The interior had a nice long counter up front and in the back, a seating area arrayed in mountain lodge style with plenty of old wood seating amidst a roaring hearth. Delighted to find a possible good coffee stop in so barren a coffee area, I practically sprinted out of the car and through their front window (ok, maybe I wasn't that extreme, but it felt like it). Word had it that a place called Caffe Vero Coffee Roasters was doing some good things with coffee and espresso. But aside from the lack of bustle, there was still one draw for me.

I've been to the town twice in my life, the first for a Geology field trip in October as a college freshman and then as a recent stop on a trip to Lake Placid both times the town has been practically empty (even the McDonald's was closed for the season!). Lake George is probably one of the few exceptions. Yet aside from visits to such towns along the coasts (at least in NJ and Oregon), I can't say I've been to many non-coastal resort towns that don't hold at least two seasons worth of tourists.

Nothing is really open, the streets are barren and the only thing to do is polar bear swims (I am currently at 21 separate swims). While I immensely love the natural draws such as the beach, the fresh summer air and the ocean, the man-made attractions such as the boardwalk, salt water taffy, caramel popcorn and various amusements inhabit my really vivid memories.īut boy howdy how Ocean City differs in the winter, as typical for a resort/vacation town. Of all of the frequent parts of my childhood, I remember vacationing in Ocean City, NJ almost every summer for the first 18 years of my existence.

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