Adventures galore at Seaside Heights!

Seaside Heights is a popular destination located in the Ocean County of New Jersey, primarily because along with the Beach it also has an amusement-oriented Boardwalk, which is one of the busiest at the Shore. The community is also the location of popular MTV Show Jersey Shore.

As I am very fond of beaches and have already covered more than 10 of them this year (some had lighthouses too), i couldn’t have left this one out. So, with much excitement, we left one Sunday afternoon for Manasquan, which is on the way to Seaside Heights. We spent a bit of time on a beach in Manasquan. The place was not crowded at all, maybe because there is too much to do just a few miles away at Seaside Heights. However, calmness has its own beauty and we saw people enjoying their afternoon playing sports at the beach, including kite flying 🙂

As we reached Seaside Heights, the hustle-bustle there spoke about its popularity. Saru was happy to see numerous amusement options at the Casino Pier. First, we took the Sky Ride, that took us high above the beach and boardwalk. The cool breeze from the ocean, and great views of the Atlantic Ocean, Barnegat Bay, Seaside Height’s Beach and Boardwalk took our breath away!

We then walked on the Boardwalk from the end where the sky ride dropped us to the other, where plenty of rides are located. This time I skipped the other adventure activities there, having done the same at Jenkinson’s boardwalk at Point Pleasant last year. However, Saru was thrilled just by seeing them and experienced Super Storm. The ride swings like a pendulum and also spins around its circle. The greatest thrill is when it turns you upside down, making a 360 degree revolution. Well, some people might feel nauseated after it, and that’s what happened to Saru…so that was it for the day. But we spent a splendid time there enjoying seeing others take other rides.

Treetop and Zipline Adventures in Poconos

Though first few weeks of Spring is not the best time to venture out for us, but we didn’t want to stay at home since it was a long weekend (clubbed with Good Friday). But then we had not planned ahead which we normally do. After doing all the household chores on Friday, Saturday morning looked so empty, so the adventurers in me and Saru thought about exploring Poconos mountains and Delaware Water Gap and doing few outdoor activities out there. We packed our bags, with the intention of staying overnight and coming back home Sunday evening. So, it was more of an impromptu trip, actually the first time ever we had done so.

It took 1.5 hrs to drive from Piscataway in New Jersey to Camelback Mountain Resort in Tannersville, Pennsylvania. As many of you know, I love driving, especially in the hilly areas. As soon as we reached Camelback Snowtubing, Saru just wanted to get on with the activity. She is super-active outdoors! However, Saturday being a bit windy, we thought of doing adventures first and leaving Snowtubing for Sunday. So, we moved another couple of miles uphill and parked at the spot for Mountain Adventures. It is a pretty vast area and we could still see a lot of snow.

After taking our tickets, we were first given safe instructions and a few necessary lessons for TreeTop course. Then began the stretching, jumping, hopping and many other forms of exercising while moving from one tree to another, all on our own. The fun of doing all this high above the ground is awesome, though the full course was still not available because of snow at the top. There are various thrilling elements, like swaying bridges, wobbly logs, wind-in-your-face zip lines, vertical cargo nets, ladders, high-wires, and a few more.

                

It took us more than 2 hours to complete the entire course. While doing our final ‘monkey jumping,’ we were at one point 70 feet above the ground and things had gotten pretty challenging by then, even for me. But i was able to finish then entire course and Saru just stopped short of a couple as she developed a cramp while pushing herself forward on a cable. It was indeed an exhilarating experience which one can only experience in the field.

Then we did zip-lining, which is another heart pounding adventure. After harnessing ourselves up, we zipped through the trees at up to 8 stories above the ground. I enjoyed it so much that i did it 3 times and every time enjoyed more than the previous one.

   

At the end of it all, we were so tired that we thought of coming back home in the evening on Saturday itself. The reason being since the bloom is still a couple of weeks away, the beauty was not so scenic. Now we plan to go back to Poconos Mountains in Summers and complete the remaining adventures (Snowtubing will not be there, but that could be compensated by Canoeing and Kayaking). Pending on the list is also hiking the Appalachian trail and checking Bushkill and Buttermilk falls at Delaware Water Gap, which was lined up for 2nd day in our trip.

Overall, a pretty nice day spent in the lap of nature and doing what we love. Hope we get to go back there soon.

P.S. We saw many having fun Snowtubing: