Thoughts From The Publisher’s Desk

Thoughts From The Publisher’s Desk
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A lot is reported on these days about tourism, but I came across something this week that’s a unique perspective from one visitor. Russell Cook, a resident of Ocean City for the last 12 years and current staff member at Edwards on the Boardwalk, sent us some thoughts by his granddaughter Lilly. Here’s a look at her story.

I can hardly ever wait until my family takes a 4-5-hour long road trip to see my grandpa in Ocean City, Md. for about a week. Every year we have a blast. But the road trip isn’t the fun part. Not, even, close. The road trip isn’t even fun.

Let’s just get this road trip over with. At least four times on every road trip somebody is annoying, argumentative, mean, sleepy, quiet, playing games, bored or hungry. That’s what makes the road trip horrid. OMG, my siblings can be so annoying. I mean my little sister, Graceann, would sob her eyes out if my big bro, Phil, stole a piece of her snack. Oh, and Cassidy, I don’t know how to describe, okay yes I do. She is annoying, argumentative, mean, boring and she is always hungry.

My parents don’t say much to us because they are too occupied with talking to each other instead of us. You are probably wondering how we go through this road trip without any games. Well, we do play games, we play padiddle, ABC, doors, etc. You’re probably also wondering: what if we have to go to the bathroom or something like that? Well, we do bring a portable toilet in case we really have to go. No, I’m just joking you. We take some sort of pit stop when somebody has to go bad.

I can hardly wait because by the time we actually get to Ocean City we are all so excited. But we got to grandpa’s house … where is he? Of course, after all these years, we finally know where he is, so we start heading down to Edwards, the store where my grandpa works at. We are all so glad to see my grandpa and we spend the whole day with him at the Ocean City Boardwalk. So we usually drive back to our campground at Frontier Town where we stay right outside of Ocean City.

The next day my grandpa is working so, of course, we spend the day at the beach. I decide I want to suntan before I jump waves, but the dreadful part of sun tanning is sunscreen. I don’t like sunscreen, do you? In fact, I hate it, but if I don’t use it, I get sunburn, and everybody hates sunburn. It hurts as much as sticking your hand on top of an incredibly hot stove. So I wait underneath of an umbrella for about five minutes. I could hardly wait because after that I sprint down into the icy, blue saltwater and jump into the next tsunami size wave that comes and I continue to play deep in the ocean for another good two hours.

Yes! My favorite part of the week is finally here. I can hardly wait because I don’t know how but every year my grandpa surprises us by letting us get something from the store for under $20. So we look around the store at stuff we want and then pick stuff. I usually get a $6 BlueBay bookmark, but only to remember him by and to mark my books, and I also get a few pieces of candy for our trip home. What stinks is that the day he gives us gifts is our last day in beautiful Ocean City. So we say goodbye and we leave.

We all start missing grandpa but sadly we have to go. We gave our hugs and kisses and goodbyes and we all know it stinks to leave but we must. That week was probably best in stock. Well our fun is over. Your probably think this was the end of my annual summertime vacation but it’s not. We still have our five-hour long road trip to our home in Seven Valleys, Pa.

In last week’s column, I incorrectly attributed a portion of a quote to Delegate Jim Mathias. I need to correct the record. It was Sarge Garlitz, American Legion Post 166 Commander, who said this: “The bottom line is, [Senate President Mike] Miller stopped it. He sandbagged all bills related to gaming. He said if it gets out of the House, he will make sure it gets a vote before the Senate, but he lied. He thinks the state is not getting enough money from them.” I apologize for the error.

About The Author: Steven Green

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The writer has been with The Dispatch in various capacities since 1995, including serving as editor and publisher since 2004. His previous titles were managing editor, staff writer, sports editor, sales account manager and copy editor. Growing up in Salisbury before moving to Berlin, Green graduated from Worcester Preparatory School in 1993 and graduated from Loyola University Baltimore in 1997 with degrees in Communications (journalism concentration) and Political Science.