Drive to Cape May

I drove to Cape May and back, with a stop at the Atlantic City boardwalk for dinner.  The walk along the boardwalk was fun from a history perspective ... but, as a lady who has been coming here since the 1940s told me, it has really changed.  Where once it was upscale, it is now pretty low with "flee market" and souvenir shops lining the boardwalk.

I didn't go into any, but the casinos were "old" looking as well .... and surprisingly little traffic on the streets .... nothing like Vegas at all.  Trump's casino was on strike.  Caesar's was the only casino that seemed to be getting any action, and it still had a "classy" look.

The Miss America pageant is here (because of the 9/11 connotation to the day, I would have thought they would have used a different date).  I did see Miss Minnesota walking to the hotel, but there wasn't any hoopla, cameras, no apparent "action" at all.

I looked for Lucy the Elephant in Margate, but didn't find her; all I found was the water tower.

I did find another smiley face water tower in Longport. there was a yellow one when I was driving around Iowa last October ...

And the Absecon Lighthouse ....

I should have taken the picture from the Boardwalk instead of the street, but didn't think about it until it was too late.  oh well ...

Cape May Lighthouse was interesting and there was a good walk to the beach.

September winds from the north and northwest gently push millions of migrating monarch butterflies to the Atlantic Coast; many are funneled southward through the Cape May peninsula.  They were lovely to watch, but didn't pose for any pictures.

I had a nice birthday.  I appreciate all the happy wishes (and a couple of gifts!) I received from friends and family.