It’s a crazy year when we can take a day trip to the beach in December to celebrate a birthday, but that’s just what we did. Here’s a fun day trip you can take in Delaware on an unseasonably warm winter day.
Our family loves to take affordable day trips for family birthdays in place of birthday gifts. The best way to do that is to explore what is in the area we live in and we figure them into our yearly vacation plans.
Well, my daughter turned 8 just a couple weeks ago and her biggest wish every.single.year. is to be able to go to the beach for her birthday. Having a December birthday in the Mid-Atlantic area doesn’t exactly make a day trip to the beach very feasible.
This year has been unseasonably warm, so the night before her birthday we planned a last minute whirlwind trip to the beach. We purposefully planned the trip to the Lewes Beach, which is close to outlet malls so we were able to secretly pack the van with beach toys and head out for a day of shopping. And yes, my daughter was thrilled to be shopping for her birthday.
One of the great things about Rehoboth Beach is that some business and restaurants are open year-round. After a couple hours of shopping, we ate lunch and took a walk down the Rehoboth Beach boardwalk, then loaded everyone back into the car, the kids making comments that “it was too bad it’s too cold for the beach”.
My husband and I threw secret glances at each other as he drove to Lewes Beach. Once we got there, we parked and told everyone to get out. They were so confused, asking where we were going and if we had gotten lost. We said nothing, just pulled sand buckets from the back of the car and headed toward the beach. They all were speechless, but not for long.
Within minutes our little beach girl was running in the water, getting completely soaked and most definitely covered in sand. After a couple hours of playing on the beach, we found dry clothes at the outlet malls and headed to Ocean City for Winterfest of Lights. We ended up waiting in line for 1.5 hours to see the short but amazing display of lights. Thankfully it wasn’t a very cold night and it was worth every minute.
Winterfest of Lights is still showing until January 3, 2016. We recommend visiting. Tickets are $5 for 12 and over. Under 12 are free. If you are in the area, you can buy tickets ahead of time and avoid any lines, but a friend visited just the other evening and said there was no line.
After our visit to Winterfest, we head back toward home, stopping at the Dogfish Head Brewpub for a late dinner. Unlike many breweries, Dogfish Head not only offers their own excellent craft beers, but serves up a good meal with friendly service. As usual, we split several appetizers and entrees from the menu so we could try a variety of foods on their menu. Everything was delicious, though the fries could have used a bit of salt.
Potato Pierogis, Duck Poutine, Cross Country Snow Pizza, The Indulgence Burger, and Salmon Sandwich
