A Lunch Date in Cape May

The houses are about the same age as was our condo on Capitol Hill in DC - all built around the 1890’s. It’s supposed to be the second largest collection of Victorian architecture after San Francisco. It sits on the southern tip of New Jersey by the Atlantic Ocean and the Delaware Bay. You can reach it from our location in Virginia by ferry from Delaware, by the 95 interstate north through Baltimore and south again, or on 301 through Annapolis, Delaware and New Jersey. My sister asked us to join her for lunch in Cape May - a place she has been visiting for over twenty years after Labor day. She is a coastal sort of person. She likes the water and the beach and the vibe. It’s really not my cup of tea, although I don’t mind visiting places like it. After all, it’s somewhat in our blood. My dad was in the Coast Guard for twenty years and loved the sea. We are from the northeast and the Atlantic Ocean, grew up on the gulf coast of Florida, and I lived thirty years along Lake Michigan in the Midwest. Now we live near the Potomac River. So we took a day trip ride to Cape May and stopped at the Inn for lunch. Supposedly Wallace Simpson made a debut in the dining room of old. Afterwards we took a walk through the quaint town, and then a turn along the beach. Afterwards we got a lemonade at the bar. By then it was time to drive back home. We took the fastest route on the interstate and got home around seven pm. It was a lovely day. 

A Drive Down Memory Lane on Milwaukee's Lake Drive

We have been in Milwaukee since Thursday and have had a really nice time visiting neighbors, friends, and colleagues. Today we went to breakfast and decided to take a ride along Lake Drive starting from downtown. We traveled this way so many times in the last thirty years. It was a little cloudy and only in the low 70's in July. That's one reason we moved to a warmer climate. But the ride from the back seat of the car was fun. It started at the Pabst Theatre where we saw The Christmas Carol a few times; past City Hall - still under construction; by the Calatrava and art museum to the beach. A volleyball tournament was going on; the beach goers were having a whack at it; and the coffee lovers had ample opportunity to enjoy it all from several venues. Along Lake Drive are the stately mansions along the north shore; neighborhood parks overlooking Lake Michigan; and a return trip heading back home. The Hoan Bridge is under construction and underneath it is the last day of the famous Summerfest.  The skyline is all too familiar but seems so different now. We moved to DC eight years ago and it's definitely not at all like Milwaukee, which was the reason I started the blog. It's hard to believe we lived here for thirty years. I wish we could transplant all the people we know and grew up with there. That is definitely the one thing we miss the most.