By the time we decided to book the hotel on the beach at Ocean City, they were all sold out. I guess, one week in advance is not enough time to get a hotel reservation there. This weekend was supposed to be very hot, so we made a decision to go to the beach anyway, just for the day. We were not disappointed. Our little “beach house” was very handy on the beach. 🙂
We started our ride around 5 A.M.; therefore, we didn’t hit any traffic on our way to Ocean City. We had a chance to enjoy the sunrise over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge.
We were glad that we left early; it took us exactly 3 hours to get here including a stop for breakfast. The parking lot at the Inlet was huge and only partially filled up. There were no parking spots available by the time we left in the afternoon.
The beach was pretty empty, people just started arriving.
Although the shady place under the pier was all taken already. 🙂
The ocean was very refreshing, but felt really good on this hot (95 F) day. The waves were very rough though, especially here in the inlet area.
By noon, the beach became much more crowded.
By this time, we had enough of the beach. We would have stayed longer, but the ocean was not getting calmer. The boogie boards didn’t cooperate with the waves as well. We decided to take a walk on the boardwalk, have lunch and drive back home, stopping at one of the local farm stands on the way.
The 10 mile long Ocean City boardwalk is very nice. It is very commercialized too. This part of the boardwalk on the Inlet side reminds me Las Vegas. 🙂
There are numerous stores and restaurants next to each other located on this 3 mile stretch of the boardwalk.
There are many beach portrait shops on the boardwalk. I was interested in taking a Wild West picture, but it was too hot to wear a costume.
We had to have some traditional beach food there. We did resist the call of the deadly funnel cake though. 🙂
We noticed some sand sculptures while walking on the boardwalk. It looks like this one is dedicated to Jake Shaffer of the Ocean City Volunteer Fire Company.
These amazing sand sculptures represent some biblical scenes. According to the Ocean City Today newspaper, the sculptures are the work of artist Randy Hofman. The summer sculptures usually appear in front of the Palm Plaza hotel. Hofman is an ordained minister who also passes out a Christian booklet to beach visitors who come to view his art. Each of his creations lasts for about a week.
We saw some kites here and there on the boardwalk.
There are some other art pieces on the beach, like these concrete Dinosaur Bones that blend in well with the sand. Great place for photos, where you can capture a shot of your child hatching from a Dinosaur egg.
And the whale swimming in the sand art.
Here we are back at the Inlet area. The parking lot was right at the end of the boardwalk and we were ready for our drive home.
Every time we go to the beach in the Maryland or Delaware area, we stop at the local fresh fruit & vegetable markets to buy some produce. We did the same this time. We bought some fresh tasty vegetables and fruits, including a local candy-lope melon.
Our drive home took longer than in the morning, but it wasn’t bad at all. We enjoyed the music and good conversation all the way home. Later on, we were treated to this amazing sunset.
