My husband and I recently visited Spring Lake, NJ for an overnight b&b getaway. We live in Northern NJ and wanted a quick trip to relax and escape our usual busy routine. We drove down to the shore (as they say in NJ) about one hour on a beautiful, unseasonably warm October Sunday. We were very excited to really enjoy the outdoor activities and beach. We weren't expecting it since it's fall in NJ.

We arrived at noon and fit in a quick run on the busy boardwalk. We are fitness enthusiasts and wanted to make sure that we got in our workout. Next, we retrieved our beach chairs and sat on the beach enjoying the weather, ocean breezes and spent the afternoon people watching. We took a lunch trip to the Windmill, a very popular local burger joint. We then needed another beach walk to work off the fries before the sun went down. We checked into our b&b, the Ocean House, and enjoyed sitting on their big wrap around porch before going to a local restaurant for dinner on the bay.

The next morning we awoke to another beautiful, warm day. Unfortunately, we missed sunrise because we decided to sleep in -- the Ocean House was so quiet and comfortable. We took a long walk on the boardwalk (no running today) from Spring Lake to the next town north, Belmar. On our walk back from Belmar, we decided to walk on the local streets to see the amazing Spring Lake mansions and houses. We were then ready to dine on our inn's porch for a delicious gourmet breakfast buffet.

After breakfast, we felt the need to get more physical activity and took a long bike ride through the local streets and rode through four beach towns. We rode to downtown Spring Lake and did some shopping before returning to the inn.

It was time to check out and since the weather was so beautiful, we decided to spend more time in the area before returning home. We took a back road drive to see several beach towns and arrived in Long Branch. We wanted to check out their new shopping and dining mecca. We enjoyed an outdoor lunch at one of the cafes and some more shopping. We hit the Spring Lake beach for one more glimpse of the ocean and beach before heading back to North Jersey.   www.theoceanhouse.net