The Unbearable Banishment: By the sea, by the beautiful sea: A photo essay

Sunday, October 11, 2009

By the sea, by the beautiful sea: A photo essay

Sister #2 came to town for a five-day visit. I like when my family visits. There's no stress! I get along with all my siblings extraordinarily well, but I suspect the fact I've lived 500 miles away from them for the better part of the past 25 years might have something to do with it. I'm certain they'd be less tolerant of my foibles if I lived just down the street.

If you don't mind my saying so, Mrs. Wife and I are most excellent hosts. And that's no idol brag. Ask around. Tomorrow, I'll hit her over the head with the Kandinsky exhibit at the Guggenheim, but over the weekend it was all-Jersey, all the time.

Moments after her arrival we whisked her away to the Bruce Springsteen concert at Giants Stadium. This was the last concert at Giants Stadium before the wrecking ball transforms it into a parking lot, so the show had some historical heft to it. As I mentioned in previous posts, Mrs. Wife is related to the Springsteen clan, so we were gifted some great seats and briefly chatted with family members before the show in an access-restricted area.

I'm not the biggest Bruce fan in the world but you've got to admire the guy's work ethic. He just turned 60 and still pumps out a highly-entertaining three-hour show. He played, appropriate enough, a cover of The Rolling Stones' Last Time. Also, bizarrely, a cover of You Sexy Thing by Hot Chocolate. Hearing Bruce sing My Hometown and Jersey Girl (a Tom Waits song!) in New Jersey almost makes moving here seem like less of an ordeal.

Photo: Todd Heisler/The New York Times

We took Sister the Second to Seaside Heights. It's a bucolic Jersey Shore beach town that has all the necessary accouterments, namely, a boardwalk, an amusement park and pork roll and cheese sandwiches. The Daughters have been going to places like this for so long that I don't think they realize how special they are.


This carousel is from 1918 and still has its original Wurlitzer organ. 3-Year Old Daughter doesn't care a whit about any of that historical significance stuff.


I, once again, was forced to teach 7-Year Old a valuable bumper car road rage lesson.


Both Daughters are deadly accurate with a skee-ball. It's talent they inherited from their mother, who I seriously don't remember ever beating. It's her game. Well...one of them.


For family lurkers, here is daughter and Mrs. Wife, strolling on a sun-drenched, sea breeze swept boardwalk.

12 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

i need to be adopted by the banishment clan. seriously. bruce, boardwalk, bumper cars... and a 1918 carousel? dream weekend. oh, and if there's deep fried, batter-encrusted oreos for dinner? *schwing*

October 11, 2009 at 11:14 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Cool!

We're planning a trip to Victoria, BC for next month, but maybe we should come to NYC instead?

You could show us around and your seven year old could introduce our seven year old to the sights and sounds.

How's that sound?

October 12, 2009 at 1:04 AM  
Blogger Sid said...

Love bumpercars. My favourite amusement park activity. Not into that scary stuff.

October 12, 2009 at 3:00 AM  
Anonymous nursemyra said...

I love a carousel

October 12, 2009 at 4:45 AM  
Blogger The Unbearable Banishment said...

Daisy: I'd be happy to adopt you! Even if for just a long weekend.

Rob: The Jersey Shore/NYC is one of the most popular vacation spots in the U.S. for a good reason. Although the WX in November can be harsh.

Sid: I'm with you. I hate the torture-rides but can't resist the bumper cars. And these were unusually fast!

Nurse: Did you ever ride the carousel in Central Park when you were here? THAT'S the best one.

October 12, 2009 at 7:55 AM  
Blogger Cat said...

Yankee would be soooo jealous. He loves Bruce and Seaside as well. There is nothing like watching a band play to it's hometown crowd.

October 12, 2009 at 9:04 AM  
Blogger savannah said...

i might have to check out new jersey again, sugar! ;~D xoxoxo

October 12, 2009 at 10:18 AM  
Blogger The Unbearable Banishment said...

Cat: Please make sure to tell Yankee because I love it very much when people envy me. It doesn't occur all that often.

Savannah: Despite my numerous complaints, it IS a nice place to visit.

October 12, 2009 at 3:53 PM  
Blogger Barlinnie said...

I'm with Daisy on this one...

October 12, 2009 at 4:09 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I don't where how u learned to be the great host/hotess but u truley are. We r going to have to reconsider our spring vacation plans and swing on by. This time we will use our daughters GPS.
MT

October 12, 2009 at 9:57 PM  
Blogger ~E said...

Looked awfully fun!

I'm with Daisyfae...care to adopt me as well??? Having a kid of a different ethnicity in an all caucasian family is all the rage nowadays. PLUS, I'm really cute when I put my mind to it.

So how about it? Can it be 3-year old daughter, 7-year old daughter, and that 27-year old kid that followed us home one day?

October 12, 2009 at 10:53 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I also would like to be adopted. Bruce rocks !

October 13, 2009 at 7:47 PM  

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