I’ve never been to Cape May for more than a day trip, so I was excited to experience this historic and quaint town, on the munificence of my parents (thanks!)

As is the case with most of my trips, things centered around food and drink, so that’s mostly what I’ll write about.

We stayed at the historic Virginia hotel, which is beautiful and emblematic of a different time’s design. Victorian I guess? We had a nice room, with a giant walk-in shower. I would very much like such a shower in my home one day.

We nipped out after check in for a cocktail (dinner was at seven) and tried Finn’s on a recommendation, but the bar was packed and it didn’t really comport with our notion of a cocktail bar (it looks like Tom Cruise should be bruising some gin in a shaker). We slunk back to the Ebbitt Room’s bar in the Virginia, which I spied on checking in and did happen to see two open seats upon alighting for our misadventure to Finn’s. The Preprandial Gods must have designed this, as the Ebbitt Room was exactly our speed. We each enjoyed the house Eighty Nine Manhattan (redemption rye, amaro averna, amaro nonino), and a cheese plate. The not-fishbowl-sized drinks left us room for two Martinis (Bombay gin, bleu cheese stuffed olives).

I’ve never been one for stuffed olives in a drink, as I always felt it blurred the line between snack and drink too much for my liking. But these were excellent! Color me enlightened.

We retired briefly to the room to find the dining room jumping. It was really noisy, in fact. But we settled in for a glass of Prosecco to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary, which paired nicely with some Sweet Amalia oysters. We ordered a bottle of Benton Lane Pinot Noir to go with my duck breast and Rhonda’s braised lamb shank. The restaurant comped us a glass of champagne, no less.

Breakfast is a limited menu but comes with the room, and you can have it delivered to your door. La Colombe coffee no less!

We strolled around the Washington Mall, which is a mix of odd and tony shops, and then rolled over to Willow Creek Winery for their Sip and Shop event. We waited in a long line then strategized to find a seat to enjoy some wine and a cheese plate (which was excellent and generous). We shared the Winemaker’s Choice flight and a glass of the Malvasia Blanca. (All supplemented with rest of the previous evening’s Pinto Noir because I wasn’t getting back in that line).