Boba Tea, Zoo Yoga, and a Big Ol’ Campfire
Welcome back to Island Hopping, where we guide you through a fun-filled week on the Cape May peninsula. This week, we’re starting the day in Wildwood at the Blue Water Grille. This hot breakfast spot is housed in a historic hotel that still hosts popular events all year long. My dread friend, who was homeschooled most of his life, was forced as a child to sing there for the annual Italian Festival and still shudders when we pass by.
The Blue Water Grille won’t make you sing Italian folk songs, but it will serve you a great low-priced breakfast just a block from the Wildwoods boardwalk.
While we’re still in Wildwood, head over to the Wildwood Historical Society on Pacific Avenue. The non-profit museum has a treasure trove of Wildwood items from the past century and beyond. We visited a few months ago and were delighted to find vintage flags, pieces of old boardwalk rides, signs from defunct hotels, old lifeguard shirts, and a ton more. If you have any interest in Wildwood’s history, or if you’re an older visitor who wants to get a glimpse into the past, this free museum is a lovely place to spend an hour.
Next, we’re headed up the parkway. Just up the road from the Zoo, south on Route 9 in the Cornerstone Plaza, is Cape May Pho and Boba Tea. This is the first Vietnamese restaurant to open in Cape May County. The restaurant was opened by Thao “Tracey” Le and her husband Tai Pham – they always wanted to share the food of their home country with locals. When the couple moved here from Vietnam, friends, and acquaintances would constantly ask: “Where can I get Vietnamese around here?” To finally answer this question, the couple opened Cape May Pho and Boba Tea to much fanfare in Court House. We love the basic pho bowl, but their smoothie-style drinks are also killer.
Just up the road are several free tennis courts that we think everyone should know about. Tennis has a low cost of entry; you can buy used rackets for next to nothing. And there are tennis courts all around the county that almost always have a court open for use. The Cape May County Park East, on 25 Crest Haven Road in Court House, has several free courts that were recently resurfaced. You can also find free-to-use courts at the Railroad Avenue Park on 11 N Railroad in Rio Grande.
Pickleball be damned – get out there and play some tennis!
We’ll end our excursion across the county by heading to Belleplain State Forest up in Woodbine. The forest has over 21,000 protected acres, many of which are accessible by trail. The staff here runs guided hikes and events all year long. If you love the state forest, thank FDR, who started up the Civilian Conservation Corps. Groups of young men, out of a job due to the Great Depression, cut through the forest to establish trails and dug Lake Nummy into the deep lake it is today.
Coming up soon is the forest’s End of Summer Hike and Campfire at 6 p.m. – Meet at the forest’s nature center for a guided hike and a great big campfire to keep warm at the end. The Belleplain staff is always vibrant and helpful. We know we’ll be there!
That’s all for Island Hopping this week! Let us know if you have any suggestions for a future edition. Email the editor at chall@cmcherald.com or give him a call at 608-886-8600 ext. 156