking, and I’d forgotten that over a year spent mostly indoors and on the couch. I’ve done trips by car, and by plane, and by train, and now, it seems to make sense to try it on my own two feet.

I’ll be starting part one on Saturday, June 12th, from Cape May Lighthouse. From there, I’ll head through Cape May, the Wildwoods, Stone Harbor, Avalon, Sea Isle City, Strathmere, Ocean City, Longport, Margate, Ventnor, Atlantic City, and Brigantine.

Watch this space over the next few weeks for more.