Bethany Beach, DE: R+R+R

Road, read, rest. Those three Rs are exactly what I did this weekend and exactly what I needed. I was on the road (about 2.5 hours each way to the beach)…I read when I got to the beach…and I rested, really rested after a busy week at the hospital. Speaking of the hospital, I do not know what is in the air but we have had so many falls coming in as traumas, many of them involving falling off a roof or a tree. Falls in general take a longer time to place in terms of discharge planning because especially when the patient is older, often times they are not able to return to their prior level of functioning (PLOF) right away. It often involves placing people in skilled nursing facilities (SNFs), acute rehabilitation centers, transitional care, or in some cases long-term acute care hospitals (LTACH). It can be a real process and it takes a lot of educating the team, reassuring the patient, and supporting the family. Anyway, enough about that.

In other and VERY exciting news I crossed state number 27/30 off on my list! I am sooo close to my 30 before 30 goal. Super exciting! This is a big deal for me for a few reasons, one of which is that I feel like I never really finish anything that I start. It was not always like that. I obviously finished my graduate degree, finished my thesis, etc. but since I got out of graduate school there have been so many things I have told myself I would do and then I don’t. I am doing this though. It is a gift to myself for all I have survived the last 5 years and it is the closure of a book to write a brand new one where I change the narrative to: I DO FINISH WHAT I START. Now hopefully one of these days I will finish this book I have told people I will write for years now 😅

This weekend I drove through a large part of Delaware to get to one of the beaches, Bethany Beach. When I asked a few people about beaches they would recommend, I heard two come out of each person’s mouth: Bethany Beach and Rehoboth Beach, both in Delaware. I was able to drive through Rehoboth, but I spent most of my time in Bethany Beach. My first stop on my trip (once I got there) was to get food of course. I started off with an “ocean bowl” from 3BB Cafe. It had spirulina in it which created a gorgeous blue color. It was the same shade as this beautiful wall below! It was practically painted for me 😍

While I was there I also got a delicious iced caramel macchiato and two cake pops that were divine. Why is it that food always tastes better when it is not from home lol.

After that, I went to a few cute little shops and wandered down to the beach which was actually extremely crowded! I did not even go down to the water because it was so busy (and I had my comfy shoes on that I did not want to get sand in). I was surprised that it was even more busy than Sea Isle City in New Jersey! I walked along a little path along the beach there and then all of a sudden I was hungry already. And hot. Really hot, it was 95 degrees and HUMID, so humid.

I looked up seafood in the area because… hello! I was at the beach. There was a restaurant called 99 Sea Level I saw which had good reviews so I decided to head there right as it was opening (that is probably the only reason I got a table without a reservation). The food was DIVINE. I got the seared day boat scallops with cauliflower puree, corn chutney & lobster champagne drizzle 😍 I didn’t even know what half of that meant but it was delicious! I highly recommend trying foods you don’t know what any of means 🤷🏼‍♀️ I also got lobster mac n’ cheese which was a bit too rich for me so I ended up taking it to go. The view was gorgeous too. I was able to see a bit of the ocean from where I was sitting outside on the balcony.

Once I was done stuffing my face with delicious seafood, I decided to stuff it with some frozen mint-flavored custard instead from “Kohr Brothers Frozen Custard” – a cute little locally owned spot which says it has been around since 1919! Yummy too.

I did a bit more walking around and stumbled across Bethany Beach Books which had two of my favorite things in the name (beach and books, duh) so of course I had to stop in! Or at least that is the excuse I told myself to justify going in when I know DARN well that I have about as much control in a book store as a kid in a candy store 😬 Let’s just say I got my candy 😉 Here are the books that I ended up bringing home:

I am already almost done with the People We Meet on Vacation and it is so good! Reading fiction is so so new to me as I read only non-fiction for the longest time. Bringing home 1/3 is pretty good for me! Good Boy is really amazing so far too and I of course love how she weaves her own story in and out of her stories of dogs that changed her life.

I went into a couple more shops and bought a few little things like a “K” necklace and some more chapstick that does not contain petrolatum which BY THE WAY dries out your lips even more. Eos is one of the brands that uses it. Sooo find something more natural. You are welcome in advance and you can thank me later 😉

The drive home I listened to my music and talked on the phone with my best friend Stephen for nearly 2 hours of the drive. By the time I got home I was so exhausted that I was laying in bed by 7:30PM reading and asleep by 9. Boy have I changed since my partying days. Oh well, I think I am liking this new way of life and I think it likes me too.

Overall, Delaware was a gorgeous state… very green with gorgeous (though crowded) beaches. There are lots of sand dunes and it almost feels like a southern-type beach with a very laid back vibe. I now know why I have heard people around here say they would like to move there. Now the question is… which state will be my 28th?! Tune in for this upcoming Fall! Until then 🥰