Memorial Day Weekend Memories

You could not draw up a better holiday weekend then what we just experienced
and it was certainly a badly-needed shot in the arm for Jersey Shore businesses that rely on visitors. Three days of sunshine and warm weather following a long winter and often dreary spring sent record crowds in some cases to beach towns where finding a parking spot this weekend was often challenging. Yesterday started with heavy rain in many places and some decided to head back home early but those that stayed were rewarded with another day in which it was much more comfortable at the beach than inland. For many businesses Memorial Day weekend is the busiest of the season and it certainly has many feeling good about the upcoming summer.

I do find it somewhat ironic that so many people, even those on the radio, were wishing others a Happy Memorial Day. Truthfully it’s not that kind of holiday and actually should be more solemn than celebratory. I guess too many it’s just the day that marks the unofficial start of summer. Interestingly enough things will really quiet down for the next couple of weeks or until school gets out for summer.

How many times have we pushed it when it came to a dwindling gas tank? Knowing when empty really means empty is something many of us have dealt with in the past and sometimes we’ve been burned. That’s what happened to NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. over the weekend as he ran out of gas on the final lap which cost him a win at the Coca Cola 600 in Charlotte. Earlier in the day at the Indy 500 Danica Patrick had to stop for gas with ten laps left and it cost her the lead and eventually she had to settle for a 10th place finish. Just goes to show you that men often gamble with fuel….women tend to be more conservative and fill up.

For those of you who don’t know or care the Stanley Cup Finals begin Wednesday with the Boston Bruins facing the Vancouver Canucks for the most storied trophy in all of sports. This matchup was not good news for Boston Pizza, which has 340 restaurants in Canada, including 62 of them in the province of British Columbia where Vancouver is the largest city. The company could not expect Canuck fans to order pizza from a place named after the city of their opponent so they simply changed their name…temporarily. The 62 restaurants in British Columbia have been re-branded as “Vancouver Pizza” until the series is over.