Earlier in September, I joined some of my best college girl friends for our annual weekend trip to Cape May, an adorable beach town in New Jersey. Here’s a recap!
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Ah, Cape May weekend. One of my absolute favorite weekends of the year! It’s so special to get to spend time with women who have been close friends of mine since we were all teenagers. Feels like yesterday and also like a hundred years ago that we all first met in our freshman dorm at Dickinson College!
We missed our friend Sarah this year, who couldn’t make it, but here’s hoping next year we have all 7 of us again!
Cape May Girls’ Weekend Recap
The trip began on Friday about an hour outside of Cape May, with those of us driving in earlier in the day convening for a late lunch at one of our favorite spots, Sweet Amalia Market + Kitchen.
They are known for their oysters and they did not disappoint! I ended up going back for 6 more (pricey, but so worth it). Plus a falafel, tomato, cucumber, and feta salad that was also yummy.
Lunch gang – me, Turner, Lisa, Lu. (Lots of nicknames in our group, in case that wasn’t obvious!) Lots of squeals at being reunited with these ladies!
After lunch, we headed to Turner’s parent’s house in Cape May to have a little happy hour while waiting for Hunter and Kris to arrive and join us.
On last year’s trip, we were supposed to go out on a fun tiki cruise but it got cancelled due to storms (we had crazy stormy weather for last year’s trip, but it was kinda fun and cozy even if the opposite of beach vibes). This year, we decided to give it another shot and luckily the weather cooperated for us!
We booked our boat via Tiny Cruise Line and had the mini tiki boat to ourselves which was a fun treat! Ready to cruise:
The skies were a little ominous looking but it ended up being a really lovely, calm ride with beautiful views and great company. Turner got us a charcuterie board from a cheese shop in town to bring along, and we brought some wine onboard with us to enjoy as well.
Yay! Love these ladies so much.
We ended up having a really nice sunset on the boat, too! Sometimes clouds make sunsets even more beautiful:
After we got off the boat, we walked over to Mayer’s restaurant for a late dinner. It was packed and there was a live band, too!
I went pretty hard on the charcuterie and wasn’t hungry enough for my own full meal so I shared the scallops and fries entree with Turner. It was just the right amount! Here’s my half:
On Saturday morning, we had another fun adventure planned: beach yoga! I’ve gone to yoga in Cape May before in a studio, but had never done the beach version.
It was so lovely to practice on our towels in the sand with the sound of the waves! And it felt amazing to stretch after lots of time in the car the day before, too.
After yoga, it was time for breakfast! We went to the Mad Batter which is always a fave and thankfully only had a short wait.
I got an omelette with veggies (mushrooms and spinach if I am remembering correctly), feta, and crab (when at the beach…!). Delicious.
After breakfast, we walked around the cute main area and did some shopping, and then decided that the weather was going to hold long enough for us to hit up the beach for a bit!
We grabbed some to-go sandwiches and wraps on our way to have a late lunch on the beach. I had a tuna salad, avocado, and bacon wrap that was just so-so – oh well!
Sidenote – the seagulls in Cape May are INTENSE! One of my friends was holding a sandwich in her hand and a seagull literally tried to dive-bomb her to snatch it! Gah!! After that we were all much more careful about guarding our food while we were eating, that’s for sure!
We had fun hanging out on the beach and chatting for about an hour or so, and after awhile we all walked down to the water to think about going for a swim, when suddenly this happened:
Yikes!! A big storm front was moving in, bummer! We (along with everyone else on the beach) very quickly packed up and raced out of there. It ended up not actually raining like we thought it would, but it got very windy and a lot cooler, so good we left when we did anyway.
Luckily the weather ended up holding because for dinner that evening, we had plans to check out a new-to-us restaurant right on the water with all outdoor seating called Port Marina + Restaurant.
We started with drinks at their indoor bar while we waited for a table (they don’t take reservations). The sunset started to get really beautiful at this point, too, so of course we had to get some pictures!
We ended up getting a table right by the water – perfect, especially with the sunset progressing!
By the time we started ordering food, the sunset was INSANE – how gorgeous is this backdrop?! It just kept getting more and more beautiful!
This was such an A+ dinner experience. Gorgeous setting, fun music (they have a live DJ on Saturdays, and it was fun vibes but not insanely loud which was also good), awesome company, and great food, too. We ended up ordering a thousand small plates and sharing everything which is always my favorite way to enjoy a meal because I want to try all the things!
It was dark when our food came so the pics aren’t great, but you get the idea. 🙂 The brussels sprouts and ceviche were my favorites of everything we ordered, but it was all yummy.
Such a fun dinner with lots of laughs. When we left to walk back to the cars, we saw that the moon was a yellow/orange crescent and hanging really low on the horizon – this photo doesn’t really do it justice. It was so cool looking!
On Sunday morning, we headed to another favorite spot for breakfast – a cute coffee shop called Ostara’s. They have the BEST breakfast sandwiches – the English muffins taste like they are homemade. Yum! Plus a latte, of course.
After breakfast, we sadly said goodbye to Hunter who had to catch her flight home, and the remaining 5 of us drove over to Cape May Point State Park for a little hike. It was a little chilly out but sunny – my favorite hiking weather. 😉
We did a little loop through the wetland marsh before arriving at the beach to walk the rest of the way back via the sand.
Yay, hi beach! Hi ocean! We took off our shoes and walked the rest of the way back to the lighthouse (and parking area) from here.
After our hike, we headed into town and walked a little more on the seawall before heading back to the house to pack up and sadly say our farewells.
I was lucky that I had Lu to keep me company for most of the drive home, as she was flying out of BWI late in the afternoon and it was right on my drive back to DC so I offered to drop her off (the original plan had her going with Hunter to BWI in the morning but Hunter’s flight was many hours earlier). We had the best conversations as always and the drive flew by. We also stopped for a quick late lunch at Sweet Amalia Market again.
Until next time, friends… I’m missing you and Cape May but had fun reliving the weekend by writing this post blog. 🙂
