New Jerseyans seem to be programmed to hit the Parkway and head to the Shore every summer. But when my mom told me on the phone yesterday that that's where she was driving, my reaction was "you're going WHERE?!?" Count me as one Jersey Girl who bucks migration to the taffy, the boardwalk, and the sand.  I'll take the lake any day.

I woke my teenage daughter at 6:10 am Wednesday to watch the sun as it inched its way above the horizon off Bay Head. Such moments down the shore are too precious to sleep through.