Beach, Boardwalk, and Dogfish

Recently went on a beach house vacation in Dewey Beach, DE for a couple of days. A lot of “firsts” on this trip. Amazing hosts and an amazing time.

1) First beach house vacation
5 feet from the door is the sandy path to the beach. Quiet and beautiful, with enough seashells for collectors and enough sand for castle builders. Weather was a bit too windy for frisbee. Tether ball was more entertaining to watch than play. Besides the prime location of the beach house, I also enjoyed the guest book that provided us with constant laughter (and some haikus to frame our weekend’s adventures). Try describing your vacation using no verbs (many of the entries followed that pattern, I wish I could have quoted some here)!

2) First car ferry (or at least through the Cape May one)
http://www.capemaylewesferry.com/
The terminals were recently renovated so everything is in top shape. I liked the bar/restaurant on the Delaware side. J. was keen on meeting Lighthouse Pete the Pirate (the ferry mascot) but there wasn’t enough time. Delaware side also has a grand pirate ship with cool sails. I suppose any ship with sails is impressive enough for photos. On Cape May side we stopped by the farmers market for peaches.

3) First boardwalk in the downpour
Upside is we all bought colorful ponchos and ran around the place like M and M’s. yellow, orange, and blue! there was no red or green though. Just to clarify, Dewey Beach didn’t have a boardwalk, we went to the more happening Rehoboth Beach (they had nice shops to walk around too). First peach ice cream since FL days. It was wonderful.

4) First time visiting Dogfish Head Brewery
I can’t remember where I’ve heard of this brewery or its beers, but likely some NY bar or foodie event featuring a beer garden. Anyhow, we walked through the rain to this place and ended up going upstairs in a corner (ended up getting food faster though). Worth the walk/wait and will definitely come back and/or be on the look out for their beers in NYC bars and Whole Foods. More in food roundup later in this entry.

5) First time playing Bananagrams and Skippo
A. taught us two games and inspired me to bring back board game night (well it hasn’t happened yet, but I’ll have to figure it out). If you don’t know what they are, take a look in the game section of your nearest bookstore/toy store. I’ve definitely seen Bananagrams at the B&N and Strand in NY. It’s kind of like Scrabble but the words/letters don’t have values attached to them. and the game play is much more fluid. Skippo kind of reminds me of a version of card game I played in camp where the objective is to either go up or go down the numbers (i.e. if card facing up is 3, you can put down a 2 or a 4.)

Food Roundup Dewey
Rustry Rudder
http://www.deweybeachlife.com/dning_rr.html
Featuring an impressive seafood buffet but we all didn’t feel we could finish the offerings. So instead, we ordered various entrees. The mahi mahi with mango pineapple salsa was great. also liked the molten chocolate cake. Also check out the outdoor area and the walk on the pier/bay.

Starboard
http://thestarboard.com/
We didn’t go here but I’m adding this to the list for next time. On the drive down, I spotted the shark in the logo and looked up the place (bar food mostly but quite happening place). When we were walking around the next morning the place was hosting a 5k or some event. Clearly this was the place to be.

Food Roundup Rehoboth
Coffee Mill
http://www.coffeemillrehoboth.com/
We ran into this store almost by accident. Didn’t have a coffee since I’ve already had my morning brew but tried one of their chocolate smores cookies. Delicious! Would definitely come back here for a coffee/snacks session. Also a nice selection of goodies for coffee and tea lovers alike!

Dogfish Head Brewery and Restaurant
http://www.dogfish.com/
//drinks: My Antonia (light pilsner great for summer and fish taco), Burton Baton (really really dark ipa. this was a recommendation by an overly enthusiastic beer drinker at a nearby table), Chateau Jiahu (J’s gone halfway around the world for this beer, jk. I’m just glad it was available. verdict: thumbs up.)
//food: fish tacos. J.’s aunt recommended this and I’m glad I tried it. For some reason I’ve never tried fish tacos until now, how tasty! any good fish tacos in NY?

Kilwin’s Ice Cream
right near the boardwalk, there are at least 3 ice cream places (cold stone, baskin robbins, rita’s etc). this one looked the most interesting and glad we checked out its flavors. their cappuccino/coffee one got compliments and I liked the peach one.