Corson's Inlet, NJ - goodbye to summer - 9/10/08

I had a vacation day on a Wednesday and we had nothing planned. Brian always comes up with the best spur-of-the-moment ideas if I'm feeling a bit burned out. So he said, "Would you like to go to Corson's Inlet?" I said, "Sure; I've never been there!"

What a beautiful day it was. Corson's Inlet is a State Park in NJ, and very water-and-fishing oriented.


We parked and walked around the boat launch, and I talked to some fishermen. I took a video of one of them, but I haven't uploaded it to anything yet.


It's very peaceful and natural there.






Brian took this next one from the bridge, and it's one of my favorites.


So he said, "Let's take a walk down this trail", and, not knowing exactly where it led, I agreed. Of course he knew, but I trust him implicitly, so I knew it wasn't to anyplace evil.




Lo and behold, on the other side was a really nice beach! I took videos of the ocean instead of stills, but I took just a few on the beach.

If you squint, you can barely make out my own personal Lawrence of Arabia.


Here are some shells, for those who care. I actually arranged them and we each took a picture of the arrangement with our respective cameras. You know how people in love do silly, random things...



Look! Here's part of a horseshoe crab! Ugly, isn't it?


Here's two nice shots of dune grass in the afternoon. If you don't want to look at these, skip ahead to the food part.

Brian took the above one.

I took this one on my cell.


It was just that kind of light, and that kind of peaceful, laid-back day.

He asked if I was hungry, and what do you think my answer was?

We drove a short way to Charlie's Bar in Somers Point. I was dying for wings, and haven't eaten at Charlie's in about two years or more.
This place is old-school, and I love the signage.






I love the bar-restaurant atmosphere at Charlie's. I wish I'd taken a few of the interior, but I suppose it looks like most any bar-restaurant. It's very comfortable, and there were many families there. I've never been to Charlie's when it wasn't crowded, ever, and I've been there all through the year in mostly all types of weather from the cold to the hot.

Here's their website so you can see their menu and everything. I'm too lazy to scan it right now.

http://charliesbar.com/withjavatable.htm

I ordered a small mixed platter of wings and BBTs (boneless breast tenders) with the mildest sauce (to me, it's NOT mild. It makes my lips burn, and I actually feel high when I'm eating them. I choke a little, too, when I first start eating them. That's not mild, but I like 'em!). I got french fries, too. I'm sorry, but I already started eating when it ocurred to me I should take at least one picture of the food. Brian ordered a chicken cheesesteak and said it was pretty good. He was already halfway through it before I noticed, so I didn't take a picture of his.

But this was my small (on purpose; I didn't want a bucket of wings...this time) platter and my fries, which I doused liberally with malt vinegar. Sorry for my cellphone pictures. They don't capture how they looked! It's very frustrating for me not to get a crisp closeup of food.




Well, Brian had never been to Charlie's, but he told me the other day that this is his favorite place so far down the shore to eat, and he wants to go back soon! YAY! I used to go there with my ex, but I don't tie in any romantic memories with Charlie's...just memories of those wings! One thing that Bill and I used to do that WAS romantic was to drive all the way down there (about an hour or more as the crow flies), pick up a bucket of about 50 wings, and drive all the way back to his house and reheat them slightly and eat them and watch TV. At the time, I thought that was very romantic.

Anyway! Afterwards, we started driving back and we came across a place I used to take my daughter. We both called out, "Custard Castle!!" Screech! He pulled right in, and we took pictures and each got a creamsicle custard!

The better and neon pictures are Brian's. Mixed in with this last grouping is a blurry picture of me looking rather bloated and not exactly ultra-feminine.








Kinda makes me hungry for one right now.






Here's some neon:




Custard Castle
6101 Black Horse Pike
Mays Landing, NJ 08330
(609) 625-2537

So we said goodbye to Summer 2008, but our outdoor and roadfood adventures go all year...

Harriett, nice pics, best looking beach I ever saw in Jersey.

looks like you were led down the garden path.

harriett - thanks for the beach trip.

the creamsicle custard looks really tasty.

They charge to launch a boat at a state park? Wow! Considering the fact that the launch ramps were built with money from federal excise taxes paid only by people who buy hunting, fishing, shooting and boating equipment that's robbery.

Harriet, thanks for this report. A few of your cell-phone pics came out better than my digital camera!

How is malt vinegar on wings? I've never heard of that. I like wings so hot that the vinegar aroma makes my eyes water. And I'm sure others will say it, too, but I'd've never guessed those beach shots were in Jersey. It looks like the Outer Banks! Chris

Wonderful report.I enjoyed the pics of the scenery AND the food! Thanks.

Alrighty Harriet. Nice report and pics, thank you.

Nice report! My favorite picture is your Lawrence of Arabia picture. LOVE it!

quote:

Originally posted by ayersian

Harriet, thanks for this report. A few of your cell-phone pics came out better than my digital camera!

How is malt vinegar on wings? I've never heard of that. I like wings so hot that the vinegar aroma makes my eyes water. And I'm sure others will say it, too, but I'd've never guessed those beach shots were in Jersey. It looks like the Outer Banks! Chris

Thanks, Chris, and everybody else who had nice things to say. I was sort of in a hurry to put this up last night, because I wanted to watch a little bit of the Phillies game - whoops! - I mean Game One of the Phillies - I mean the World Series! (Hope I don't eat those words).

Anyway, no, the malt vinegar was for the fries and I don't think I'd ever put that on wings!

What a lovely day off for you guys harriet! Great report!

I did not know that NJ had such pretty beaches. Great pics and the wings and custard looked really good.

Sounds like you are a very happy lady.

Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN

Thanks for reminding me(as if I needed reminding) how lucky I am to call the Jersey shore home!!!!!!!

Thanks for taking us along on your trip to the shore! I love the dune and seagrass photos.

Creamsicle custard sounds great.

I think your pictures came out great!
by the way, when you start missing the creamsicle thing, get the blender out and use vanilla ice cream and Orange crush soda.
Best shake evah!

Hi Harriet, great report. I'm typing this on my laptop in my basement, and one "decoration" down here is my souvenir chicken finger bucket from Charlie's. Best dam buffalo fingers I ever had, too bad it's a 2 hour drive for me.

Nice beach pics too, I love the shore in the off season. Next time you're headed that way, you and Brian might want to take a drive to Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, just a few miles north of Atlantic City. It's one of my favorite places on the entire Jersey shore.

Harriet - what a nice day...beautiful scenery and some mighty nice looking food! Thanks for sharing!

quote:

Originally posted by ken8038

Hi Harriet, great report. I'm typing this on my laptop in my basement, and one "decoration" down here is my souvenir chicken finger bucket from Charlie's. Best dam buffalo fingers I ever had, too bad it's a 2 hour drive for me.

Nice beach pics too, I love the shore in the off season. Next time you're headed that way, you and Brian might want to take a drive to Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, just a few miles north of Atlantic City. It's one of my favorite places on the entire Jersey shore.

Well, ken, one day it would be fun to meet up with you down there, and get Ellen on a day off too!

It's funny you mentioned Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge. Now, I've personally never been, but Brian's very familiar with it. In fact, when he first got the new camera, he made a video down there, put it on DVD, and I was pretty bowled over by the way he put this together. The background music was Pink Floyd's "Echoes", and he played around with special effects in Windows Moviemaker and it was...really something. Especially since it was I think the second time he ever messed with the camera like that and put stills and video together.

And for ChitownDiner, I meant to tell you that my colleague who went to Chicago ended up going to "some bar" (who knows) and Weber Grill. He had a great time, although the Eagles lost that game. But I appreciate your tips and have saved your email!

Everybody else, thank you, and I feel like I have a little catching up to do with these little (Day)Trip Reports of mine.

quote:

Originally posted by harriet1954

one day it would be fun to meet up with you down there, and get Ellen on a day off too!


Count me IN !! I LOVE Charlies!! And I'm grateful to be only 15 minutes away from there.
I also go for the wings/bbt combo !
BTW, no apologies necessary for those wings/fries cell pics!
They definitely got me salivating, Harriet!

I love the fact that they are open late, till like 3 am, and it's such a down to earth place. And just like you said, I've never seen them NOT look busy, either. Always seems happening in there.
Not to mention the fact that they have tons of big screen TV's built into the walls, great for watching sports.
I go there about every few months, and I particularly like suggesting it to a date. (cause you know guys love watching their sports)

Thanks for sharing your fun October day with us, Harriet!
And I know what you mean about being behind with Trip Reports!
I've still got to do my L.A. and my Vegas reports..
guess I'll put it in the mix, along with having dates with the new guy... gotta have time for my Roadfood.com buds , too!