Holly Beach Hotel Bed & Breakfast

Packing List

by richiecdisc

Don't forget to bring a Frisbee, Wildwood's beach is great for that. As you can see, I've been playing for a long time..... here's me with my little brother Bob.

Mighty Joe the Gorilla - Man Made (originally)

by zanne08

Everyone remembers Mighty Joe, either the man or the gorilla. We remember the gorilla.

When we first saw Mighty Joe he was named "George" and he stood 25 feet above a South Jersey go-kart track. Others knew him from even earlier times, when he towered over the beachfront boardwalk in Wildwood, New Jersey as "Kongo-Pongo" and "Magilla."

George was in sad shape when we first met, pitched forward onto his mighty gorilla fists because his feet had buckled in a storm. And it turns out that we weren't the only ones who were noticing George. Larry Valenzano did, too, driving on Hwy 47 to and from his Wildwood beach house. The gorilla, he said, "Always reminded me of my son." The younger Valenzano was a former body builder nicknamed "Mighty Joe" who died of a brain tumor in 1999. Larry, heartbroken, renamed his gas station "Mighty Joe's" in his son's honor. Then he bought the big gorilla to serve as a memorial and a mascot.

"My wife thought I was crazy," Larry said. "She told me, 'That guy's not gonna sell you that gorilla. You're out of your mind. What makes you think he would sell that to you?'"

But the guy did sell Larry the gorilla, bypassing 15 higher bidders. "'I don't need the money,'" Larry remembered him saying at the time. "'And the reason you want it is more important.'"It almost didn't matter, because while Larry was figuring out how to ship the gorilla to his gas station, someone showed up at the go-kart track and tried to steal it. "I think they were from a [mini-]golf course in Ocean City," Larry said. "The owner chased them off the property. They probably would have painted it pink."

Larry finally figured out how to haul the gorilla cross-state, and after six months in a repair shop, Mighty Joe was unveiled in 2004. It cost Larry five times as much to fix him as it cost to buy him. But that was still peanuts, or banana chips, compared to the $50,000 that it originally cost to build the gorilla in Spain, at least according to people who've stopped at Mighty Joe's and told that to Larry.

The gorilla stands on the south side of the gas station parking lot, inside a white metal fence, his scowling mug set against a backdrop of South Jersey pine trees and blue sky. Joe’s looking spiffy these days -- his eyes, mouth, and even his fingernails have been given fresh coats of paint that gleam against his flat black fiberglass fur. A hole in his chest, which once held a rickety slide, has been covered with a sign.

"Hello, my name is Mighty Joe," it says. "My job is to look up to heaven from time to time and say, 'HEY, JOE, WE WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU.'"

DJman20's new Wildwood, New Jersey Page

by DJman20

"Wildwood Beach, New Jersey"

Wildwood, New Jersey is the most awesome place to go. Between the ice cream, beaches close by, and stores, and CAPE MAY, you'll always feel like your down at the beach. One place nice to stay is the Chateau Bleu in North Wildwood, New Jersey. Also, with Cape May 20 minutes away, you can enjoy shooping and more... (even haunted cape may tours..www.hauntedcapemay.com)

bebop88's New Jersey Page

by bebop88

I found this sign posted along the PA-NJ border the other day. Sometimes NJ is really like another country.
There are some nice places to go but unfortunately it lies in the shadows of NYC and Philadelphia, and difficult to really establish it's own "personality".
The atmosphere is not always friendly, it's getting quite over developed, it's very expensive to live here, you must pay for just about anything you do here, even the state parks charge admission, the air usually has a strange smell to it, they pay the highest auto insurance premiums in the nation, the traffic is horrendous, the state is always in a budget deficit. Ok, guess I have said enought negative things about NJ. It's not all that bad though. The best parts of the state are in the Northwest along the Appalachian Ridge and the Southeastern tip - Cape May. Also, Island Beach State Park is the best beach of all in my opinion. The unfortunate thing is that there is no such thing as a free beach in NJ *. I believe God put the ocean there for everyone to enjoy, but they dont' accept that philosophy here.

* - OK, I stand corrected. Richiecdisc says that Wildwood beach is still free. Hmmmm, now if on the Parkway was FREE too..........

BTW - the official slogan for Pennsylvania used to be "America Starts Here", so us Pennsy people when we would drive back across the river would say "thank god, I'm back in America again" :)) (just a little inter-state humor)

jlilangel's new Wildwood Page

by jlilangel

Wildwood is a great vacation place. I have been visiting there since I was a child. THE place to go is the Boardwalk. If you like fun game and great rides, this is where you need to make a beeline. The boardwalk is about 2 miles long and features rides like the Great White rollercoaster, a wooden one at that, which is located on the first pier, and I forgot the name of it.
There are also a lot of stores and shops that have a negative impact on your diet and the Boardwalk has hundreds of places that sell fudge, taffy and other yummy treats.
One of them is Douglass Fudge. Their mascot is the Scottish Terrier and if you're not careful, your stomach could hit the ground too. They have everything from chocolate moslassses paddles to walnut fudge to candy of all kinds. more to come...