Going to the beach is my favorite thing to do in the summer, and every year my family and I visit Ocean City, New Jersey, for a week-long vacation. We always rent the same house on 25th Street. Next week is our vacation, but I can only go for the weekend this year, so I am planning on jamming everything I want to do into two days.

I’m going late Friday night so I can get to the beach early Saturday morning in order to get in two full beach days. Something about being on the beach relaxes me; I love the sound of the waves, the smell of the salt and the feel of the sun on my skin. Some of my favorite beach activities are reading, taking a nap, having a catch and going in the ocean to cool off. I’m one of those people who like to stay on the beach until 7 p.m., along with my dad and aunt; my mom hates it because it pushes back dinner.

Speaking of dinner, I already informed everyone that, on Saturday, we are ordering dinner from one of my favorite restaurants in OCNJ, Piccini; they have this lump crab pizza that is so good, I could eat it every night. I also like to get Polish Water Ice from the boardwalk, breakfast from Augie’s Omelette and Waffle House, donuts from Dot’s Pastry Shop and a birch beer from Manco & Manco (for some reason I feel like they have the best soda).

There are a couple shops I always like to visit to purchase my Ocean City t-shirt for the year; I always seem to find my shirt at a store called B&B. I like to walk along the boardwalk and look in the stores at the different knick knacks and check out the different surf shops.

I have a lot to accomplish during my weekend down the shore, but I’m looking forward to it.

— Mary Melnick, social media and editorial coordinator