With summer fast approaching, I always start thinking of the beach. Growing up in Delaware for me that means Rehoboth Beach. Rehoboth has always been a part of my life from the time I was a small child right up to when I moved away. It was close to little old Laurel but it seemed like a different world. Back when I was a little guy, the drive to "the beach" was a pretty boring ride. Route 24, the way we would always go, was not built up like it is now. My sister Kimberly and I would share the backseat while my parents sat up front. These trips were almost always on a Sunday afternoon after church and we always knew our first stop would be to The Avenue Restaurant. Why our parents enjoyed this place is a mystery to my sister and me even to this day. Kim and I thought this was the most boring and stuffy place ever! We would always beg to be allowed to order off the adult menu and my Dad's answer was always the same, NO! They had one of the most bland kids menus that we had ever seen. So much so that I to this day don't remember one thing that I ever got to eat there. But we were quiet about it for the most part because we knew what would happen AFTER dinner. We would leave the restaurant, get in the car and ride down to Rehoboth Avenue and circle there five or six times until we found someone backing out of a parking spot. After getting a place to park mom and pop would start looking for quarters to feed the parking meter and me and my sis would get out and start taking in the smells of
the beach. That wonderful salty air mixed
with the aromas that made up Rehoboth. Thrashers fries cooking on one side. Dolles popcorn and taffy on the other. Grotto pizza back when they had just the one store right there on the avenue. Usually what would happen is my parents would sit on one of those old benches that were on the boardwalk looking out over the beach and my sister and I would be given a half hour or so to take over shoes and socks of and run around on the beach. "Don't get wet" was always hollered to us as we ripped our shoes off but we always managed to get to close to the water and "get wet". After being told to come on, the meters getting low, we would grab our shoes and usually head over to Dolles for a box of taffy and a couple boxes of Carmel popcorn to eat on the way home. That scene was repeated three or four times over the summer months. Occasionally we would ride down in the winter to have Grotto's pizza. The rest of the town would be pretty much shut down awaiting the return of warm days and tourists on vacation. Fast forward about ten years to me getting my drivers license. I still had a soft spot for Rehoboth and would ride down quite often with friends to just hang out and chill. I also discovered there was another part of the beach down to the right of Rehoboth avenue. Funland rides and games! I'm sure my parents did all they could to avoid that part so they didn't have to hear us begging for yet something else! That was cool but we also discovered
another place beside Funland, Ryans gems and junk! They had tons of cool stuff. It became a tradition of sorts to get a beach shirt while there to remember whatever the reason we were there which usually involved skipping school, some kind of big party at the beach, or so and so's birthday. Ryans had hundreds of decals hanging from the ceiling and on the walls that you could get ironed on to any style shirt they sold. The really cool one's were long sleeved and you could also add a sleeve iron- on like Rehoboth Beach or a design of some sort. And it was always customary to add your name to the back.
One shirt I had said breeze ( a old nickname from school ) and my favorite one that simply said "Me" on the back. Another fav was when a big group of us all got the same shirt that had a college logo on the front that said "Drunken State". Me and the crew thought we were soooo cool walking the boardwalk with our Vans on our feet and our Jams shorts that went down past our knees on. Vans live on today. The Jams unfortunately went out with the 80's. But that's okay. I still have my favorite pair that I owned and I know one day I'll be able to
wear them again (maybe) haha. We were young and we were cool, or so we thought. Summer lasted forever back then and we were pretty much carefree. No matter what was going on with our lives Rehoboth was able to offer escape, at least while we were there. I went back there for the first time in years a couple of summers ago and I hardly recognized the place. The roads were expanded. Outlet malls stood where open space used to be. Getting to the beach was a torturous effort. It seems that like me and my friends who used to hang out there, Rehoboth Beach has grown up.
the beach. That wonderful salty air mixed 
with the aromas that made up Rehoboth. Thrashers fries cooking on one side. Dolles popcorn and taffy on the other. Grotto pizza back when they had just the one store right there on the avenue. Usually what would happen is my parents would sit on one of those old benches that were on the boardwalk looking out over the beach and my sister and I would be given a half hour or so to take over shoes and socks of and run around on the beach. "Don't get wet" was always hollered to us as we ripped our shoes off but we always managed to get to close to the water and "get wet". After being told to come on, the meters getting low, we would grab our shoes and usually head over to Dolles for a box of taffy and a couple boxes of Carmel popcorn to eat on the way home. That scene was repeated three or four times over the summer months. Occasionally we would ride down in the winter to have Grotto's pizza. The rest of the town would be pretty much shut down awaiting the return of warm days and tourists on vacation. Fast forward about ten years to me getting my drivers license. I still had a soft spot for Rehoboth and would ride down quite often with friends to just hang out and chill. I also discovered there was another part of the beach down to the right of Rehoboth avenue. Funland rides and games! I'm sure my parents did all they could to avoid that part so they didn't have to hear us begging for yet something else! That was cool but we also discovered 
another place beside Funland, Ryans gems and junk! They had tons of cool stuff. It became a tradition of sorts to get a beach shirt while there to remember whatever the reason we were there which usually involved skipping school, some kind of big party at the beach, or so and so's birthday. Ryans had hundreds of decals hanging from the ceiling and on the walls that you could get ironed on to any style shirt they sold. The really cool one's were long sleeved and you could also add a sleeve iron- on like Rehoboth Beach or a design of some sort. And it was always customary to add your name to the back.
One shirt I had said breeze ( a old nickname from school ) and my favorite one that simply said "Me" on the back. Another fav was when a big group of us all got the same shirt that had a college logo on the front that said "Drunken State". Me and the crew thought we were soooo cool walking the boardwalk with our Vans on our feet and our Jams shorts that went down past our knees on. Vans live on today. The Jams unfortunately went out with the 80's. But that's okay. I still have my favorite pair that I owned and I know one day I'll be able to 
wear them again (maybe) haha. We were young and we were cool, or so we thought. Summer lasted forever back then and we were pretty much carefree. No matter what was going on with our lives Rehoboth was able to offer escape, at least while we were there. I went back there for the first time in years a couple of summers ago and I hardly recognized the place. The roads were expanded. Outlet malls stood where open space used to be. Getting to the beach was a torturous effort. It seems that like me and my friends who used to hang out there, Rehoboth Beach has grown up.
