Get it while you can
View "No iPhone Friday: Jungle Jim’s Adventure World" on its own page.
It’s closing in on Labor Day and we are sad. And we have a confession to make. We are no longer Rehoboth homeowners – after three years on the market, our rental house sold in mid-June. So we no longer have sleepless night worries about the house burning down mid-season. But on the other hand, we have no Rehoboth to look forward to come September, once the renters clear out.
So, we’re sad, and we’re torturing ourselves by remembering all the things we love so much: morning walks in The Pines, cinnamon-y Cafe con Leches at Cafe a Go Go, riding bikes on the Junction & Breakwater Trail to Lewes, browsing in Browseabout Books, napping, chocolate espresso martinis at Hobos (and crab dip, and crab quesadillas, and and and), fish and chips at Go Fish (at off-season prices, especially!), everything at Pig & Fish. We could go on and on (which is why we wrote an app about it).
But the story we haven’t told you yet is about our last weekend. Last weekends are the pits. You’re exhausted from all the boo-hooing and grubby from all the packing and hauling, and the pressure to have the perfect ending is immense. How to choose??
So we picked two last meals (one would never have been enough). And we picked two new places, places that we’d never been able to get into before (too popular), and that would send us off with new memories of an old friend.
So here’s your No iPhone Friday – a two-fer, to two new friends who sent us off with full bellies and happy hearts.
GreenMan Juice Bar & Bistro
Finally, finally got into GreenMan, after several years of passing dejectedly by the often-packed porch, and can now report: true happiness. The long list of fruit and tea smoothies is just the teaser to get you in. What keeps you sitting on that cute front porch are the generous, creative – and even healthy – grilled sandwiches, chilled sides, and soups and quiches of the day.
I asked for a recommendation and went with what I heard: The Bengali: grilled flatbread sandwich stuffed with Indian-spiced sauteed spinach, slices of ripe tomato, and mild goat cheese. $8.95. Worth every penny. Makes you want to go buy some spinach just to see if you can recreate those subtle, tasty Indian flavors.
We also tried The Havana: Organic Smoked Turkey Breast, Turkey Pastrami, Swiss Cheese, Dijonnaise, and Dill Pickle. Also $8.95. Excellent adaptation of the Cuban.
For breakfast, oatmeal with organic toppings; Creme Brulee French Toast; Sausage & Gravy (with turkey sausage); Quiche of the Day or Crepes of the Day; breakfast sandwiches with free range, local organic eggs on ciabatta, whole wheat bagel or wheatberry toast; GreenMan Breakfast Wrap with organic vegetables and potatoes sauteed with tofu in a whole wheat wrap, served with fresh tomato salsa; granola bowl with yogurt and fruit.
Breakfast and lunch only. 12 Wilmington Avenue, Rehoboth
Blue Moon Restaurant
When restaurants in Rehoboth grow up, they want to be Blue Moon. Nearly three decades in business, these guys still have it going on.
Blue Moon is housed in a brilliant blue Victorian beach house and has a couple of cozy dining rooms – one with a fireplace for winter nights, and one with a retractable roof for summer evenings – and a small drinks patio out front.
The menu offers traditional seafood and meats, but prepares them in the most mouth-watering ways.
Check this out:
Roasted Baby Rack of Lamb
Grain mustard-herb crust, butternut-potato-gruyere lasagna, asparagus, baby carrots and pinot noir reduction.
Or this one:
Braised Buffalo Short Ribs
Gorgonzola grits, charred Brussels sprouts, crispy onion rings, salsa verde, smoked tomato jus
Yum. And after Labor Day, locals flock back for the $35 Tuesday Tasting Dinner with three courses and wine. When you can get a discount here, grab it: Blue Moon is the most expensive restaurant in town.
Thursday evenings are karaoke at 9:30, but if you’re thinking of trotting out your best My Way for a lark, know this: Rehoboth has some world-class talent. So bring your A game.
The Blue Moon Divas Show on Fridays at 9:30 has been called the best drag show in the state. No cover. 35 Baltimore Avenue, Rehoboth
View "No iPhone Friday two-fer: Green Man and Blue Moon" on its own page.
You can try to hide...
Three months ago, Rick and I published the Rehoboth in My Pocket travel guide for the iPhone.
It took many, many hours and has yielded teeny tiny bits of money.
“Let’s do another!” we said.
So we settled on Virginia Wine in My Pocket as the second travel app for our In My Pocket label. (Impressive, huh? We hear the editors at Frommer’s Guides are trembling…).
In April, we launched a web site, so you could follow our wacky antics and zany exploits. And so you’d be standing breathlessly in line (virtually) when the app queued up for launch in early summer.
And then May rolled by, followed closely by June, and no app. “What’s the deal?” we asked ourselves. “Where’s the Virginia Wine in My Pocket app? Why the hold up?” (No one else was standing in the virtual queue yet, so we queried ourselves.)
Life, as you’ve probably guessed, intruded. People got married, people had birthdays. And, surprisingly, Rehoboth in My Pocket did not shoot to the top of the iTunes charts overnight, and needed some cuddling and encouragement.
I fretted; my rule-bound approach to marketing required that we first publish the app, and then hit the road to promote it. Ergo, we could not begin visiting wineries until we’d published the app. Meanwhile, the summer skipped by.
Rick, not being the marketing strategist that I am, suggested a different approach: “How about if we put the rules aside and just have fun with this?”
Nervous, I was. That was just crazy talk. We’d be digging ourselves into a deeper behindedness if we spent precious weekends running off to wineries instead of bent over our computers. But it was July already, and our backs were against the wall.
So we scrapped our strategic plan. “Let’s just drive,” we said. Like when we were dating, a decade ago. Back then, we just wandered, visiting tasting rooms, feigning interest in residual sugar and harvesting schedules when we really just wanted some free wine and a seat in the Adirondack chairs, looking out toward the Blue Ridge.
Now, of course, it’s our business. Or, at least, we want to make this our business and cut loose the 9-5 yoke. Traveling around, meeting eccentric wine makers and brave winery owners. Taking pictures that land on magazine covers, and getting patted and pinged by readers. A life with a new mission statement: “How about if we put the rules aside and just have fun with this?”
So there we were last weekend, whizzing along the Chesapeake Bay Wine Trail on Virginia’s Northern Neck, approaching winery number 30 on our “150 Wineries in 150 Days Tour: Virginia.” It must have been butterfly season on the Neck, because swallowtails were everywhere and, sadly, we nailed one.
Rick said, “You know the last thing that goes through a bug’s mind when it gets hit by a car?”
“No, what?” I asked.
“Its ass,” he said.
Rick is completely heartless, of course, and a babe in the woods marketing-wise. But he’s got a great sense of direction, and I like where he’s taking us.
Kayaking the Canal (photo borrowed, with muchisimas gracias, from Quest Kayak web site)
Boat rental hours:
Wednesday – Friday: 10 am-4 pm
Saturdays and Sundays 9 am-6 pm
Closed October through April
One of the neat features of the Rehoboth in My Pocket iPhone app is that you can comment on it – from within it! So, every once in a while, we’ll get an email that says “A customer has commented from your app!” Those are always good for a little stomach flutter, as we brace for the constructive criticism. Today, we’re doing a happy dance, because of this one:
The best app ever! Thank you for all your time and effort. It helped out in finding things to do without wasting precious vacation time. Cheers to you!!
Of course, the universe has a way of always popping your big egotistical balloon head, doesn’t it? For example:
I live in Rehoboth and this app is very sparce [sic] in it’s [sic] listings.
Thanks for letting us know what you think. For better or worse 
Rick's view of Rehoboth Beach
Can’t see what’s in the Rehoboth in My Pocket travel guide/App ’cause you haven’t picked up your iPhone yet? You’re not alone. We’re hearing from people every day who want to take a peek, but are techno-lacking.
So, while Apple and AT&T and Verizon are duking it out, we’ll share the love by posting one listing from the Rehoboth in My Pocket app here on the website each Friday. FREE!
Yes, we do realize that this means you may no longer have any incentive to actually purchase the App, and that as a result we may end up panhandling from tourists in front of Nicola’s next summer. But we’re betting you’re going to want all the other features that come with the App on the iPhone (or iPod Touch, or iPad). And we’re also betting that we’ll be staying way ahead of you, content-wise, stuffing the App so full of yummy stuff that your resistance will ultimately be futile. (Rick?? Is that you?? How did you get hold of the keyboard?)
Oh, and to avoid the tedium of having to type in our url every Friday, go ahead and Subscribe to our Posts and you’ll receive them automagically!
But first things first: here’s a little about our development of the App. (Cuz you know you have to eat your peas before you can go to Royal Treat for dessert.)
—————————–
The great thing about smart phone travel guides, as opposed to those paper dinosaurs, is that Apps are infinitely updateable. Great new restaurant opens? We can let you know quickly. B&B changes ownership and heads into a death spiral? Poof! They’re out of here.
Rehoboth in My Pocket also gives you maps for each entry, as do all the travel apps produced by our development partner, Sutro Media. No more standing in the middle of Rehoboth Avenue wondering where Purple Parrot is (it’s right behind you), or how much farther it is to the beach (not far! You can make it!).
We did the best we could on prices and operating hours, but seasonal beach town businesses don’t operate like the rest of the world and must constantly adapt to the changing economy, time of year, phases of the moon, and the need to take some time off in the winter. So, bear with us as we try to keep up with the changes, and 
please do let us know when we’ve missed something.
For restaurant pricing, we listed the range of entrée prices, just to give you a sense of the place. Rehoboth dining is generally pretty pricey, but portion sizes are generous, so you can usually make a meal of soups, salads, or appetizers if needed. Or, better yet, check out the Happiest Happy Hour prices and take a seat at the bar – that’s where the best deals are.
For lodging, we included a small assortment of places and prices (though in high season, there are few deals to be had). There are many, many more lodging options, and if you tell us this is important to you, we’ll add many more.
Be sure to check out the “Get Your SWAG” listings in the app, and also to sign up for Rehoboth in My Pocket emails at our web site (www.RehobothInMyPocket.com). We’ve been working with some local merchants to get some nice freebies and discounts for you, and you can find it all there!
We’ve got some fun stuff planned for future updates of this app, including some lovely walk routes, more events, and more recommendations for Rehoboth in the fall/winter/spring seasons. (Rehoboth is a year-round beach town, and perfect for a relaxing weekend getaway.) We may even add some more listings for the Route 1 part of Rehoboth, though our hearts belong to downtown.
So, stay in touch, tell us what you think, and, most of all, have a great time in Rehoboth!
With great fanfare AND hoopla, Rick and I drew ten email addresses from our blog’s subscriber list to receive free “Rehoboth in My Pocket” downloads! And then I emailed the winners to say congrats. Now what do we do with all this confetti?
Thanks for entering! Stay tuned for more SWAG in May!
Rehoboth in My Pocket (a travel guide) App is officially LAUNCHED! Woo hoo! Download the App onto your iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad here.
To help kick things off, we’re giving away 10 free downloads - just join our “SWAG” and/or blog posts email list by next Friday (April 16) – we’ll pick 10 winners at random from those who are signed up! And THANKS for all the encouragement over the past few months – we are EX-CIT-ED!
Now we begin adding MORE reviews, more activies, more fun to the App – and we’d love to hear what YOU think. What have we missed? Join the Rehoboth in My Pocket Facebook group and let us know – we’ve set up some Discussion Boards to gather your opinions.
Let’s get this party started!
(Oh, and if you are a wine lover, or just like to drive around in the beautiful Virginia countryside and visit wineries, you may want to check out our App-in-development: Virginia Wine in My Pocket. Rick’s working on some VERY cool stuff for the website, and we expect the App to launch in late May!)
View "We Are (A)live! Rehoboth in My Pocket App Is Launched!" on its own page.
Apple is now in possession of our Rehoboth In My Pocket iPhone app content! The last hurdle before we go live. Finally.
So now that the adrenaline rush of creating our first app is starting to fade, the doubts are beginning to creep in…
…What if I misspelled a really obvious word (like calling Hobos “Hobo’s” a dozen times before noticing there was no apostrophe…)?
…What if the entries are too downtown-heavy (they are) and I didn’t include enough from up on Route 1 (I didn’t)?
…What if I unintentionally hurt someone’s feelings (I will. It happens; get over it, self. It’s a travel guide not a love letter, duh.)?
Guess that’s what UPDATES are for 
**Check out the new SWAG offers from Sea Witch Manor Inn & Spa and Nourish. Coming soon: Browseabout Books.**
Subscribe by Email