While I
think that Cape May is the perfect vacation destination
for just about anybody, I must say that it is
particularly well suited to the ladies. Judging from the
fun being had by the various groups of sisters,
mother/daughters, and other combinations of girls
getting away together at The Queen Victoria, Cape May
must have been designed for the “Girls Getaway”.
So what do the girls do on their getaway weekend?
From what I can tell it goes something like this …
coffee on the porch, breakfast, walk along the beach,
shopping, lunch, sightseeing, shopping, tea at The Queen
Victoria, happy hour on our roof deck, dinner, shopping,
giggle all night over a bottle of wine on the porch. Did
I mention shopping?
Even if you don’t want to
shop a lot, Cape May seems to be the perfect place to
reconnect with your favorite girlfriend, be it your
sister, mother, grandmother, or buddy. No matter who you
come with, you’ll have a great time!
Give us a
call to set up your girls getaway at The Queen
Victoria.
Victorian Week October 5-14
Victorian Week is always one of the highlights of the
year. We love the Historic House tours (we’re always on
them, in fact), Murder mystery dinners, concerts, and
arts & crafts shows. Anna Marie and I even dress up
in our Victorian best for the house tours that we are
on!
Victorian Week is the quintessential Cape May event.
If you love Victoriana and the charms of Cape May, how
can you even think about missing Victorian Week in 2007?
We still have availability for this event, but that
won’t be true for all that much longer. Give us a call
to be sure that you have your room
reserved.
It’s Back! For the third year in a row Cape May has a
Designer Show House. This year’s house is just around
the corner from The Queen Victoria, a few steps from our
front door. Anna Marie and I love the showhouses every
year, which we typically visit a couple of times. You’ll
definitely want to make time during your upcoming visit
to The Queen Victoria for the Designer Show House.
This year’s house runs between June 30 and October
14. It is located at 608 Hughes street, which is one of
the prettiest streets in Cape May. The house features 11
bedrooms, 6 bathrooms, 5 fireplaces, formal parlor,
large dining room, library, gym, spa, and covered
porches overlooking the gardens. This year there are
LOTS of dinner/showhouse specials too, so you can take
advantage of a great meal package too!
Anna
Marie and I have gone to the Designer Show House a
couple of times this year and I’ve got to say it is the
best one yet. I really think this is something that you
won’t want to miss. If you’ve always wanted a wine
cellar in your house, this house is for you. If you’re
into entertaining, the third floor game floor is a must
for your next house. Seriously, you have to see this
house to believe it. I can’t say enough about it, except
to say that I wish I owned it.
Many of you know that Anna Marie and I love wine
tasting. I’m thinking that lots of you do too, based on
the popularity of Cape May winery among our guests. It
won’t come as a surprise to you then, when I tell you
how excited we are about a new event being held in Cape
May this year. The New Jersey Wine Growers Association
has elected to hold one of their 5 annual festivals, the
Harvest Festival, in Cape May for the first time.
Anna Marie and I used to attend one of these events
annually for many years. It was truly one of the most
enjoyable days of our year and we always looked forward
to it. This year’s Cape May festival, held at the Cape
May-Lewis Ferry Terminal, should be even better. Imagine
18 wineries, each with a tasting tent set up around a
large grassy meadow looking out over the beautiful
Delaware Bay. Picture a band playing live music, people
dancing, food vendors, scores of picnic blankets set up
in the middle of the meadow filled with friends and
family.
This really should be a wonderful and
memorable event that you won’t want to miss. It is being
held during Victorian Week, giving you even more of a
reason to come to Cape May (and stay at The Queen
Victoria!).
Yes, the esteemed Sherlock will be returning to Cape
May this Fall to continue his proud tradition of
sleuthing. This time Holmes, Watson and his cast of
characters will be attempting to solve the mystery of an
attack on our very own president Benjamin Harrison, but
he needs your help!
I think this is the most enjoyable event that Cape
May puts on during the entire year. Come see the play,
participate in the hunt for clues all over town, and
solve the mystery. If you’re truly inspired, don your
best Sherlock outfit and compete for the best costume
prize.
If you’ve never experienced this wonderful
event, you’ll want to start planning your November visit
today. If you’ve participated before, then we’ll
probably be seeing you again this year. Call us today to
make reservations for this wonderful weekend. This event
ALWAYS sells out, so you’ll want to call
soon!
The first week of every December Cape May hosts the
wonderful Dickens Extravaganza. This event is a treasure
that should be experienced by anybody who has a true
love of Cape May, the Victorian era and Charles Dickens’
wonderful literature.
This year’s event promises to be one of our finest
with feasts, house tours (including the Designer Show
House), stage presentations and discussions and review
of Dickens’ fabulous work “Bleak House”, as well as
various aspects of Christmas in the Victorian
era.
This year, in addition to our traditional
hor d’ oeuvres reception, The Queen Victoria will also
continue the tradition of treating our guests to the
“Welcome” dinner. Did I mention the 10% discount off of
your room?
Upcoming Events
Delaware Bay Lighthouse Adventures Sep 15
Cape May Food & Wine Festival Sep 16-20
Victorian Week Oct 5-14
Cape May Wine Festival Oct 6-7
Halloween in Cape May Oct 24-28
Sherlock Holmes Weekend Nov 2-4
Dicken’s Christmas Extravaganza Dec 2-4
I guest most of you have already fallen in love with Cape
May, no matter what season you’ve come to visit. I’ve got to
say, however, that the Fall is my very favorite season in Cape
May. I love Summer, of course, with the beach, sun and surf,
but I think Cape May is at its very best in the
Fall.
So why the Fall? All of our best events happen in
the Fall, as you can see from the content of this letter. The
weather is beautiful, the beaches are still wonderful for much
of the season, the restaurants are mostly still open, and the
shopping goes on unimpeded. With the heat of Summer gone, it’s
also a great time to bicycle, go hiking, birding and
everything else that you might miss in the Summer because
you’re on the beach.
If I were you, I’d start making
plans to come back to The Queen Victoria this Fall!
Feeling Festive?
So summer is drawing to a close and the days are
getting shorter again (about 2 minutes a day, in fact).
You probably didn’t take as much time off this summer as
you might have wished. I know you didn’t spend as much
time at The Queen Victoria as I would have wished (just
kidding!). I used to always feel a little meloncholy
when summer drew to a close, but I don’t any more. Why,
you ask? Well, I’ll tell you …
Christmas in Cape May! Its true! Christmas in Cape
May is so wonderful that as soon as Summer starts to
leave us I can start looking forward to this beautiful
season. This picture is just a little taste of the
majesty of the season at The Queen Victoria. Our houses
alone probably have over 30,000 lights up, and that is
just on the outside. Between all the special tours,
parades and other events, including the famous Dickens
Extravaganza, there is hardly time to take it all
in.
If you’re looking for a great new way to
experience the holiday cheer, plan a trip to The Queen
Victoria this December.
If you’re searching for
a great place to actually spend the Christmas holiday,
look no further. Whether you are looking for a “neutral”
spot to celebrate with your family, or your family is
away for the holidays, The Queen Victoria is the
perfect, festive place for you. We have dinners. We have
parties. We have receptions. Most of all, we have FUN.
We also have little elves running around on Christmas
Eve to help Santa spread the Christmas cheer.
Give us a call soon to book your room for
December. You’ll be glad you did.
In keeping with the theme of a “Girls Getaway”, I’m
featuring our girlfriend/sisters room this month. We
playfully refer to the Prince Albert room as such
because it is very popular for girlfriends, sisters, or
groups of lady friends traveling together.
The thing that makes it ideal, though you can’t tell
from this picture, is that it contains two queen sized
beds. While it is most commonly occupied by two people,
one per bed, it isn’t uncommon to have four women in
this room, two in each bed. Can you imagine four women
sharing a bathroom? (it happens!)
As you might
have guessed, this is also a popular room for families
staying at The Queen Victoria. This room is not only for
girlfriend get-aways. In fact, it is one of our most
popular rooms and tends to book up far in
advance.
The “Stay and Play” package is back by popular
demand. As part of our ongoing support for great theatre
in Cape May, we’ve purchased 20 season tickets to the
Cape May Stage. That means we have 160 tickets to give
to our favorite guests. Of course, our favorite guests
are those who stay for several nights!
If you book a 4 night weekend stay or a 3 night
weekday stay (no exceptions!) we’ll be pleased to share
our tickets to the Cape May Stage with you. These
tickets have a $28 face value, so this is definitely a
great deal. In fact, it is the only package we offer
during the Summer. Be sure to ask about the tickets when
you reserve your room!
A new production called
“Going to St. Ives” was just introduced this week and
has opened to great acclaim by all our guests who have
seen it. It sounds like this is another production you
won’t want to miss if you’re visiting in the next
month.
Traveling with Friends
I’ve noticed that as life moves on I have less and
less time to spend with my friends (the exception being,
of course, the wonderful friends who started out as
guests and whose return we always anticipate so
excitedly). Many of you seem to have solved this problem
by traveling to The Queen Victoria with friends. Early
this summer Irene and Jay came with their friends Debbie
& Bruce to enjoy Cape May and The Queen Victoria
(pictured above).
If you’ve got some great friends that you haven’t
seen enough of lately, maybe you should consider sharing
The Queen Victoria with them. You might find that coming
with another couple doubles the fun.
Think of it
… the girls can go off shopping, the guys can go play
golf or find some other manly pursuit (remember ladies,
its much easier to keep your husband entertained and
occupied when there is another man around). Happy Hour
on the roof deck is a great way to start off the evening
and a wonderful dinner with friends is the perfect way
to finish the day.
Favorite Guest Photos
Most of the guest photos that I include in my
newsletters are of our actual guests. We get all kinds
of photos, however. In fact, it seems that some of our
best photographers are also avid bird watchers.
It is possible that you hadn’t heard that Cape May is
a world famous bird watching (birding) destination.
Apparently Cape May is one of the preeminent birding
destinations in the U.S. during both spring and fall
migrations. With fall upon us it seemed appropriate to
pay tribute to our birding heritage as well as the
remarkable photographic talent of our guests Steve &
Linda Byland (I’m afraid I’m not actually sure who took
the photo).
This beautiful bird is an Osprey,
which can be seen all summer long “fishing” along the
beaches. I’ve seen many of these beautiful creatures
carrying fish home to their young this
summer.
Doug & Anna Marie’s Restaurant
Pick Of The Month … Carriage House Tea Room &
Cafe
You may have noticed that I typically focus on places
for dinner in this segment of my letter. I thought I
might try a little deviation this time. The Carriage
House Tea Room & Cafe is located on the grounds of
the Emlyn Physick estate. I think it is definitely the
best place to have lunch in Cape May!
Last time we dined at the Carriage House Anna Marie
and I chose to sit inside, which means we were seated in
one of the original stalls of the carriage house. It was
a truly interesting, charming and comfortable setting
for a luncheon. As we were perusing the menu we sampled
the fabulous home made breads and scones with
traditional clotted cream (sounds awful, but it’s not!).
Lunch is a three course event at the Carriage House, so
Anna Marie started with a wonderful salad and I enjoyed
a magnificent bowl of home made pistachio soup. We both
selected an assortment of the traditional tea
sandwiches, though it was hard to pass up the more
contemporary sandwiches, wraps and specialty salads. For
dessert Anna Marie ordered the fresh fruit tart, while I
suffered through a chocolate delight (I can’t remember
the name, but I remember the taste!). An endless cup of
tea and glass of lemonade completed this perfect
luncheon.
If you’re looking for something
different for your next trip to Cape May, I HIGHLY
recommend a lunch at the Carriage House. You’ll be happy
you opted to sample one of the finest meals in
town.
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