asbury park: day trip to the jersey shore

This past Sunday, I took a day trip to Asbury Park, NJ. This was my first time visiting, and I’m not sure what took me so long to check it out! It’s only about an hour and a half from NYC. We took the NJ Transit train from Secaucus, NJ (one stop before NY Penn Station). It was raining in the morning before we left, but we crossed our fingers the weather would clear up and we headed down the shore. 


When we first arrived, it was still raining, so we headed over to the Convention Center to check out the Summer Bazaar, a craft fair type of market that was happening that day. To be honest, we were pretty disappointed by this fair, because it was much smaller than we expected. They also advertised that there would be vintage vendors there, and there was literally only one booth carrying vintage. 


After the bazaar, it was still misting outside, so we headed to the Silverball Museum Arcade, a supercool arcade filled with retro games. They have everything from pinball, to skeeball, to video games. You pay before you enter, and the price depends on the amount of time you want to stay. There are options from a half hour up to a day pass. Once you’re inside, you can play as many games as you’d like. We stayed for an hour, which was the perfect amount of time for me because there were tons of kids and it was very loud (probably since everyone was trying to escape the rain). 


After the arcade, the rain finally cleared, so we grabbed a quick lunch, then headed off the boardwalk to the Main Street to vintage shop. Unfortunately, I underestimated how good these vintage stores would be, and we only had about an hour to spend in them before they closed at 5pm. All of the stores had amazing selections at very affordable prices. 


The first store we checked out was Backward Glances, where I bought a super cool 70’s printed shirt for $15. This store is primarily women’s and men’s clothing and accessories. Next we stopped into Flux Modern. This store was mostly furniture and home decor, so I didn’t buy anything here, but they still had lots of amazing items. Then we headed to Antique Emporium. I could have stayed in this store for two hours easily. It is huge, and they had everything from clothes, accessories, records, magazines, furniture, home decor, literally anything you could think of. Unfortunately we only had about 15 minutes to browse (and the guy working there kept following me around the store telling me they were closing, which was a bit of a turn off). Since I felt pressured to look quickly, I didn’t end up buying anything here either. Lastly, we checked out the record store called Hold Fast. They had an amazing selection for super affordable prices. I ended up getting an Elvis record for $5. 


After shopping, we headed back to the boardwalk. We grabbed some ice cream at Coney Waffle (we each got a waffle and ice cream). Then we decided to play some mini golf at Asbury 18 Mini Golf. Finally, we grabbed a quick cocktail before heading back to the train. Overall, I had an amazing day, and I definitely plan on coming back again. I’d definitely recommend a day trip to anyone living around the NJ/NYC area if you haven’t been yet!

If you'd like to shop my top, you can find it here:
https://www.dollyanddotty.co.uk/clementine-cropped-gingham-tie-front-blouse-in-yellow-white

Top: c/o Dolly and Dotty
Shorts: vintage; Sneakers: H&M; Sunglasses: Hello Holiday; Headband: American Apparel
Location: Asbury Park, NJ