the jersey shore

I must insist here that I certainly do not watch this notorious "reality" show, The Jersey Shore, but I feel it was a crying shame they recently arrested Snooki...

In NJ one does not make a normal turn off a road. You use jughandle ramps. No one from New Jersey goes to the beach, but to the shore. And, as a VFH founding member I have been trying to get away with going to the shore for free all of my life. As a moocher in training I had learned to arrive early enough to avoid fees that are as a part of the Jersey shore scene as suntan lotion and splinters from the boardwalk. If you got on the beach early enough before the booth attendants set up shop you were on for good and only had to keep an eye open for patrols looking for beach tags and then would have to simply jump in the ocean to avoid this persecution.
Over the years your VFH team has gone through some extreme and bizarre antics in securing a free day at the shore, from sleeping in cars, stealing or trading beach tags or wrist strings (at Pt. Pleasant) or attempting to pay our way by stealing tips at bars or coins from the NJ Parkway automatic toll booths. Janet, a shoobe, but still loveable, says sometimes she would come away with more money than when she started the weekend.

There are roughly 130 miles of shoreline in New Jersey and depending on your interests and pocketbook there is a beach for everyone. From the wild frenetic pace of Seaside Heights to the smoldering decay of Asbury Park, the Jersey shore is a destination during the summer months.
But, how to avoid the fees is VFH's task.

www.newjerseyshore.com/beach-badges.shtml
If you go to this website you'll see that nearly every town levees a charge. Only Wildwood and Atlantic City are cost free, but as a Bennie, they are too far to travel for the day. From Lambertville I can be in Belmar in about an hour by taking Route 195. There are also two parks along the shore. One is Sandy Hook, a part of the United States government Gateway National Recreation Area and the other is Island Beach State Park, just south of Seaside Heights. Their individual websites are listed below.
www.nps.gov/gate/planyourvisit/feesandreservations.htm
http://www.islandbeachnj.org/
The fees assessed at Sandy Hook and IBSP are reasonable as they are per car, not per person. Because of this the parks tend to fill up quickly, so getting there early is important. Getting there especially early is really important, if one wants to save the fee. Now, I'm unsure about IBSP because I've only gone there during regular hours, but I believe they are less relaxed than Sandy Hook. The other day we tried to enter IBSP after a happy hour meal / libation soiree and shuffle board war at Bum Rogers in Seaside Park (a favored place) and they wanted to charge us to enter. It was nearly 7 pm and still light out. The uniformed attendant gleefully turned us away. They charge an entry fee until dusk. Don't know if their rules are as strict for the beginning of the day, or even if the park is open earlier than 7:00 am, but that is too far to drive for that experiment! One way to avoid the fee at IBSP is to park outside and run or ride a bike inside along the narrow shoulder. It's quite a distance to the bathhouses though, at least 2.5 miles.
www.seasideparkonline.com/r_bumrogers.htr

I know that Sandy Hook is free if I arrive earlier than their 7:00 a.m. official opening. I may be older and more flush with cash than when I was a youth, but I'm still cheap. Janet refuses to go there so early because sleep is a higher priority, but when the day presents itself as a beach day and I am alone, I'll get up at an ungodly hour to travel the 1 1/2 hours along secondary roads to slip in before I have to pay. It's thrilling, because it's not illegal. The main booths are open but unmanned. Halfway through the park, heading for Gunnisons Beach, there is a booth and an attendant in a National Park uniform hands out a little day pass and they even smile and say good morning.

It is also thrilling because it is very beautiful. Sandy Hook at such an early hour is serene and not the noisy place brimming with people that it inevitably becomes. The other day there was a hazy blood red sunrise over the Atlantic and the wind was cool and the air was misty from the incessant grey waves and New York City was hidden by fog and the day held promise. Happy with having saved myself $10.00 I ran along the path that skirted the waters of Raritan Bay and watched the commuter ferrys leave Keyport on their way to lower Manhattan and then past the Nike Missle Radar site and the Ft. Hancock Coast Guard base and the historic lighthouse that was first erected in 1823. And later that day, when I dozed in my beach chair, I dreamt of where to spend that hard earned ten dollars.

I eventually ended up in Kelly's Tavern in Neptune City www.kellystavernjerseyshore.com for some beer and wings.

Thanks for reading...