Post - A Tale of Two Phillys

Dec 4

Dec 4 A Cure for Burn-Out: C-SPAN, ConAir, and an off-season 'StayCation'

It's a Wonderful Life. It truly is. If you don't always realize it, or sometimes forget, or feel occasionally paralyzed by the crippling anxieties that daily life can provide, that's OK and most of us do understand but still, life is indeed wonderful. When in doubt, just think of George Bailey, the main character of the holiday film that is one of our favorites, perhaps more specifically think of Jimmy Stewart, the actor who played him.

Stewart spent his summers in Ocean City, NJ. So did MTVs Kurt Loder, Gay Talese, Anne Heche, and Grace Kelly - our city's princess, along with dozens of other contemporary athletes, noteworthy figures and politicians.

So did I.

If you have never ventured to our shoreline or have tragically mistaken Ocean City, Maryland as an equivalent experience, please, PLEASE, hit the Garden State Parkway immediately. Take Route 206 through the Pine Barrens until you hit Hammonton. That's my favorite pathway to this sacred place.

I've written of Ocean City before, a town of about 13,000 that increases to 150,000 during the summer months but Nathan and I have come to love it most in it's most minimal state. Between October and March, you can still find a great meal or head over the bridge for a few drinks. Our preference, like most other regulars is to hit one of the liquor stores that rest over the bridge (as Ocean City is a dry town - trust me, this is a good thing. It keeps it wholesome and saves it from ratchet "jersey shore'dom") and bring your stash of wine or whiskey (or both) with you to enjoy inside of a warm condo.

That is what we did this past weekend. As Nathan wrapped up a campaign and I finished up with "Sweeps" both of us were in need of a quiet "Stay-Cation" and Ocean City in all of it's holiday dressings did the trick.

It was our first trip back to OCNJ since the evening in July when he proposed.

I will say that on most nights at home in our Philly apartment, I find it hard to relax. There always seems to be something in the way of chores looming. When you take yourself out of that familiar place for even a moment, free time just seems to open up.

We are lucky enough to have a free place to go when we are in need of such downtime. I realize that not everyone does, but cheap AirBnBs make these little off-season "Stay-Cations" at various beach towns a very affordable option for the worn and weary, burnt out or even those simply seeking a weekend change of scenery.

Honestly, for our two night trip we were easily occupied by a long walk to do some holiday shopping, before a sensational sunset on 21st street beach. We then went over the bridge to Somer's Point for some seafood before returning home to our whiskey and wine. Luckily for us the movie 'ConAir' was on television. Its certainly not a flick that I would have ever chosen if we were at home in our apartment and I would say it was entertaining except that we closed out our viewing experience by turning into C-SPAN (yes, we are those people) and were thrilled to find Parliment engaged in a rowdy debate. Of course that was far more entertaining than any action film.