I LOVE #2: Go Surfing

While on vacation a few weeks ago and I completed (slightly) #2 on my 30@30 list: Go Surfing. This was a big one for me. Since I first hit the waves years ago surfing has been a surreal activity that I only occasional get to do. While I was only in the water for an hour or so, and only got up maaaaaybe twice, I'm still going to grudgingly count it, since I don't know if I will have another opportunity.

Just like my last post, this one has a lot to do with my summer in Ocean City. The house had two surfboards that had been handed down over the years. They were junk, but they floated, and most of the time kept you above water! What I loved almost immediately about surfing was the rush of riding the waves. That feeling, when you hit a wave just before it crests, and it takes you and your board with amazing speed, its awesome! In Ocean City it was so easy to love. Many mornings I would wake up early, sit on the porch with coffee, then take the board and my work clothes and hit the water before I went to work. Most of the time I would paddle beyond the break and just lay there, looking over the blue ocean at the newly risen sun, and back at the boardwalk. It always seemed so far away, and it was like being out there on my surfboard, it would put me in a place where no one could reach me. I was alone, in the BEST sense of the word. Some days, I would even go right back out after work.

After that summer I didn't surf until after I graduated and lived by the Outer Banks. Even then it was only twice or so, and it would be a few years later that I would get the chance again.
However, going out this past summer, paddling past the break, sitting on the board looking over the ocean, it still gave me a sense of peace....and then a rush as I headed into a wave.:)

#2: Go Surfing

Free McDonald's but no Free Pizza!

While on a business trip in Eastern PA this summer I swung down to Jersey and a place near and dear to my heart, Ocean City! I lived in Ocean City for a summer while in college and it was amazing. I surfed in the morning and evenings, worked at T-shirt shop on the boardwalk, and roamed the streets of Ocean City with my friends, eating ice cream and pizza. My favorite pizza place in Ocean City was, and still is, Manco and Manco's pizza. It's a very traditional New York style, hand tossed pizza that's sold by the slice or pie on the boardwalk. I immediately fell in love with it that summer. When I created this challenge for my 30@30 I knew I would somehow have to make my way back to Ocean City to try it again. Would it be as good as I remembered? I would be crushed if it wasn't!

On many days during that summer I would visit a particular Manco and Manco's on the boardwalk during my lunch break. I would grab a couple slices, cover them with paper plates (tip so Seagull's leave you alone) and savor each saucy bite! So one of the great things about actually living and working in a beach town such as Ocean City is the amount of free stuff you could get from other businesses. For me this consisted mostly of free coffees and macchiato's from a neighboring cafe, monkey bread from a place down the walk, and sometimes free pizza late at night from other parlors. However, despite my propensity to gain free food and drinks (I swear to you I ate free McDonald's all of July and August) I could never get free pizza from Manco and Manco's! I would try so hard almost everyday to flirt with the girl at the counter, talk it up with the bakers, and still....nada! One day they gave me 30 cents off, but that was almost worse than having to pay full price. Despite their financial stinginess I swore by those cheesy slices all summer.

My return trip this summer was terrific! I walked the beach, checked my old house, snapped some pictures, and eventually made my way to Manco and Manco's. And I am soooo glad to say it was just as good as I remembered, if not better! What a relief to know its a quality slice of pizza, not just a quality memory! As I thought about how to rank it, I decided this one stays outside the system, mostly because I didn't have an appetizer or any kind of specialty slice. How could I properly grade this slice of heaven without fulfilling all the requirements?

Thus Manco and Manco's will not enter the contest....and I am okay with that. I know that every time I venture out to NJ I will, without a doubt, find myself back at Ocean City, sitting on the boardwalk eating Manco and Manco's pizza...at full price as always.