Delaware is nicknamed the First State because it was the first state to ratify the United States Constitution in 1787, and after staying there for a week, we agree it’s tops! We loved their beaches and had a great time.
Here are some highlights from our week in Delaware:
Best Meal: Our 19th anniversary dinner. It happened to be Chloe’s turn to pick the place to eat, and she chose Moe’s Southwest Grill for dinner. If it wasn’t Kids Eat Free night at Moe’s, we’d have overruled her, but we hate to pass up a deal like that.
Many sibling arguments have been solved in our family by having the person who picks the restaurant also choose the table where we sit. Conveniently located near the wall-mounted TV, Chloe chose her booth. Hers and Levi’s eyes were glued to the Disney channel. After 5 minutes of staring at the whites of their glazed over eyes, Mike and I brilliantly moved across the aisle to our own booth. How romantic was that? Our own booth at Moe’s, and just to be really crazy, I ordered a fish taco. No holding back on our 19th anniversary!
Worst Meal: Fractured Prune, a donut shop that’s been featured on the Food Channel. It was our worst meal simply because they were closed. The sign said they were only open on weekends in the off-season. Noooooooooooooooooooo! By the weekend, we’d be in another state! Surprising as it is, I was disappointed the donut shop was closed. After all with a name like Fractured Prune, could this donut actually be healthy?
Biggest Surprise: We loved Delaware and seriously considered moving there. Before the trip, I never would have guessed Delaware would be the place we’d choose to settle down! We finally had to rule it out, though, because we want to be near a transplant hospital, and the only transplant hospitals are located in Wilmington and Newark, which is too far from where we’d want to live near the coast.
Biggest Disappointment: Not being able to rent bikes at Cape Henlopen State Park. The Nature Center was closed in preparation for a Halloween event, so the bikes weren’t available either. We were so disappointed that we left. In hindsight, we should have stayed and hiked around, but we were on a quest to bike that day, and bike we did on the Rehoboth Beach boardwalk. It was so fun biking on a boardwalk!
Biggest Twinge of Homesickness: Seeing the annual Christmas cookie recipe books and magazines out on store shelves (already in October!) and knowing I wouldn’t be baking any Christmas cookies this year brought a moment of sadness for missing out on that annual tradition in my family.
Worst Closure: Air Mobility Command Museum in Dover. They’re closed on Mondays. You think I’d have checked into that before driving an hour to get there! As our favorite comedian Tim Hawkins says, “Good information…too late.”
Most Beautiful Spot: Bethany Beach boardwalk, especially at sunset. It’s one of those quintessential boardwalks with the clock and lights. Adding to its charm is the grass covered dune, and the nice, clean beach made it a real winner. We absolutely love it! Be sure to check out the pictures.
Best Tourist Spot: DiscoverSea Shipwreck Museum in Fenwick Island. Surprisingly, the museum is housed above a junky tourist shop, but the museum is free (donations are accepted) and definitely worth the stop. It’s interesting to see the items they’ve recovered (see Levi’s blog for his favorite item recovered), but it’s talking to the director, who’s also the diver and archivist, that is most intriguing. He’s more than happy to answer questions and just offer information in general if you’re willing to listen.
Best Memory: Meeting wonderful people. One lady we spoke with has a sister-in-law who just donated a kidney to her mother-in-law’s doctor. How strange, complicated, and cool is that?! Her mother-in-law has had cancer and been in chemo off and on for the last 13 years, but all the lady could talk about was how amazing her mother-in-law is and what great faith she has. Wow! You have cancer for 13 year, but the conversation isn’t centered on your illness but your faith. That’s my goal, but I keep getting sidetracked on goofy things!
Worst Memory: The reality of the half way point of the trip set in. It’s quite sad, actually, that it’s going so fast!
Funniest Memory: Crossing the Delaware/Maryland state line 4 times in a matter of minutes. That in itself isn’t funny. In fact, it almost sounds like a worst memory, but it’s not. See Chloe has a tradition of screaming, “We’re in (state name),” when we cross into each state. We were in Delaware for the week, but we accidentally crossed into Maryland not realizing we were that close. Chloe screamed, “We’re in MD!” I did a U-Turn and crossed back into Delaware where Chloe sceamed, “We’re in DE!” Finally we pulled into the mini golf parking lot but discovered they were closed that day.
If that were the end of the story, that may not even be funny, but as we pulled onto the road, we couldn’t turn left due to the median. We had to go right into, you guessed it, MD. Chloe screamed; I did a U-ey; we drove back into DE; Chloe screamed again. Believe me, she has that loud, ear piercing, girly scream, and for some reason, her screams are getting louder and more ear piercing as the trip progresses. That’s one thing that will be nice when the trip is over: no weekly screeches.
Best Drive: Driving thru Bethany Beach and the quiet resort area. We saw the large, blue herons flying and the canals in the subdivisions for the boat owners to drive their boat right up to their dock in their own backyard. It was a nice, relaxing drive, in the off-season at least!
Worst Drive: Levi in the lead for our bike trip down the Rehoboth Beach boardwalk. The ride was great, but I fear for the day he gets his drivers license. He was a crazy biker, weaving in and out. I’ll hate to see what kind of driver he is in 3 years! Levi made me nervous a couple times with his Ninja bike moves, so I can’t imagine how nervous I’ll be when he’s behind the wheel of a car with me in it!
My DE Hike: Walking along the beach in Rehoboth Beach. Since they have miles and miles of beach, I opted to walk along the beach for my hike. We walked and walked and walked without having to stop because of the beach ending or where you were restricted from walking on it. I’m not sure if all Delaware coastline is public, but there seems to be a lot of it anyway. It was a great, long hike just walking down the beach. While the kids played, Mike and I talked about his love for mountains versus my love for the ocean. He likes mountains because they remind him of God’s enormity, and I like beaches for God’s endlessness and power.
Biggest Revelation: When it says $4.99, it’s $4.99. There’s no sales tax! We bought a new camera to celebrate our anniversary, that and the fact that ours was dying. If there's one thing you need on a trip around the US, it's a good camera.
What We Did Miss: Many restaurants all recommended to us, along with the Air Mobility Command Museum, Cape Henlopen State Park, and Fractured Prune, among other things.
In Summary: Delaware, we’d love to live there, so could you please build a transplant hospital near Bethany Beach, like real quick?!?
-The Mom
So pretty much everything was closed there and yet you liked it so much? The beach must sure be worth it!
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