Things you know growing up spending summers around Rehoboth Beach

Every family has their perfect vacation spot – the place where they go ever year (winter or summer) that signifies family time and pure relaxation. For my brothers and I, that place is, and always has been, Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. I have been coming here since the summer I was born, and have loved every minute of my time here for the past 21 years. This past week, my family came down for our annual beach week, starting with the fourth, and it got me thinking of all the fantastic memories and warm, fuzzy feelings I have from this wonderful place.

The teenage bae-watching can be really fun

From the day that I discovered the fun of flirting, boy-scouting at the beach became the most fun game around. Each year, like clockwork, I would shower around 3 or 4pm and head to the boardwalk to search for cute boys. In fact, I met my first love at Rehoboth Beach in front of the Henlopen Hotel where we both happened to be staying. At the age of 14, I was getting stung left and right by jellyfish and was NOT happy about it. Then a blonde, blue-eyed, quite muscular 13-year-old came to my rescue with a shovel and pulled every visible jelly-monster out of the water. I went on to kidnap his frisbee, causing him to chase me down and get my number. He happened to live in Maryland, too, and we were a couple until high school.

You eat the best (and worst) food here, but you wait all year for it

The classic meal venues at Rehoboth beach include the following:

Louie’s pizza (where we actually get subs, not pizza) is a venue we take out from two to four times per weeklong beach trip. Their subs, grinders and of course, Birch Beer, are all necessities.

Grotto pizza which is my fave because their sauce is bomb. Each slice makes you crave another, so I’ve learned to limit myself to two.

Kohr Bros ice cream/yogurt is also bomb. No one does frozen custard better (except perhaps Sprinkles).

Thrashers fries… the most addictive greasy food you’ll ever eat. I recommend getting a small because it’ll be gone in two minutes and you don’t want to know how many calories are in there.

And if you’re looking to get fancy, you have Stingray the sushi place and Zebra, the Italian Ristorante.

It’s 70% fattening as hell and 100% delicious. Ironically, the one week of the year that I want to look the best, I eat the worst. Go figure. No ragrets.

The bars are also a huge hit

I’m new to the bar scene here as I just recently turned 21, but my brother is no rookie in this area. We recently visited the famous Seacrets in Ocean City with a large group of my brother’s friends. It’s a huge Jamaican bar with tables in the water off the shore. It only took five hours for me to knock out.

In Dewey, the best bars are Rusty Rudder, Bottle & Cork and Starboard. I have been to neither, but my brother and his friends love Rusty Rudder and many have mention Starboard to me. I guess I’ll check them out next year!

It always becomes a Maryland reunion

Rehoboth is on the same coastal strip as four other very popular Delaware beaches: Bethany, the quiet family-oriented beach, Ocean City, the lower-class teenager beach (also known as Ocean Shitty) which is actually located in Maryland, and Dewey, the 21-30 year old party-people beach where a good bit of the bars are located. Rehoboth is our beach of choice because while it is family-oriented and pretty clean, it also has a fun boardwalk and Funland. Considering that all these towns are super close together, it is not uncommon to beach hop. For instance, the first night I slept at a friend’s house in Bethany and woke up to head to Dewey to bar hop with my brother and then ended up at Seacrets in Ocean City before heading back to our house in Rehoboth. I hit all four beaches in one day. Additionally, pretty much everyone from Montgomery County, Maryland (my hometown) goes to the Delaware/Maryland beaches. I run into two to six people from home every year.

Funland never gets old

No matter how old I get, I still enjoy a (short) night at Funland. Funland is a mini amusement park and arcade located on the Rehoboth Beach boardwalk. It’s most famous attractions include the Sea Dragon (my person favorite) and the Tilt-A-Whirl which is a more thrilling ride for the younger ones. The most famous arcade game at Funland is the horse races for which you must roll a ball up toward a serious of holes and for each hole you make, your horse goes a little further. My family tends to take up half the available seats for 5-20 minutes.

Ryan’s Mini Golf is the best rooftop activity ever- with a fantastic ocean view

Located on the roof right next to Funland, Ryan’s Mini Golf is a hot spot for people of all ages. We played this week as a family and I actually won with 2 hole-in-ones and was only two above par. I was quite proud of myself. The last hole is also a target shot which is nearly impossible to make, so if you do, you get a free round. I actually won that last year but have no clue what I did with the ticket. Oh well, thanks for the memories Ryan.

Henna Tattoos are not scarce 

If you walk down Coastal Highway, you can find about 18 places that do henna tattoos. The interesting part is that they all offer vastly different prices. I usually go to one of the 5 T-shirt places to get one for $5-7, but some places charge up to $40 for a single one. I usually get one, but this year I was kind of over it.

The Ice Cream Store

If you don’t know what I’m talking about, you didn’t grow up in Rehoboth. This place has about… uhh… a hundred flavors? And counting. My person favorite is called “Better Than Sex” and though it’s totally lying, it was the #1 most popular flavor of 2015, according to the store’s website.