By Leyana Fulginiti

The week of August 19th – August 26th 2023, The week I finally went back home. The Wildwoods shore. It’s been 2 years since the last time I went. Now, this time my best friend Apollo was staying down the shore too, but in Ocean City. We were texting all week and the week before. Even when we both left to go down to the shore, we were right behind each other, texting. The day we met up it was a Wednesday. I was wearing jean shorts, a maroon crop top, covered with a gray hoodie with “Brooklyn, New York” in navy lettering.

Apollo’s mom picked me up and brought me to their house. After we picked up the rest of Apollo’s family we were on our way to the boardwalk. We stopped to get pizza at Manco & Manco, you could smell the pizza from down the street. The line was so long it took FOREVER, it went outside. While we were waiting outside, a lady came up and called me “Brooklyn”. I was very confused because that’s not my name and because of the fact that a random lady came up to me. The lady was just talking to me and I wasn’t sure what to say, until it turns out she thought I was actually from Brooklyn. She asked me if I tried the Manco & Manco pizza place in Brooklyn, I sadly said no. After the lady left, Apollo and I just looked at each other in confusion and started laughing. When we got inside and ordered the pizza, we got pepperoni and plain which was so good, you could taste the cheese melting in your mouth.

After we ate we started walking to the “Wonderland” pier, but before we reached the pier there was a string band playing so we stopped to watch. After they were done we continued walking again and when we got there. The rides were mostly for little kids but we still could go on rides. The first ride we went on was a train that drove above all the rides to give you a view of everything. It was beautiful but scary at the same time, you felt like the train was about to tip over with every turn it took. We went on the swings next which we acted like little kids on because we were screaming, like we were scared.

After we went on all the rides at the wonderland pier we started walking to the “Playland’s Castaway Cove” pier, but before we got there we got cold and bought hoodies. Even if I already had a hoodie on, I needed to stay warm. When we went to the pier we got over 200 tickets so we could go on as many rides as we could. It was such a fun night, a night I’ll never forget. It was probably around 10:40 PM when we were about to leave, but before we left we got ice cream and ate it on our way back to the car. When we got back to their beach house Apollo packed a bag, because she was coming over. To stay with me, at my place for the night.