Of all the places to vacation in the mid-Atlantic, my favorite is the Cape May County region of South Jersey. Cape May County is at the southern coastal tip of New Jersey. While many people vacation in Cape May, enjoying it’s lighthouse and Victorian homes, my favorite spot is Sea Isle City, a somewhat lesser known, but still bustling coastal town.
The beauty of Sea Isle City is that it is not overly commercialized and rather than being dominated by big condo buildings, it almost all consists of 2-3 story homes. This gives it the feel of a small town.
It’s beaches are long and vast. In fact, the beaches in Sea Isle City run about 6 miles long. Some of these beaches have lifeguards and some are designated for special activities like surfing and boogie boarding. About 1.5 miles of Sea Isle City has a paved promenade for biking and jogging (or window shopping).
Most vacationers to will rent for a week at a time. The rates for a Sea Isle City rental run anywhere from one to three thousand dollars per week during the peak summer. In the off-season, when the city empties, you can often get a nice home for $500 per month.
One of the best places about Sea Isle is the food. Here’s a link to restaurant suggestions from a long-time resident of Sea Isle. Our favorites are Valerie’s Place for low-key family eating, Mike’s Seafood for fresh seafood and Azzurra Pizzeria for pizza and quick Italian.
For more information on Sea Isle City, check out the following sites:
What better way is there to make a vacation count than to schedule your pleasure time around an activist event? In addition to taking part in social action that can make a difference, you can also enjoy the sights and flavors of the area, and schedule some well-earned down time.
There are annual protests, such as the one held each year at Fort Benning, in Georgia. This is a protest against what used to be called the School of Americas, but has been renamed. According to some, the renaming is an attempt at rebranding a site responsible for training Latin American military personnel in the finer arts of torture.
This event is held in November, the weather is likely to offer a quite pleasant getaway for those coming from northern regions, where the winter chill is typically just settling in. Fort Benning is located near Columbus, a nice sized city — big enough to offer the visitor plenty to do and small enough to feel safe and comfortable.
Columbus is home to seven museums, including two having to do with military history. The richly ornate Springer Opera House is more than a century old, and offers, in addition to a broad range of fine performances, many vintage artifacts and displays of a bygone era in American history.
Nearby Pine Mountain is the site of the F. D. Roosevelt State Park, with 10, 000 acres available for exploration, camping and a variety of other outdoors activities. The Callaway Gardens offer another outdoor adventure, with 14,000 acres providing great hiking and an assortment of activities and events.
Washington, DC, is another great place to combine social action and vacation. In January of 2007, United for Peace and Justice organized a rally and march on the capital. Numerous social action groups choose the nation’s capital as a site to make themselves heard concerning their cause. Recent years have seen immigrant rights groups, organizations devoted to the well-being of families and children, groups championing equality between the races, organizations seeking to end poverty and hunger, and many more staging demonstrations and rallies at the capital buildings.
Naturally, the DC area has a wealth of fascinating attractions sure to make any vacation a memorable one. In addition to museums, art galleries, performing arts, fine dining, and an active nightlife, there are also unexpected pleasures. The zoo could be classified as one of those, as a zoo of this size in the nation’s capital is a bit unexpected. Open every day, except for Christmas, the Smithsonian National Zoological Park is located at 3001 Connecticut Avenue. There is no admission fee to enter and enjoy the wide variety of animal life.
Blending a bit of social action in support of the causes and ideals that are important to you can be a great way to spend a vacation. This is especially true for families, as the children will learn and experience things that they will remember for a lifetime.
