Its a long way from Toronto to Bay Head. This is the real Jersey Shore. I'm not sure if "Jersey Shore' the reality show has hit downunder but suffice to say it shows a very different side of this favourite beach destination for thousands of New Yorkers and Noo Jerseyites.
Bay Head has come to mean summer for us. Bay Head is a small enclave of charming homes near Pt Pleasant on the Jersey shore about an hour south of New York city or Newark Airport. Think gracious cape cod style homes with porches and shutters, weathered timber shingles, white hydrangeas, rockers and boston ferns and gelato colored weatherboards. People take pride in these homes and there is a feeling of calm preppy chic.
Friends Linda and Alan invited us to stay for the weekend and join them at the Mantoloking Yacht club dinner and dance recently. Linda, a fashion stylist, nixed my long navy dress and heels because the dress showed too much heel!!!, luckily I'd packed back up and the orange number I'd bought for the Newport beach party in May got the good nod.
While we fussed over hair and heels, the boys cycled over on their comfort bikes ( the standard mode of beach village transport in these parts). We girls tooled over in the car protecting our do's! I had no idea what to expect, isn't that the best way to approach an evening because it turned out to be really super special.
The locals taught us a thing or two about how to party. The very Ralf Lauren preppy crowd was a true mix from teens to grans but everyone boogied the night away to an amazing band helped out by Bon Jovi's blonde keyboard player Dave Bryan. There was such a sense of joie d'vie and I was just tickled pink to be part of such wholehearted fun and enjoyment of the moment. These people really know how to FUN!
The night was perfection, the sunset a pink pearl glory over the still waters of the bay, the water lapping right up to the club house as we sat waterside for a dinner of perfectly cooked beef filet. BYO was the order of the night and seemed to work really well, boys arrives with their chilly bins (coolers) stocked full of booze while the club provides mixers, ice and slices of lime and lemon. All very civilised really.
Later we piled back onto bikes and into cars and went back to Dave Bryans house for an afterparty. He rents a gorgeous old mansion in the dunes and once again it was fun to get to party in such a lovely home. Alans sister and the boys played Beer Pong....seems to be a ritual on the east coast.... a frat house hangover I think. You fill some paper cups with beer and try and plop ping pong balls into the cup. Jeez Wayne. I think you have to be seriously pickled to think thats fun but then I've never been much for party games. Needless to say we had fun and after a stint sitting out on the dunes in cap cod chairs we hit the trail back home. Still fairly tipsy and in my very high heels, Pip slung me over the handlebars of his pink easy cruiser !! and doubled me home through the quiet streets of Bay Head, singing his heart out, much to Alan's delight and a local cops displeasure! Somehow we made it back to home and hearth, my high heels unscathed and without a citation.
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