true vacation

I recently spent two weeks in two of my favorite places in the world: New York City and Stone Harbor, New Jersey. I was in Stone Harbor for the Fourth of July and for my 24th birthday, on the tenth, bookended by a few days in New York. Stone Harbor was excellent. There was the usual Fourth of July barbeque at McGucks', with bonus bay swimming; three days of hanging out with Amanda; a truly awesome 15-mile bike ride with Dad to the Wildwood boardwalk and back; beach days that continued until eight at night, because it was just that beautiful out, and the usual five p.m. Stone Harbor breeze switch didn't occur to chase us off the beach, shivering; Backbays crabcakes and Henny's chowder from the new take-out location and Springer's ice cream; all the classics and more. As Bethany said, being in Stone Harbor is like being at home and being on vacation all at once -- perfection.