the Jersey Shore i know

While the Jersey Shore has never been a second home for my brother and I, we have spent many August days in our life down by the beach not far from the boardwalk.

Hanging out with the family down the Jersey Shore

When my mom was a kid, she used to come down to the Jersey Shore with my grandparents and uncles. My uncle Lou has continued to come down here, and now there is always a clan of cousins and family by marriage to celebrate the warm ocean water with.

A few years ago we were hanging out with my older cousin Jon, getting beers by the boardwalk when he took a gulp of his beer bottle and blurted out, "this is the bar Snooki got punched at." My brother and I had just been laughing at how weird it would be to see celebrities walking around getting filmed and having random people freak out about seeing them. "So is this place known for being violent?" my brother quipped back. "Not more than any bar, but that fight was on television," retorted Jon.

Personally, I never got into the show The Jersey Shore, but many of my friends did and I became an involuntary consumer of the phenomenon. I couldn't tell you how many seasons there were, but among my New York friends the place, the Jersey Shore, was relegated to MTV reality TV show status. For me it's personal when people (mainly New Yorkers) hate on the Jersey Shore. My family has history down there, we have family ties and meaningful experiences that only could have happened down here.Also having spent many summer days down the shore, we also have something of a routine, which admittedly kind of mimics much of what the MTV show exemplified.  They claimed GTL: Gym-Tan-Laundry. But my family lives EECC: Exercise, Eat, Clean, Cocktails.

          
    That's a Brooklyn Dodgers hat on my dad by the way.

Exercise
A shore day doesn't start at any specific time; there's no need to wake up early but it's always a better if you do. Regardless of what time you start your day down the shore, its always best to start with a little exercise. One day I woke up after noon, but did a short dumbbell routine before breaking my fast at lunch. It makes one feel better. We often go running as a family down the beach through Island Beach State Park. Less than a mile from us he beachfront gets pretty deserted except for fishermen and the occasionally beach blanket wielding seekers of solitude. Running on the sandy-beached shoreline clears my head like nothing else. Quiet and tranquility. There is so much natural stimulation between constantly adjusting my feet, to the tide ebbing and flowing, seagulls and sandpipers, driftwood and deaded liquor bottles. My brain doesn't even have time to go blank, its too busy constantly paying attention to not be zen.

Eat
After exercising on the Jersey Shore it's usually time to eat, but not necessarily a huge meal. Depending on the workout, the temperature, and the time, it might be a sandwich or a snack, or occasionally a big meal. We used to eat our main midday meal on the beach but we've eventually gravitated towards a split day, revolving around being on the beach twice, in morning and afternoon. This necessitated a more flexible midday eating schedule. Now nothing is guaranteed, except that there will always be food and it's always alright to take a nap as long as you make it to the best time of day to be on the beach: the late afternoon.

Clean: Laundry/Shower
After we get back from the beach (usually before 6 but rarely before 5pm) everyone in my family splits up and takes a shower, naps, self-grooms, etc. I enjoy this time of day possibly even more than the beach. Everyone has a post-beach glow, attends to their own needs, and enjoy at respite from the day's hot sun in the luxuries of indoors and plumbing. {It's important to separate indoors from plumbing as a staple of The Shore is to enjoy an outdoor shower on your way in to your home.} After the beach is also when we do laundry and change out of sandy clothes. If I'm not terribly sandy I often enjoy skipping the actual shower, as I love the feel of ocean salt on my skin as I sleep.

Cocktail Hour
Once everyone is showered, shaved, changed, etc. we all regroup and have a cocktail. Margaritas are a popular cocktail, gin and tonic the classic highball, and Mexican lager often the beer of choice. Re-hydrating, cooling off in air conditioning, and having a snack are all a part of our near daily ritual down the shore. Whether we eat in, go out, or meet up with family, we usually enjoy a libation as the day slips into a seasonally late twilight and the weather starts to calm and cool

Driftwood I collected on my runs this year. Last year I collected seashells.

My life down the Jersey Shore might not be that much different from the MTV show, but they definitely got the routine wrong. It's not Gym-Tan-Laundry. It's Exercise-Eat-Clean-Cocktails. It's a shame that most people haven't had the opportunity to experience the Jersey Shore outside of reality TV, because it's a little peace of heaven that I couldn't be happier to regularly experience.