The Great Cape May Escape!

A few weeks ago I mentioned that me and my bf took an impulsive miniature vacation. Both of us have been burned out by being at the lower portion of the corporate caste system. Ruts happen to everyone and it is not fun at all. So it was up to us to do something about it! It sort of went something like this:

Thursday Night:
Me: Let's go somewhere!
Him: But where? And when?
Me: I don't know... *sigh*

Friday Morning:
Him: I booked a hotel! We leave tonight!
Me: Yay!
Him: Yay!

And that's exactly what we did. After work, we drove a couple of hours into Cape May, a sleepy beach town at the southernmost tip of NJ. This was probably one of the best decisions we've ever made!







We stayed at the Victorian Motel. It doesn't look like much from the outside, but it was clean and comfortable. The staff was extremely friendly and there are a couple of lazy house cats that pretty much own the lobby. The location is only a couple of blocks from the beach!







My favorite meal of the trip had to be breakfast at the Mad Batter. The menu can be described as eclectic and indeed it was. They take modern twists to old time favorites like the Eggs Benedict topped with crabmeat and almond french toast. Mmm! That's my plate pictured on the right. I had the homemade chorizo with eggs topped with salsa and a side of fruit. 









We ate breakfast on the balcony and down the street I saw this gigantic black lump. It turns out that it was this cat! This is probably the biggest cat I've ever seen! I don't know what I think about that! It looks like it lived next door, so I took a photo while it was sunbathing. Cats seem to naturally dislike me. This one turned its head away from me as I snapped the photo. I think it did it on purpose. Pfft!







The town center is a single street about half a mile long that is lined with little shops with an old-timey feel. I loved this little soap shop! They had rubber duckies in the windows.







More ducks! I actually had forgotten to pack some face wash so I bought a bar here. I think it doubles as a nice souvenir.







Pretty glycerin soaps with pictures in them!







Cape may is a very quirky town! If you look hard enough you might be able to find magic in the nooks and crannies. What's that sign over there?! Where does it lead?






Go there? Ok.






And turn here? Sure!







A SHARK! OH NO!!!







Here is another funny sign that we found! Mermaids! Yay!







There are a lot of beautiful houses here!







A horse carriage going around the town! This is just the kind of magical place it is!








A pink house! How Cute!

We spent a few hours at the beach, but at the time the water was freezing at a whopping 59 degrees! Yuck! That kind of limited the beach activities, but it was kind of nice to hang around the beach. It was cool and comfortable. It was so relaxing. I think I fell asleep.







We rented bikes and went a few miles to see the lighthouse. Other attractions included this creepy bunker that's been around since WWII, and the educational center which highlights the local wildlife and preservation. 







We found this tiny toad! And on the right is a bird apartment! There were about thirty of them lined across the parking lot. I knew what it was because I saw them build one on the Martha Stewart Show. They even have a ventilation system that sort of works as air conditioning. How nice for them! I don't even have an air conditioner but these bird do!







That was my bike for the day! It even had a basket for my purse! The silver one behind it was my bf's!







That's meee! hahahaha!







Bird watching. We saw lots of swans!







After our bike ride we were hungry and stopped by Hotdog Tommy's hotdog stand. The guy was so funny with his hotdog hat. I had to take a photo with him :)

I love everything about this place! The hotdogs had some innovative flavors based on common American Diner foods like the Reuben dog, Chicago dog, Buffalo dog. Its fun to order things because they renamed everything on the menu. A "small" is actually called "Really small" and medium is "Smiddle" weighing at an unusual 13 oz instead of 12 oz. The hotdogs come in two sizes as well. A small dog is a Leaner Weiner and a large is I think if I remember correctly a Mad Dog. Good times!








And here are some sneaky candid photos of the two adventurers!

Worst restaurant - some diner I don't even care to remember. I won't even mention it because it was just plain awful.

Least favorite restaurant: Uncle Bill's Pancake House - Kinda comparable to IHOP. The atmosphere felt a little rushed, the food was ok at best. And one of my biggest regrets in life was eating a scrapple. Its a local food and tastes as horrible as it sounds. Its a lot like deep fried spam.

I would go back to Bill's, but it wouldn't be my first choice to eat.

Favorite restaurant: Lobster House - Everything was fresh and super delicious! We splurged and got a two pound lobster! The Manhattan clam chowder was really good too! Probably the best I've ever had.

Cape May is a beautiful place! I would love to go back and hopefully we'll see if we can arrange another trip later in the summer.

Do you have plans for the summer? I'd love to know how you spend it.