Jersey Shore

A couple of weeks ago, just a couple of weeks after arriving in New Jersey, we spent a mostly-lovely Sunday afternoon driving to the beach, and enjoying the shore.

We found a parking spot near the boardwalk, paid for parking, almost paid for beach access, until the guy taking tickets told the guy taking money not to charge anymore -- the weather wasn't looking good enough.

So we walked down to the beach and put our toes in the water.

Within a half hour, the sky opened up and it started pouring rain. We took shelter under the side of a building.

When it kept raining, and raining, and raining, we gave up and walked through the wet to the other end of the boardwalk, where there was a restaurant with a patio, and we shared an order of chips and French fries for an excuse to sit on the patio and watch the rain.

We left a little while before our parking pass expired, with plenty of time to reach the car.

Coming back, through the rain, we gave up on staying dry. It was kind of fun to dance around on the wet boardwalk in the rain.

We all commented that it had been one of our most successful family outings yet. No whining, no yelling, no electronic devices, and no one upset with each other. A truly lovely successful afternoon!

Until we got back to the car and found we had a parking ticket.

Our receipt for parking said we had paid at 3:25 pm. The ticket was issued at 3:26 pm. Which means the parking guy just was hovering next to our car as we pulled up, and issued the ticket after we had appropriately paid. And the instructions on the ticket said we either had to pay the fine, or show up in person in court on a Thursday morning to dispute the fine, which of course was impossible. In spite of the fact that we had paid for parking.

So we drove home mad.

And then we spent the whole night mad.

And then Tim called in the city who issued the ticket in the morning, and a lady told him we could just mail or fax the ticket along with our receipt and the ticket would be voided. And then the rental car company made it even easier by taking the ticket and our parking receipt and saying they'd just take care of it, since it was their car. So, in theory, everything was fine.

Except we were mad.

Way to go, New Jersey. Way to ruin our nicest evening yet.