I really enjoyed this take from Joseph Russell over at South Jerseyist: 

Like many kids who grew up in South Jersey, my parents took me down the shore every year. It was nothing particularly fancy; we went wherever we could afford for a week. I was probably less than ten years old when I got my first taste of the beach, the amusements, and the wonders of the New Jersey shore town boardwalk. Pretty much since that first visit, I was hooked, and I’ve been back every year since. To say that I, along with so many other tourists, take the shore for granted seems like an understatement. We’re so used to the ice cream shops, the pizza places, the arcades, that we sometimes think of as a separate, perfect place, apart from the wider world at large.

Or at least I did until someone on Twitter brought the shore town I’ve gone to for a decade and a half crashing into my every day world view. On June 28th, well into the vacation season, Baltimore walkability advocate PedestrianError tweeted:

“I’ve often wondered why so many people choose walkable vacations spots year after year, but choose to buy homes in sprawl.”

This really stopped me in my tracks. I’ve been a proponent of urban, walkable environments for years, but I never stopped to think about how the shore towns I grew up visiting play directly into this passion. When I really started thinking about it, it all made sense.

One of the first things you’ll notice when you get off the parkway (orthe train) and into a shore town’s downtown area is just how many people you see walking around. At the height of the season, tourists clog the sidewalks, spill out onto the roadway, make their way down the boardwalk, and walk to and from the beach. Think about the intersection of JFK and Landis Avenues in Sea Isle City, 96th Street in Stone Harbor, Washington Street in Cape May (one of the only successful pedestrian-only streets I’ve seen in the United States), or the boardwalk in Ocean City. These are areas of extreme walkability, where you can park your car for the day, or walk from your hotel or rental, and explore shops, restaurants, and attractions for hours on foot.

Read the whole thing.