I never thought I would vacation in Delaware, that sounds like snobbery and I don’t mean it to, poor Delaware is the little state everyone forgets about, smashed between Maryland and Pennsylvania.
But Rehoboth Beach, Delaware is an incredibly charming corner of the first state. People from surrounding areas all congregate on the Eastern shore, either in Maryland, Delaware or Virginia (and southern Jersey too) to escape the sweaty, humid mess that is the Mid Atlantic in the summer.
We first found ourselves going to Rehoboth the summer of 2016, a few months after moving from Washington state to Alexandria, VA. We knew we had to get away, to be able to breathe air again that wasn’t thick. To feel a breeze that wasn’t burning hot on your skin. To not get bit by 10,000 mosquitos when you take your dogs out. Rehoboth is a cross between a tony adorable beach town and a trashy party place, which is kind of why I love it.
Rehoboth has a pretty adorable downtown area, with a bunch of shops and restaurants, frankly mostly selling Live Laugh Love, Hello Beaches, Save Water, Drink Wine signs, shirts, towels, wine glasses, you name it. The king of merchandise suburban moms go crazy for, so not really my demo. But it is always fun to stroll the shops and they did have a gay bookstore where I found my prized possession my WWJD shirt (WHAT WOULD JOAN DO. Now K and my brother and his boyfriend all have one. We are the #JoanGang) but most people go to Rehoboth to sit on the wide, sandy beaches with the warm water of the Atlantic. There is of course a boardwalk where you can by the disgustingly delicious Grotto Pizza (a great late night snack), beach fries or frozen custard covered in rainbow sprinkles. There are also multiple arcades where K and I play Skee Ball and try to win our dog Oliver toys from the claw machine. It’s All American fun and we love it.
But to truly explain the wonderful and weird Rehoboth, I want to share my top four Rehoboth memories, which I think will perfectly encapsulate this funny little town,
1. Le Grand Dip (September 2016): My brother and his boyfriend live in Philadelphia, K and I live in DC. So we knew that when my parents came to visit in September 2016, we could meet in Rehoboth for a beach weekend. For some reason, my Dad had it in mind that he wanted to swim in the Atlantic. Honestly it was more of an obsession, he talked about it constantly, to me, to my brother to my mom. And lots of people do swim in the ocean there, in fact my brother’s boyfriend is the bravest of us all and swims like a dolphin. Everyone else in my family is much more cautious, but if my dad wanted to dip himself, we would support him! Of course, in the lead up, we coined the phrase, Le Grand Dip, and boy was it grand! After spending a morning on Poodle Beach, the gay beach, with more men in Speedos that I have ever seen, my dad finally worked up the courage to dip himself. My poor Dad got knocked off his feet by the waves and ended up on his ass. Of course, our whole family couldn’t stop laughing and I don’t know if Poodle Beach has recovered! K and I went for lunch, my brother and his boyfriend took my mom to the bathroom and my dad was left alone on Poodle Beach to contemplate what had brought him to this moment. Needless to say, he did not go in the water again.
2. Lynchian Nightmare at the Purple Parrot (Septmeber 2017): The Purple Parrot is the place to be in Rehoboth, on Friday, unless you go to the gay bar The Blue Moon and I am no woo girl so K and I go to the Purple Parrot to watch the worlds weirdest karaoke. Yes, there is your standard run of the mill karaoke classics, but there is also an incredible guy who does Midnight Train to Georgia each and every Friday. K and I went to the Purple Parrot last September, the last weekend the arcades were open, so basically the last weekend of the summer season. The place was packed, standing room only, but we were able to get a prime view of the karaoke. I noticed two young men in a booth to our right. One of the men wore a miniature black cowboy hat, a black ribbed tank top and flared jeans. He accessorized this look with black closed toe high heeled boots that I think my mom had in 1995. With him was a skinny, rat faced guy dressed in khakis and a button down. They began to talk with a spry looking elderly woman dressed all in denim. I had been so distracted by watching their interactions, I didn’t notice that the creepiest man in the world was up next for karaoke. We had seen him before, his long, clearly dyed black hair. His sunglasses covered his deeply wrinkled face he wore head to toe black. We immediately remember him; we had seen him perform before and knew he was a regular. He began to sin gin a deep voice, Satisfaction by the Rolling Stones. The lights seemed to grow darker and the flashing lights of the nightclub seemed to get more intense as he began prowling through the crowd. The young men, clearly knowing him, began to dance excitedly, running onto the stage. And as this man began to move through the crowd, singing to people, I turned my back, but before I did, I saw the elderly woman, twerking to the music. Never have I felt more like I was in a David Lynch movie, it was both nightmarish and oddly compelling.
3. The World’s Worst Mojito (July 2017): Usually K and I like to get a pre dinner drink somewhere in town, and we often go to The Blue Hen, which opened last summer. Rehoboth is either very upscale with martinis and French restaurants or the opposite with Orange Crushes (a Mid Atlantic cocktail basically made with orange vodka, fresh orange and triple sec, which sounds gross but is very refreshing in context) The Blue Hen is the former with a gorgeous fire pit outside and excellent Frosé, but I had it in mind that it would be nice to sit by the water. Most of the places by the water are restaurants or arcades but there was one hotel with a bar and live music. Almost as soon as we sat down and looked at the menu, I knew we had made a horrible mistake. Everyone was being served in plastic cups and all the drinks looked neon. Naively, I figured a Mojito was a safe choice, I mean how hard is it to mess up, lime, mint, rum, boom, and I mean I didn’t want a drink with a mixer, and I hadn’t seen Mojito mix before. K wisely ordered a beer. As I watched more and more electric colored drinks come out, I saw a drink that surely couldn’t be mine coming my way. It was actually a beautiful color, for anything but a cocktail, a lime green/turquoise concoction, that had zero lime, or mint. I do think it had rum, but I honestly can’t be sure. I took a sip , and the most vile, artificial taste filled my mouth. This was truly the worst Mojito ever, also it was huge. I’m not ashamed to say, I poured half into the planter in front of us (sorry plant!) and we high tailed it to the Blue Hen. There we had expertly made cocktails in a James Beard nominated restaurant, such are the contradictions of Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.
4. Vampires on Poodle Beach (July 2019): This July, we made our final (for now at least) trip to Rehoboth. This time, we met my brother, his fiancé, and their two friends. This was a long anticipated trip because we had been living on the East coast for three summers and had only been to Rehoboth together one time. K and I were getting ready to move to LA, so we knew time was ticking away. We chose the one weekend in July that would work for everyone. Between holidays, birthdays, and both of us moving, we had picked the only weekend all summer that would work. Unfortunately, we picked the one weekend with a heat wave. An extremely oppressive heat wave, we are talking over 100 at the beach. We are talking so hot, you don't even feel better under the umbrella. So hot, the water barely makes you feel better! But we all trekked down to Poodle Beach on Saturday. Of course, everyone was taking pictures and Instagramming. Well, five of the six of us are all extremely pale and most of us try to avoid the sun because we burn easily. So when G, my brother's friend, posted a picture of us on his Instagram story, we learned at dinner that it had provided much entertainment to all his friends. Including comments that we looked like Vampires. We couldn't stop laughing, we were the five palest people you had ever seen.
Julie
9. First Man (Damien Chazelle): Most of the movies in my top ten are movies I emotionally connected with. This one (and another in the top five) is one I appreciated more than loved. First Man is a stunning achievement in cinema. Ryan Gosling is Neil Armstrong and Claire Foy is his wife. He is training to hopefully journey to the moon, he is also grieving the death of his young daughter from cancer. To be honest, the whole sad dad thing didn't really work for me in this case. Claire Foy is competent in the "great man's wife" role (but I'm so freaking sick of that role that I can't really get behind it) and completely sells her big moment. The parts I thought I wouldn't find interesting: the training, the work is what I loved about the movie. The scenes on the moon are breathtaking and the score was one of the best of the year. 
7. Support the Girls (Andrew Bujalski): A movie about a group of women who work at a Hooters type establishment, doesn't exactly sound like the kind of movie that would be on my top ten. Did I mention the director is king of mumblecore, Andrew Bujalski? That doesn't really put it on my top ten either (no disrespect to mumblecore, I like some of it, mostly the Greta Gerwig parts). But Support the Girls has the biggest heart of any movie I saw from 2018. Lisa (Regina Hall) is the manager of Double Whammies, who is having a terrible day. Her marriage is in shambles, her job is threatened because a rival restaurant is opening in town, her employees are a mess and the cable is on the fritz before a big fight. So many movies are about the families we find and Support the Girls is no different. With great supporting turns by Hayley Lou Richardson and rapper Junglepussy (she's credited as Shayna McHayle but how could I not?), Support the Girls is so much fun, so genuine and really what the heart of mumblecore was. Showing regular people, their real, sometimes ugly lives. 
