Down the Shore

January 21, 2013

Down the Shore

We went to the Jersey Shore this weekend. To reality TV, the Jersey Shore is known for personalities such as Snookie, JWoww, the Situation and other colorful characters who drink too much and are always up to trouble.

The cast of the Jersey Shore. Just bask in it for a moment and you might get a fake tan...and they say they are Italian...sigh, what is this world coming to?

While that part of New Jersey might very well exist, the majority of the Jersey Shore is home to summer mansions, miles of boardwalks and lovely restaurants.

Yesterday's sunny 50 degree weather prompted us to take a drive "down the shore".

Blue Skies shining on me, nothing but blue skies do I see.

You see, in New Jersey, when you want to say that you are going to the beach you say, "I'm going down the shore." When you are at the beach and someone calls you and you tell them where you are you say, "I'm down the shore." This phrase confused me for a moment till I realized it was a regional lexicon that would make my Linguistics Professor run in circles to explain.

So Sunday, yesterday we said "Let's go down the shore" and we really wanted to see the damages that Hurricane Sandy did, and to take a peak at how the different towns down the shore might be rebuilding.

Closed

Boarded up

Steve's is no more.

Boarded up but with a pinch of national pride.

This post office is not open.

Rebuiding

I have to say that I feel optimistic about the shore being rebuilt. While Hurricane Sandy might have wiped out most of the board walks, there are people there every day cleaning rubbish off the streets and rebuilding one stone at a time.

The boardwalk is gone.

This adorable Liquor store made it.

This dune helped keep the houses minimally safe.

Despite seeing so much devastation the beach gave me a sense of strength, perhaps it's own strength since it did all this mess to the shore, but maybe this strength is what makes people love it so much that they are willing to rebuild again and again.