lovely Cape May

Having experienced the vulgarity and sheer excessiveness of Atlantic City, I was bracing myself for another gaudy resort as I braved the heat and crowds down in South Jersey. Experience has taught me that seaside resorts are usually either brash and tawdry or faded and dull. Brighton, England is another matter, for it manages to be all these things and several more, but Bray in co. Dublin is typical of a resort that has seen better times and only survives by providing gruesome amusement arcades and the like. So I was wholly unprepared for Cape May. Not only is it un-vulgar, it is also remarkably un-faded. How and why I cannot say. For it must surely be a much-favoured resort and place to live, and yet all I saw was indescribably lovely. Streets of quiet, dignified Victorian timber houses line the popular beaches, and the beaches themselves have resisted most of the dross that I thought was part and parcel of a successful resort. The sand and sea were more than adequate, and the temperature was a great relief from the 95+ inland. I loved it and I want to go back. What more can I say?