Ocean Grove

Lori had a planning retreat in Ocean Grove, NJ last weekend with all the steering committee members of Greater NY HRC. Very fortunate since Maria's family lives like 10-15 minutes south of Ocean Grove. We were able to go out for dinner with the group every night, and Cooper got to hang out with his grandparents.

Cooper did make an appearance at the Ocean Plaza Inn for breakfast, and he became quite the fan of the mini scones. Brian and Cory's new puppy Carter, a beautiful 16 week old golden retriever, became a huge fan of licking Cooper's face!

After an amazing wine and cheese spread by the inn on Friday night, we walked over to Asbury Park through the "casino" and went to dinner at Stella Marina. We had a reservation for the 12 of us at 9pm, and the restaurant was absolutely packed. Great food. Lots of wine. Would love to go back and explore a little more of the menu when the weather gets warmer.

Lori was in meetings all day on Saturday. Maria got some errands done, and Cooper got a haircut. It is a very unfortunate haircut. This is his third cut in his 15 months, and we have now realized that a unimpressive barbershop absolutely does the best job by far! Don't know where these 'kid's cuts' people get their training, but these "professionals" certainly do a sucky job. Yes. we know it will grow back. For now? Way to short bangs and weirdly shaped cut in the back. Poor poor Cooper.

Saturday night. Dinner at Seagrass in Ocean Grove. GO TO THIS RESTAURANT. It was amazing - great food and great service. We all loved what we ordered, and all coveted what our neighbors were eating as well. So happy that our group decided to eat at this women/gay-owned place, and we are thinking that we need to take Maria's parents here next time we are down to visit. Best thing about the place? The warm cheese fondue and homemade potato chips appetizer. The worst thing? It is BYOB. Not their fault though. Ocean Grove is very very Methodist, and the recently unconstitutionally-deemed 'Blue Laws' are still trying to hold on a bit by not allowing alcohol to be purchased anywhere in the town. Having to drive the 2 minutes to the next town to buy a beer is worth it when you are sitting inside The Great Auditorium.

Right across from our inn was the site of a horrible fire that occurred in Ocean Grove on March 13th. The flames took out the oldest hotel, The Manchester Inn, and several other neighboring houses.

The porch is the only thing close to being intact.
This house was "lucky" enough to survive.