Do you wanna go faster?!

Anyone whose ridden the Himalya at some point in their lives knows that question. Ratt's Round and Round blaring in the background while the ride operator yells the question that can be answered merely by screaming.

Lots of things have changed on the boardwalk over the years. We have the internet to remind us of the past.. But a lot of that same feeling remains, even all of those years later. Maybe it's the fact that they still blast 80s music on the pier. But it has been fun to see my kids riding a lot of the same rides (and new ones) that I rode at their age. My oldest finally reached that magical height that allows her to ride anything on the boards.

Saved by Zero

It's starting to happen. Gah! Can't seem to get myself on here everyday. And recently it's not for a lack of things to talk about. Last week was vacation #1.  Yes I'm actually taking two summer vacations. I felt bad about it, because that's what I do. But it won't last.

So last week was the family vacation. Things were split up a little different than in past years. Typically it is my family (mom, dad, sometimes sister, sometimes brother and his family) for the entire week. We usually rent a townhome or condo in the area of North Wildwood, New Jersey. But this year we were going to cut it short and only do four days to cut down a bit on costs. And another difference was me doing the booking as opposed to my wife or mother.

So we decided to look at motels instead of townhomes because townhomes typically will only rent a full week. So I found what I thought was a nice one located in Wildwood proper. What attracted me was a two-bedroom unit which I thought would give some semblance of privacy (we were staying with my parents). Plus they owned two building each with pools that we could use. Perfect.

Unit K would be perfect to stay in. It was in building 2 (according to the website) across the street instead of the building that say right on the boardwalk. But it still had a pool which was nice.

So imagine our surprise when we arrived and it was not in building 2, but a small two floor white building located behind another building behind building 2. This building had no pool. True the walk wasn't THAT far. But for a mother that had a double knee replacement in January, the steps and walk could be tiring. Plus, it wasn't what was told to us on the website.

Plus the room was small. Very small. It was clean, but small. The website indicated a full-size fridge. Um, no. It wasn't a dorm fridge, but full-size it was not. But hey shit happens and we weren't going to let it ruin our good time. The rooftop pool in building 1 was pretty cool (even if it was a walk across the street and then 3 flights of stairs up). The water was nice and the view was cool.

So we ventured to the boards that first night determined to not think about what it was we were going home to. We rode our rides, ate our ice cream and then squeezed into the full-size bed to try and sleep.

When we woke the next morning, you could still see the look on everyone's face. It said what everyone was thinking. This place just sucked. We decided the best thing to do was not stay there. The longer we did the more it depressed us. So we went up to the boards to play a little skee ball. I should have known something was up when my wife said "I'll meet you up there".

A hour later she finds us in the arcade and asks my mom to come with her. After about 20 minutes I get a call "We're moving."  She had found a townhome, in North Wildwood that hadn't been rented that week. In desperation he agreed to give us a deal on 3 nights there. And after the motel we were staying in were only willing to move us to another location if we were wiling to pay more money, the choice was obvious. We packed up faster than ever, loaded the cars back up and headed ten blocks north to start our second attempt at our family vacation. More to come....

Beware of floating heads!

When you have children you are prepared to have your sleep interrupted at any moment. It's just the nature of the game. Even when they are well into the "sleeping through the night" portion of their lives, there are still nightmares, midnight bathroom breaks, etc.

Bang Your Head! (against a tree)

Having (barely) survived the first night, I was now loaded with caffeine and warm by the first and ready to take on the day. The first thing I remember hitting me was the smell. It was a bad smell, but a familiar smell from long ago. That camping smell of the cold early morning air, of other's starting fires, cooking breakfast, etc. was strong. As the members of our group rose one by one we started on the task of cooking some breakfast.

 Going camping is always a bit like going back into a time machine. Not because you're living the simple life of drinking coffee from a tin cup around the fire. But the people you're surrounded by feel like they're from a different time and place. And that would be more apparent at that night's festivities.

Lost in the Wilderness, Lost in Time

I meant to type this out a week ago, but I guess I needed that much time to recover. Last week I did something I hadn't done since I was a kid. I went camping.

Memorial Day Weekend was spent at Happy Hills Campground, in scenic Hancock, Maryland. Oh and what a weekend it was. As I said, it's been quite some time since Ole Jergy has been camping. So there was with a bit of nostalgic excitement as I drove the family up to Carroll County to meet up with our friends who invited us along to this adventure. Little did I expect to pull in front of their home to see this....

Lost in the woods...

Almost Fisher, almost...

You will not win! So here's a post telling you to expect another post. I've been too busy the past week to say much up anything, but if this weekend goes how I think it might go, I'll have plenty to tell you all about come Monday... so stay tuned for that!

So, to catch you up on the week...

The Final Countdown!!!

*Giggle-snort*

Parkville - Land of Pleasant Living

So Friday night, Mrs. Jergy and I decided to enjoy the awesome weather before we were under a weekend of thunderstorms.

A local watering hole was starting a summer concert series in the parking lot across the street and no better way to spend your Friday then drinking beer on the asphalt while listening to music.This pub that was hosting is known as a beacon of excellent beer in this Natty-Boh of a town. So even if the music was disappointing, you knew the beer would be good....

Oh no!

There are many things I like about this gif. First, it shows my beloved Orioles doing something positive. Second, the reaction on the face of Tom Terrific is beyond hilarious. And third, the underlying pain it causes Boston fans to see their hero is a Yankees fan.

I'm living in a Beavis and Butthead episode

This is what I found on my iPad after the kids had it for an hour.

Back in the saddle...

[cue ominous music]

In a world where anyone can publish anything, no matter how mundane. There was a man, and I'm talking about me, that was ready to start this blogging thing back up.

Hello Hello hello hello hello.....hmmm kinda quiet in here. Not a worry. Never easy to start again.

So as I was surfing around today I stumbled across this.

That, my friends, is a relic of internet past. My first foray into the blogging world. Amazing how very different things were back then (although Mrs. Jergy will say not different enough). But the one things I noticed is how I still enjoyed reading them. So I'm hoping you will enjoy what I have to say on here too.

Hey if not, I'll read them 10 years later and get inspired to try this all again. So give me some time to get this all nice and neat. At best I can reconnect with old, maybe meet some new. At worst I can pass some time.