Well, today is 5-11. I am in Olympia, Wa. Tomorow night, and for the coming week, I will be across the country, in Bethany. Any dopers there I can look up?
Buller? Buller?
andygirl is sometimes downstate, when she’s not away at school. There’s a small cluster of us in Newark, DE, but that’s a bit too far for your purposes, I suspect.
I will actually be home starting tomorrow, and I live a few towns over from Bethany. Want to get a cup of coffee? I’ll send you an email.
You won’t find any actually in Delaware, as Delaware doesn’t exist.
Holy CRAP. I grew up there, and my dad was the mayor for eight years. I don’t mean “I lived in DC and spent my summers there.” I actually lived, and grew up, in Bethany Beach, when its wintertime population was ~400.
I’m going there this weekend to see my folks for Father’s Day (and likely will be busy with family unfortunately). If you want any tips on local dining or entertainment, drop me an e-mail. If you see a bunch of people kayaking with the dolphins, they’re probably related to me.
… the people, that is. Not the kayaks or the dolphins. :smack:
I’m heading to Bethany Beach next week for vacation. Care to post any of those dining or entertainment suggestions here? Things to do with a 9 year old child would be ideal.
I had a six- or seven- page list of stuff I recommended with nuances and details. Damned hamsters!
Still, I persevere. If it’s on this list, I’ve been there and recommend it. Other than blue crabs and maybe marlin, seafood is not likely to be caught locally any more than it is in Washington D.C., so don’t feel that you have to have seafood while you’re out. Southern Delaware is where the commercial poultry industry started, and so chicken is much more likely to be local and cooked well. The large number of immigrant poultry workers means that the Mexican restaurants may be more authentic than you’re used to.
FREE
- the beach
- the boardwalk
- the bandstand (live entertainment several times a week)
- dolphins (actually porpoises) swim past the beach once or twice everyday
- Assawoman Wildlife Area
- finding the best seashells hidden between the rocks on the jetty (only during non-lifeguard hours!)
- the ocean is not very clear, so snorkelling is not really popular, but the waves can be great for body-surfing, body-boarding, or even surfing.
CHEAP
- mini-golf downtown
- renting a boogie board or an umbrella from Steen’s (the weekly rates are better than dailies, and the cabana girl/boy will set up and take down the umbrella each day).
- D.B. Fries (GREAT boardwalk fries - far better than Boardwalk Fries, which is a mall chain)
- Warren’s Station (Fenwick Island, 15 mins south) – good food, VERY kid-friendly, great desserts. The turkey dinner is a house specialty and is delicious; the crab cutlets have very little filler and usually get raves.
- Grotto Pizza (3/4 miles west of the beach on Rt. 26) – a local pizza chain with that “boardwalk” feel. The pie is similar to Papa John’s, but I prefer Grotto’s.
- The ice cream place next to the TCBY in town.
- Cactus Café on DE-54 (drive down to the state line south of Fenwick, turn right, drive for about 15 minutes) – delicious and authentic Mexican.
NOT AS CHEAP
- Fenwick Crab House – good crabs, good shrimp, all-around solid seafood restaurant. Also kid-friendly.
- Mango Mike’s – a more upscale dining experience. Better food than most places, a more gourmet / tropical experience than you’re expecting… but you’ll pay for it.
- Magnolia’s (inland on Cedar Neck Road) – finer dining. Don’t bring the kids unless you can handle dirty looks from the other tables.
- Miniature golf at the Salt Pond (inland on Cedar Neck Road) – all-grass “miniature golf” is more like a series of nine challenging putting greens.
EXPENSIVE
============= - Any number of really nice restaurants in Rehoboth or Ocean City. Once you factor in the price of parking and the time in traffic, you’ll wonder why you spent all night getting dinner, however.
- Sedona or whichever local place they’ve replaced it with.
If you have a choice, renting on Ocean View Parkway or any of the other streets in town with a grass median will give your kids a nice big play area free from sand.
Don’t give the kids the keys to the car, especially if they want to go to Dewey Beach, which is a boozey college town twenty minutes north – only without a college. It is a perpetual MTV Spring Break up there. The upside is that a great college bar band (Love Seed Mama Jump) plays shows at the Rusty Rudder every Thursday for a very small cover – the downside is hundreds of drunken tourists.
I can’t speak intelligently about good bars, and Bethany generally does not have any bars to speak of anyway; the town slogan (with Fenwick) is that we are the “Quiet Resorts”.
Last but not least, if you want to get a more in-depth appreciation for the town, check out the extensive essay about the town that I wrote for Everything2.com, covering my favorite spots in town and a little history.
**Jurph ** already gave a better answer then I would be capable of. Thanks.
**andygirl **, I am posting this from the local library, on a wednesday, and have no idea of what date you posted on. I will be here until Friday, noon, or so. None the less, I would love to hear from you, perhaps by phone, if necessary. My email address is in my profile, and I will send you an email in a second.
P.S. Thanks for all the responses.
Damn, I get home absurdly late on Thursday night- I don’t think I’m going to be coherent enough to drive to Bethany on Friday morning. Really sorry about that; maybe I can catch you next time.
This info, and the article you linked to, fit the bill perfectly. Thanks for taking the time.
Jurph, you mentioned kayakers. Do they only do it in the early mornings, or do they do it mid day, too. If so, I have seen then, in green and yellow kayaks.
andygirl, thanks any way.
ebb, your post, and the details of Jurph’s family, makes this thread more then worth the time. Thank you all. Fortheremore, I thaink that
:smack: I forgot all about that fact. Now what is ebb going to do on vacation? :smack:
The kayakers are only allowed to launch from and land in Bethany before the lifeguards go on (9am) and after they’re off duty (5pm). The hours are slightly different on weekends. On my block, Oceanview Parkway, we have several regulars, including a yellow two-seater and a blue two-seater; several single-seaters (yellow, red, and pink); and two much-longer one-seaters (one each green and blue). You can usually tell my particular kayaking clique by their hats, which have floats on the back. You might even notice a particularly beefy guy going solo in the backseat of a double, riding waves and whooping it up. If you see him, that’s definitely our group.
Mornings, they routinely beach on/near Garfield Parkway to grab a cup of coffee – everyone does a Normandy landing, then one or two run up the boardwalk to get a cardboard coffee holder. They drink a cuppa, then head back out to sea and sprint north trying to beat the clock. That’s mostly a morning tradition. Evenings are more often spent chasing and running alongside the pod of Atlantic bottlenose dolphins that run between the Ocean City marina and the Indian River Inlet, scamming surplus baitfish from the charter boats.
I’d love to hear how ebb and Scott Plaid made out in my hometown. Also, if you saw a tall skinny guy with really short hair, glasses, and lots of freckles jogging on the boardwalk Saturday afternoon – that was me!
Sorry, I left Saturday. Personally, I liked it. There were some downsides, but it has sun, surf, and sand. Also, The people are very pleasant. Here is a link to a photo of myself, standing on the boardwalk. (The weird thing on my neck is googles.)
http://img204.echo.cx/img204/4342/image0205bm.jpg