Ray's family always used to go to Ocean City when he was a kid (and they still do every couple years), but they always rent a house for a week or so and have everyone in the family visit. And we always stay in Wildwood, like I said (at the Riviera Motel, because they have units with really nice big whirlpool tubs). We'll often time our trip to coincide with the in-laws so we can see them, although we prefer to have our own hotel room down in Wildwood rather than stay with them. There's such a thing as too much togetherness.
I've never gone down the shore at this time of year, though...earliest I've ever gone is Memorial Day, when the season officially starts. Not sure how much there will be to do.
On a slight tangent, my family's beach town of choice when I was a kid was Asbury Park, so when I visited there as an adult, it made me very sad -- almost everything on the boardwalk is gone, closed, or boarded up; Palace Amusements (a favorite place of mine back then) was demolished a couple years ago, and the whole town is creepy and run-down. It's sad that they let it get that way, and I actually grieved for it -- it was like seeing the death of some of the few happy times in my childhood. So now Wildwood is our destination of choice when we decide we need a shore trip. It's all about the boardwalk for us since neither of us are beach people. I'd like to visit Ocean City, MD this year -- I've only been there once (on a band trip in high school), but I remember it as being fun.
