Back to Rehoboth Beach…

Continuing with our road trip to the Delmarva Peninsula with Laurie’s sister Bonnie and Bonnie’s husband Bill…

After exploring Lewes…a very worthwhile venture…after a slight detour we headed back to Rehoboth Beach so we could experience it in sunny weather with less wind and warmer temperatures.

Curiosity got the best of me and knowing that Bill, Bonnie and Laurie like different types of beer, I took us on a little side trip up DL Hwy 1 to DL Hwy 16 to the town of Milton.  Milton is the site of the Dogfish Head Craft Brewery and Tasting Room.

What drew me wasn’t the beer but instead it was the strange and weird sculpture in front of the brewery.   This creation is called The Steampunk Treehouse.  It was created in 2007 and debuted at the Burning Many event in Black Rock Nevada in late August of that year.  This mishmash of recycled and reclaimed materials is 40 feet tall, 40 feet wide and it weighs 8 tons.  It was reassembled and installed at the brewery in June of 2010.  It’s the closest we’ll ever get to a Burning Man festival…

Our group ordered their beers at the bar/tasting counter shown in the first photo.  Even though it was a weekday, a large number of people were imbibing both indoors and outside on the patio.  There were about 22 different brews on the menu ranging from the Blue Hen Pilsner to the Catchy Chorus, the Hazy Squall and the World Wide Stout.  In addition, the brewery list ‘rarities’, an example being the Birra Etrusca Bronze.

As I wasn’t drinking, I looked for something to nibble on.  So did Bill.  The Dogfish Head Craft Brewery operates a kitchen from a walk up window outdoors.  Options include a number of individual pizzas or pizza by the slice, 4 sandwiches and a number of miscellaneous items including the Bavarian Pretzel shown in the second photo.  It was served with beer cheese and mustard. ($7.00)

…once the beer and the pretzels were consumed, we headed back south toward Rehoboth Beach.  To learn more about the Dogfish Head Craft Brewery and its products, go to Brewery | Dogfish Head Craft Brewed Ales | Off Centered Stuff For Off Centered People.

We didn’t get far before we spotted an Antique Store and felt that we ‘had to’ stop!  It was a cute shop and we did spot quite a few things that caught our interest.  The antique and refurbished furniture selection was particularly interesting…but not practical for us with a SUV full of people and luggage.

This model ship…the USS Preston, a Clemson Class Destroyer that was launched in 1920 would have looked good in our bonus room.  Oh well!  It’s a little curious as to why someone decided to build this particular ship model.  It was never in a war and nothing of note happened during its operational history.  The actual ship was 314 feet long and its crew consisted of 6 officers and 108 enlisted men.

To learn more about this antique shop, go to Unique Finds | Facebook.

Finally we made it back to Rehoboth Beach…

Parking is a premium in the center of Rehoboth Beach but as we were staying in a hotel almost next to the beach, we had that issue under control.  Just for contrast, I took a sunny photo from our balcony…much better than the rather gray photo I took only a day earlier.

The sunshine certainly makes a difference doesn’t it?  The surf was still a bit rough as there was a storm offshore but the view was a lot nicer.  It was still a little chilly by the ocean but there were some folks walking on the beach.

Rehoboth Beach’s mile-long boardwalk is one of the town’s most popular attractions.  It’s flanked by shops, restaurants, family amusements and more.  It and the beach itself are two of the reasons that Rehoboth Beach that the beach is rated as one of the best on the East Coast.  The town itself only occupies 1.2 square miles of land area.  The population is about 1,100 but in the summer it swells up to 25,000.  Laurie took that photo of me wandering around looking for photo opportunities. 

To be honest, we don’t ‘get’ the attraction of the boardwalk other than its proximity to the beach and the ocean.  Families with kids would definitely disagree with us as would many younger folks...

This is a view of the downtown area or commercial center of Rehoboth Beach.  This wide street is lined with gift shops, places to eat and drink, novelty shops and more…for several blocks along both sides of the street.

Rehoboth Beach was founded in 1873 as the Rehoboth Beach Camp Meeting Association as a site for Methodist Episcopal Church camp meetings.  That is when the first boardwalk was built.  The Association disbanded in 1881 and in 1891 the state legislature incorporated the town as “Cape Henlopen City”.  In 1893 it was renamed as Rehoboth Beach…

Not only are there shops lining both sides of Main Street, but there are even more up little alleys off that extend perpendicular from the main avenue.  We wandered on for quite a while as the ladies looked for shops that caught their interest.  FYI, we didn’t succeed.  Too touristy and too little quality or variation from the tourist town theme.

FYI, we did drive around the area to see what it looks like outside the intensely tourist focused areas.  We explored the North Shore area just outside the town’s official limits and we found a different world that was full of beautiful homes and tree lined streets.  It’s this area where President Biden and his wife have their summer home…

That’s all for now… Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave