February 28, 2006
Beach, with blanket: Ocean City in the winter
My 1995 article on visiting Ocean City in the winter. You can click the image above to read it as a .pdf, or see it as text below.
I noted with delight that this week's Washington Post contains an article on visiting Ocean City in the winter: Ocean City: Why Wait? In the winter, it can be cold and desolate. In other words, perfect.
Why the delight? Because I wrote about the popularity of Ocean City in the winter almost exactly 11 years ago, also for the Washington Post Escapes section!
Rereading my article, which I've reprinted below, I enjoy (as if someone else had written these points) its celebration of blobbing in Ocean City and the way Ocean City and Assateague are explicitly paired as two parts of a perfect destination.
Lo and behold, after finding the Washington Post story, the Baltimore Sun chimed in, too, with Cold comforts: In winter, the Maryland shore is everything it's not in summer -- and more.
Well, here comes double the self-congratulation, since I'm sure nobody on Earth but me recalls my article in 1995 and noticed the two follow-ups this week.
When you are a writer, and someone is covering the same ground as you are, you peak at the newer work quite cautiously. Have the more recent writers totally trumped one's feeble efforts? I honestly feel that, since neither writer took my sister Sharon, or my sheltie Beau for that matter, they simply weren't privy to the joy Sharon, Beau and I experienced at this out-of-season destination.
Sometimes your company just "makes" a story happen.
My original article, for sake of comparison (click on the image above to see a PDF version of it):
BEACH, WITH BLANKET
Sometimes You and the Sea Need To Be Alone. Well, the Coast Is Clear.
By Jeannette Belliveau
Washington Post Staff Writer
March 8, 1995
"Recreational forecasts, Maryland beaches: Today, partly sunny, flurries. High 38-46. Wind west 11-22 mph. Ocean temperature 40-43."
PERFECT forecast for a weekend at the beach. That is, if you want a good look at Ocean City's nine miles of off-season sand with about 300,000 fewer partiers than usual. Before driving east on an unclogged U.S. 50, I canvassed people for suggestions of things to do.
"Sleep," my neighbor Rich offered.
"I pack sweats, knitting and a book," said my sister, Sharon. “Then wonder if it's too much."
"A lot of books are read," said Martha Clements of the Ocean City Visitors and Convention Bureau.
The advice boiled down to:
Take walks. Eat. Read. Blob. Repeat.
The beauty of Ocean City anytime is that there are plenty of activities, yet no must-sees. Especially in the off-season, this is one escape where you don't have to rush at all.
A simple pleasure: strolling beaches as deserted as Western Australia's, yet lined with enough condos behind the dune grass to house the entire population of Norfolk or Tampa.
Sharon jogged ahead, logging her standard three miles. I walked behind, with my Shetland sheepdog, Beau. I counted a total of eight people in either direc tion, as far as the eye could see. At the high-water mark lay scoured seashells and carcasses of horseshoe and blue crabs, but no human litter. Gull congregations gaggled at the water's edge like penguins. It was the first time I'd seen these magnificent beaches virtually empty, and I felt like an explorer stumbling on a secret hideaway. Maryland's boom resort seemed deserted and wild, more like the rocky Caribbean edge of Cozumel in Mexico.
A stiff west wind, crashing surf and big cloudless sky sent Beau into crazed raptures. He barked maniacally, attacked my shoelaces, snatched my glove and pranced off. Mind-reading his little dog thoughts was easy: Cold weather! An environment like my ancestral home! Another best day of my life!
Later on the boardwalk, Beau greeted his mirror image, Saber the Sheltie, part of a mini-throng lending a hint of summertune liveliness to O.C.'s main drag. Strollers bundled in parkas and scarves ambled past open game arcades and shuttered eateries. Vendors passed buckets of Fisher's caramel popcorn directly onto the boardwalk, through a window somewhat protected from the cold by hanging plastic sheets. T-shirt shops threw their doors open to the elements. A man added more layers of glitter and tackiness to the exterior of the Ocean Gallery. A policeman on horseback purchased funnel cakes.
A trio of Washington experts on the off season — Angie, Richard and Rob — met us for delicious pancakes and home fries at Rayne's, in a 1926 building near the base of the boardwalk. Wooden floors, flowery cur tains, a 1950s green Hamilton Beach shake blender and loads of philodendrons reminded Sharon of our grandmother's house.
Three local young people looking a bit worse for the wear took the next table. "Mountain Dew is good for hangovers," the waitress counseled, with near-papal authority no doubt gained on numerous other Sunday mornings. Angie, Richard and Rob shared their insid ers' secrets on things to do in the off season:
"Sleep late. Get up, read the paper, and sometimes not speak until noon. Swim in the condo's pool. We rode the tram behind Northside Mall to look at the Winterfest Lights, but we nearly froze."
Mainly they go almost daily to Assateague Island National Seashore, a nature reserve that acts as both Ocean City's polar opposite and perfect complement. Angie led us for our first visit to the Life of the Marsh nature walk. Two marsh deer peered, probably in astonishment, at our quintet of wind-lashed humans tromping along, studying placards about palmyras grass and the remaining scars of mosquito drainage ditches.
Assateague's wild ponies proved about as elusive as K Street squirrels. Squadrons of them surrounded autos on the roads and in the parking lots, smearing car windows with their noses, begging for food like Yellowstone bears in the '60s. The ponies looked particularly rugged and healthy with their woolly winter coats. A long wild forelock curled across the eyes of a piebald stallion, while a dark chocolate mare had a copper-blond mane and tail, an eye-catching photo-negative effect
Let us not give a wrong impression of ourselves as highbrows who only take nature walks. Something about the very atmosphere of Ocean City permits grown adults to savor without guilt:
1. Reading People magazine for content. Discussing the article on the Prince Charles/Camilla/Tiggy the nanny triangle.
2. Watching the Beavis and Butt-head "Moron-a-thon" on MTV.
3. Blowing $20 of quarters on Terminator 2 and arcade football.
4. Pouring sand out of our shoes at night.
5. Going to see "Dumb and Dumber." Due to beach maturity regression syndrome, laugh contagion spread to us from the 10-year-old contingent;
6. Watching (dumbest) the Ricki Lake show. "I started at Ocean City, went up to Dewey, then up to Rehoboth, and now I'm back at Ocean City," said Sharon. "K you're really sophisticated, you reach the stage of, I don't care, I don't have to go to the right places."
That's how everyone's favorite summer beach at 16 becomes a winter favorite at 40.
Ways and means
Many people prefer Ocean City's "second season" for the soli- tude and the bargains; rooms are typically half price or less. Incredibly, almost half of Ocean City's 8 million visitors per year arrive after Labor Day and before Memorial Day, with New Year's Eve drawing 100,000 visitors. . .
WHERE TO STAY: For visitors seeking bay views, luxury and a hint of the Caribbean, there are two hotels on Fager's Island, 60th Street at the Bay—The Coconut Mallory (410-723-6100), with a Haitian art gallery and winter rates starting at $69 for doubles, and the smaller Lighthouse (410-524-5500, reservations 800-767-6060), with rates starting at $89.
If you have a pet, try the Fenwick Inn on 138th Street (410-250-1100, reservations 800-492-1873), with rates starting at $49, or the Sheraton on 101st Street (800-638-2100), with rates starting at $60. Dogs are permitted on the beach in the off-season.
Numerous bargain places post rates on their signboards, or ask for brochures from the Ocean City Visitors Center (see below).
WHERE TO EAT: Fager's Island Restaurant (410-524-5500)—We won't spoil the musical surprise for first-timers. But try to arrive well before dusk (call for a recommended time) and sit near the bay-side windows to experience a surprisingly impressive ritual. BJ's on the Water (410-524-7575) offers an alternative venue for the same lovely bay sunset, good steaks and plenty of televisions for sports fans. Rayne's (410-289-9141) has home-style food, homestyle setting, local flavor.
WHAT TO DO: Among the possibilities—Assateague Island National Seashore, Route 611, 7206 National Seashore Lane, Berlin, Md., 21811, 410-641-3030 or 641-1441. Old Pro Golf, 6801 Coastal Highway, 410-524-2645, with year-round indoor miniature golf with a dinosaur theme and arcade games. Northside Park, a local favorite on the bay at 125th Street featuring a marsh walk — here, right behind Northside Mall, I spotted a blue heron.
Special events include a St. Patrick's Day Parade ; an Arts and Crafts Fair at the Convention Center, 40th and Coastal Highway and a wildfowl carving competition.
INFORMATION: For more information, contact the Ocean City Visitors Center, 4001 Coastal Highway, Ocean City, Md. 21842, 800-OC-OCEAN (800-626-2326).
- posted by jbelliveau at 6:42 PM in Love, Sex, Romance and Travel
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