Long Beach Island 2009

Bags packed, Joey, Frank and I packed the car and waited for Justin, then we were on our way. I burned CDs really quick that morning..and probably should have paid better attention.. the would be one of the main things to pick on me about the entire trip.. considering not one of them didn't have something screwed up on it [ either skipping tracks, incomplete tracks, tracks doubled up, etc. ] Ergh. Not fun. Anyway, we left about 1:30 pm. Every year, Frank and I argue about how long it will take to get there...he says 3 hours I say 6...welllllll it is always 6 because of traffic..soooo we leave he says we'll be there soon, I tell Joey we'll arrive around 7:30.. it was Joey's first time going. So, after a long car ride..seeing catman...HARRY! ....screwed up cds "yeah we're used to it now" ...pizza my parents thought to get us the day before to bring with us..yes it was cold but it saved us from hunger and mcdonald's stomach aches...6 hours later, we pass by the LBI exit..not because we got lost or missed it, but because we had to drive 30 minutes south to get to our campsite..one of the only ones left because of "such short notice". It turned out only taking like 15 minutes to get there, which was a plus. Soooo after check in and listening to those crazy ladies..I thought were going to come hack us up in our sleep HAHA we rush to the Island just in time for sunset...second year in a row that's happened! When I say "just in time" I mean JUST IN TIME..you know that 15 minutes where the sun is setting that looks pretty? yeah, both years, we were in the last 10 minutes of it...don't ask me how. But it was perfect. Set the mood awesomely. OH and before that, on the Causeway, Frank had me find "Pina Colada" on one of the CDs I made, he specifically asked me to put the song on there, soooo thankfull that one did work! So we blasted it and the little hills in the road worked out perfectly..everytime we hit the top of one "IF YOU LIKE PINA COLADAS AND GETTING CAUGHT IN THE RAIN" was playing hah. It was amazing. After that, we were on our way to one of our traditions...getting CHOWDA in Bay Village, in the little hut hidden behind Country Kettle Fudge. Everyone loved it. Obviously. After that it was real dark, but we drove to the south end of the island [another tradition even though it was cold and freezing] and walked around for a bit, got too cold, then headed to Fantasy Island. When we were there, well, let's put it this way, every year there is something I see in those stupid little crane games that catch my attention. Frank always wants to get me something, and always does, but usually it takes a while and the whole time I'm like dont worry about it, nevermind. This time, I saw a cute little cat skunk looking thing that was pink and black..2 of my favorite colors..anyway Frank saw me eyeing it, soooo he said I only have $0.50 ...the amount of the game, and for the first time I didn't have the urge to tell him not to get it, I felt like he would...sooooo he goes for it, and guess what? I got the little skunk thing :] After that, Joey and me were a little hungry still, [we only had chowder, Frank and Justin had bread bowls too] so on the way back to the campsite, we grabbed some taco bell, I ended up finishing Joey's hah...Idk I can eat more than anyone sometimes... After that they built a fire but I was sooooo tired I passed out in the tent on the air mattress...thank you for that thing Frank haha but um yeah I am a realllllly light sleeper so if I hadn't brought earplugs I probably would have died. There were some friggen rednecks a site over from us..talk about OBNOXIOUS omg. Anyway, yeah so sleep...oh and see gallery for the pic of Justin and Joey "creeps" wow yeah. We had no plans on getting up early...

So, with not having a plan on when to get up, we did pretty good. I woke up, because I suck at sleeping, all throughout the night.. and kept having to put my earplugs back in..grr friggen things kept falling out. I finally woke up to stay up though, around what I'm guessing was 5. I heard Justin walking around, then Frank and Joey got up, so, after that, we figured it was time to go back to the island. Right before we left..one of us looked at the time "it's only six o'clock!?" yay. I like having long days if you're doing something you enjoy..you don't have to worry about the whole point going to waste. Once on the Causeway, I blasted "Pina Colada" again, which no one was expecting, so it set the mood. Yay. I did good again hah. So, we get to the island, where do we start? Fred's Diner of course! It's tradition for me and Frank to go there for breakfast as many days we can afford. Last year when we went with Justin for 2 days, 1 night, the second day we were there for the morning obviously soooo we had it with him too. I always get a strawberry belgian waffle..omg... the best. I crave it. HAH. After that, I walked to the beach, with my camera and tripod in hand, ready to take photos. Frank, Justin, and Joey all rode their ripsticks down..and no I don't have one..I'm too uncoordinated to even look at the things... ANYWAY, so, when you get to the galleries, the pics of the 4 of us I had my camera on a tripod on a timer, same with the ones of me and Frank. I take all of my own photos no matter where I am. We spent a few hours at the beach, then Frank had the idea to go to the lighthouse. So, we drove up to the opposite end of the Island and were on our way to the lighthouse. I made sure everyone had their dollar ready for the entrance fee or whatever you want to call it. We get there and walked up the little boardwalk first. After, we went back to the lighthouse and had our money out and the old man laughed and he's like "we don't start charging til next week" grrrr I swear I can't get anything right. Oh well. You get used to it. So, we walk up all 200 whatever stairs, I feel like I'm gonna have a heartattack, and feel all muscles in my legs I forgot I had. Justin and Joey rush up the thing like monkeys, and I feel Frank wanting to, but he stayed with me, even though I told him he could. I hate making him feel trapped :[ Oh well. He loves me, that's all that matters. Once at the top, I feel my legs..hurting from moving too much haha and nervous because of how high up we are. Frank holds me the entire time and I snap some pics, then, back on the journey DOWN all those steps. That's even worse than going up, because, by that time my legs were so retarded they felt like they were going to give out. I was out of breath, not really scared, lol but out of breath. After that, not much more interesting stuff happened, walked around all day, looked for sweatshirts, bought sunglasses [thank you for mine Joey], went back to fantasy island, etc.

This time, we planned on catching the sunrise. We ended up being a little late, but it was okay, I still snapped some good shots. Speaking of photos...my brother had a camera with him, that my parents bought him for his bday which was a few days before... and I have yet to see any pics he took...hmmmm..grr Joey if you're reading this I'd better see those soon! Anyway, so Justin and Frank dropped the two of us off and searched for a parking spot...or so I thought they were. Sooooo, here the sun is, rising, really fast, and I've been taking pictures for like half an hour now...still no sign of Frank, so I get really sad and poor Joey had to deal with me getting snappy, but idk I felt like, since we all got up and rushed down there that Frank should be there to see it with me? Idk. Selfish I guess. So, after the sun being pretty high up now, Joey and I decide to walk on the road to try and find them. We hear our names being called and somehow Justin and Frank were on the beach walking out to where we were with coffees...somehow they parked further down then went on the beach to walk up, instead of the road. I was in a bad mood so I probably killed an hour of fun for them woops. Idk. Anyway. After that we went down to the end of the island, and it being so early didn't know what to do. Justin and Frank and Joey rode around on the ripsticks. I took a bunch of pictures of them. After that we went up to Bay Village..and nothing was open yet, not even the coffee shop..yeesh. Justin grabbed his acoustic guitar and played and sang, then traded with Frank and they were playing songs back and forth. That was fun and relaxing. I really enjoyed it. After that Justin and Joey wanted to explore the island and Frank was tired, so I stayed with him in the car and he took a nap. Joey and Justin went out on their ripsticks. A few hours later Frank woke up, and we walked to the little deli [we parked in the parking lot on the south end]. When I was in there, the new owner I'm guessing, saw my camera. Soooo she started asking questions and we talked for a bit, ordered food, and she told us some good locations to get pics of the sunset that night. After eating, we found Justin and Joey and then went over and sat and talked all night on the bay side. Took pictures, then I honestly don't remember what we did HAHA.

Wow, I'm getting lazy haha I'll write more here later. But anyway, we woke up around 4:30ish, packed our tents, checked out then rushed to the island, sure to catch the sunrise this time. But of course, with our luck haha it was so hazy out you didn't get to see the sun haha but it was awesome just for the colors themselves, which I love. After that, we decided to leave, against joey and justin's will WHO DIDN'T HAVE TO DRIVE OR GET UP THE NEXT DAY :x we left and came back here....