Two years ago we camped at Jersey Shore Haven (JSH) over the July 4th holiday.  That was the first time that we saw fireworks on the beach.  It was impressive.  We decided to do it again this year.

The day before going we had a pig roast at our house with around sixty guests.  We were lucky to have good friends who helped us set up and clean up from the party.  Without them we wouldn’t have been able to head to Jersey Shore Haven the very next day.

Once we arrived and set up it was time to relax with a nice glass of wine.  One of my favorites:  Peterson Winery’s Mendo Blendo.

In the morning of our second day I took a 10 mile bike ride around the neighborhood.  Along the route a man in a pickup truck pointed out this juvenile fox standing under a tree eating mulberries.  The fox didn’t seem to have any problem dining as we watched from maybe 50 yards away.

As I turned into the driveway of the campground, I caught a glimpse of a wild turkey.

Later that day we went to the beach for a few hours.  On the way back we stopped by Mike’s Fish Market in Sea Isle City.  We grilled grouper, swordfish, and scallops for dinner.  All subsequent seafood dinners will be compared to this one.  It was absolutely delicious.

A couple of days later I took a longer bike ride.  My plan was to ride to the East Point Lighthouse on the Delaware Bay about 15 miles from JSH.  Now, I had heard about greenhead flies.  I had seen the boxes scattered about that were supposedly there to control them.  But, I hadn’t really experienced them.  I did on this ride!  About half way to the lighthouse they began to pursue me.  They bit me a few times even through my shorts and shirt.  They provided plenty of motivation for me to keep up my pace.  Otherwise they would swarm around me.

With the encouragement of the flies I kept up a good pace and made it to the lighthouse.

The lighthouse was built to guide fisherman to the mouth of the Maurice River.

Here is a picture of the Delaware Bay facing away from the lighthouse.

And here is a picture of one of the salt marshes I rode through along the way.

I thought this old house was interesting.  Not a lick of paint on it and yet it looks like it has stood on that corner for a long, long time.

Later in the week we had a visit from hurricane Arthur.  The blue dot on the radar map shows our location.  The storm was moving north east so the map shows the worst of the storm for us.

During the storm we read our books, played games and watched videos on our iPads.  The wind and rain was no problem for the camper.  Much better than being in a tent!  I only worried that one of the trees near the camper might lose a limb or fall over on us due to the wind.  Luckily that didn’t happen.

Most firework displays were rescheduled due to the storm.  We planned to see the fireworks in Stone Harbor on Saturday.  When we tried to drive into Stone Harbor there was a line of traffic backed up all the way past the NJ Turnpike.  We turned around and decided to head back to the campground, but then I had the idea of driving into Avalon and then, once on the island, seeing how far south we could drive back toward Stone Harbor.  It turned out that we were able to park at the south end of Avalon and walk down to Stone Harbor to see the show there.  We had front row seats.

This was a vacation to remember.  Very relaxing.  A chance to spend time with some of our Airstream friends and an opportunity to meet new ones.  We enjoyed ourselves so much that we are now on the waiting list for an opportunity to purchase a share at JSH.  We are looking forward to many return visits.