there are actually many shipwrecks you can dive on and explore in the great lakes.
In a dry suit. If I have to travel to dive (which I do) I’m going where it’s warm.
Have a great vacation. We’re headed down to Wildwood Crest, NJ on Thursday. My kids look forward to this weekend all year long. It’s a huge family reunion (my mom is one of eight kids and all of them plus their kids and grandkids come for the weekend) and it marks my sister’s annual visit from Spain.
Last year after WDW, I asked the kids if they could only do one trip - Disney or this family weekend - which would they choose and they picked the family weekend. 
We try to do a balance, a beach vacation, Disney, a trip to Europe or someplace else (this year we’re doing a bit of DC and MD).
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We love sand. The texture matters though. Hate Cozumel sand. Like coarse sesame seeds. Good sand though can entertain me and mine for hours.
Salt water is also a dream IMO.
Now, add a hammock and roving waiters and 
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OCNJ is great! It’s a great place to do exactly what you said… just relax and do things on a whim.
The expense is certainly less there than Disney. But I love Disney because there is SO much to do and see that you never run out of things. I don’t know how to vacation in any other city because I feel like I’d have to figure out what there is to do and see. At the beach, I know I’m just gonna relax, hit the boards, get some food. Disney World has 8 million things to do. Other cities?! I have no idea!
Anakin, is that you? 
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Now, now. Remember that Anakin was talking about a desert planet, not beaches! I’m just a complainer! 
I solidly felt this way until 2008.
Why was it hard? Was it after the rain? Hard sand would ruin it for me.
Well, I think the tide must have receded somewhat recently, because the sand was mostly wet, making it hard, but not drenched because the waves were not coming that far up the beach. Sand isn’t soft until it is completely dry.
There will be an amusement park that hasn’t been updated since the 60s. https://storybookland.com/
It’s great for young kid though and costs less than $25 with discounts. There are no lines. Hours are a whopping 11-5! And there are also boardwalk rides.
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honestly, if it was that simple it would be paradise…
unfortunately, all too often, the problems come from other beach goers 
Story Book Land is the best!!! Have you gone at Christmas? Go! And there’s a fabulous Mexican restaurant across the street.
True. Like when my wife freaked out when the sand dollars she had put in her pocket started to crawl out!
Oh and the Cape May Zoo is free if you are looking for other day trips.
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I didn’t know that still existed! Also, Knobel’s is also a great old amusement park! And you pay the old-fashioned way— only what you want to ride.
Never ventured down that way at Christmas.
Did that yesterday. Lucy the elephant today.
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Personally I find “going to the beach” to be insanely boring; how long can you lay out baking in the sun? After about 30 minutes I want to do something - like go back into the air conditioning like a sane person. I have never liked swimming in salt water, and the sand gets all over everything. I’ve lived virtually my entire life within an hours drive to a beach; Long Island, Hartford, Pensacola, San Diego, Whidbey Island, Okinawa, San Diego again and back to Pensacola (for the past 20 years) where I am 45 minutes from a beach that frequently makes the “top 10 beaches in America” list. If I go more than 5 or 6 times a year it’s a lot, and when I do go, it’s for some favorite restaurants that happen to be there.
Now if it was a long-standing family tradition and/or a reunion that happened to be at the beach, then that’s a different thing all together; the reason for going is the family and the location is coincidental.
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I agree. We are doing one other activity a day to pass the time. Then the kids car nap and then we hit the beach for an hour or two. I couldn’t just do the beach for a week.
We make a day trip for it but we’re only an hour away.