Aztec Wall Mural Street Art in Wildwood

We've been going down to the Jersey Shore several times a year for the past 30+ years. When it comes to my family's vacation time, we love spending it down at the shore. Our favorite coastal towns in New Jersey are Ocean City, Avalon, Stone Harbor, Wildwood and Cape May. Yes, visiting south Jersey is the best in our book!

Every time we go down there we're on the lookout for new street art and outdoor wall murals that we haven't seen before. We are HUGE fans of street art and coastal wall murals and have photographed & visited about 30 different ones located around New Jersey. You can find those posts right HERE on our blog and make sure you check out our Street Art & Wall Murals Pinterest board.

While on a recent trip down to Wildwood in New Jersey, we stumbled upon the Aztec Wall Motel Wall Mural painted on a wall of the Aztec Resort Motel building. If you're unfamiliar with the area you'll find the resort located on Lavender Road in Wildwood Crest. It sits about 1 1/2 blocks from the beach and 2 blocks from the world famous Wildwoods Boardwalk.

Like a lot of the outdoor wall murals that you find down in this area this one is done by MG Signs, you'll find the signature in the bottom right corner. Matter of fact, I've counted at least a dozen of MG Signs wall murals on the island over the past few years and documented many of them right here on our travel blog. This one really stands out because most of the wall murals that I've seen in the area are beach, ocean or tropical theme. This one...completely stands out and reminds me of something I would see out west.

Spending the Day Shopping in Lancaster County

Every year thousands upon thousands of people flock to Lancaster County for the Amish Attractions and discount shopping at all of the Lancaster Outlet Stores. We live in central Pennsylvania and like to drive down three times a year to just go shopping! We find the best times to visit are the "less" busier times of the year (early spring, late summer and early holiday) seasons.

When I spend the day in Lancaster shopping I like to visit the Tanger Outlets and the Rockvale Oulets which sit within a couple of miles of one another. If you plan on staying overnight, you'll find many lodging accommodations within walking distance and oodles of restaurants nearby.

At the Tanger Outlets Mall you'll find: Skechers, American Eagle, J Crew, Old Navy, Talbots, White House Black Market, Coach, Clark's, Asics, Banana Republic Factory Store, Bath & Body Works, Eddie Bauer Outlet, Haggar and many other great stores!

At the Rockvale Outlets Mall you'll find: Pepperidge Farm, Five and Below, QVC, Carter's, Goldtoe, Puma, Dress Barn, New Balance Factory Store, G.H. Bass Factory Outlet, Lane Bryant, Orvis, Penndleton, Casual Male XL, Alfred Dunner and more! If had to choose a favorite, I would probably choose Rockvale for my personal shopping needs.

When visiting the outlet malls you'll want to park your car in a central location, so that you can walk down one side of the mall, walk back up and to your car to store your packages, then down the other side of the mall and so forth. The mall is quite large, so if you can't do a lot of walking, you'll want to seek out the handicap parking spaces and move your vehicle as you go along.

If you're into antiques and collectibles I recommend driving up to the Cackleberry Farm Antique Mall located on Lincoln Highway East in Paradise. It's a 10-15 minute drive from the Rockvale Outlets, depending on traffic. You'll find 125+ vendors and it's open year round. You can find antiques, collectibles, furniture, handcrafted candles, homemade crafts, kitchenware, children's toys and games, pottery, glassware and everything in between.

After shopping for antiques I like to stop into Dutch Haven Shoo-Fly Pies Bakery to pick up some homemade treats and of course...a shoo-fly pie to take home with us. You'll also find homemade jam, jellies, locally-made furniture, Amish-made crafts, cookbooks, gifts and souvenirs. They boast that their store has over 10,000 items in all. If you love Shoo-Fly Pie, this is definitely where you need to go! Plus, they offer free pie samples too!

If you're looking for lunch or dinner while spending the day shopping in Lancaster County, we would recommend that you stop in to Miller's Smorgasbord for some award-winning food. Just be forewarned, Miller's can get extremely crowded during the summer season, especially during the weekend evening prime-time hours. A very family-friendly restaurant with an extensive menu for adults and children to enjoy.

When visiting Lancaster County in Pennsylvania for just a day of shopping...I recommend that you plan ahead. You'll want to start your shopping experience with the stores that you want to visit the MOST and then branch out from there. If you want to avoid crowds, long lines and parking nightmares, I suggest visiting from late September through early May, when less tourists flock to the area.

Beautiful Street Art, Wall Murals and Graffiti in Wildwood

We're huge fans of outdoor wall murals, street art and graffiti, so every time we travel to a new destination we try to find it. We're particular fans of outdoor wall murals in a coastal and beach theme, particularly by the artists Wyland and David Dunleavy. You'll find many of their wall murals documented right here on our travel blog.

Wildwood in New Jersey has a lot of artistic street art designs that you'll see painted on the sides of hotel/motel buildings, on the walls of restaurants, murals up on the boardwalk and I love all of the different designs that you now see while sitting at a stoplight on those electrical traffic light boxes.

While driving around on the Wildwoods island (yes, it's a barrier island) in New Jersey, we spotted the artistic designs that we're featuring in our blog post today. These are just a small sampling of what you'll find when visiting the island. You can find a ton of them documented in our wall murals & street art section right here on the blog.

The Bill Haley and his Comets wall mural is part of the Doo Wop Musical Icons Series and it's number 2 out of 3 that I'm aware of. You can find it on the side of a building on Pacific Avenue, one of the main avenues that runs north to south on the island. If you're into street art, I recommend starting on Pacific avenue on the north end and taking it south...you'll see a lot of great pieces!

Up in North Wildwood we found this Beach Life Wall Mural painted on the side of a small motel that sits within the beach block area. I'm not sure of it's official title but it was painted by MG Signs who does a lot of the murals up and down the Jersey Coast. This one reminds me of vacation memories from my childhood when my brother and I would spend hours on the beach every summer playing in the sand and building sandcastles.

The boardwalk has some great wall murals too! This one which features underwater sealife was painted by one of my favorite artists...David Dunleavy. You'll find it painted on the side of the Fudge Kitchen's building up on the boardwalk. It sits on a corner, so make sure you walk around to the side of the building to see it.

On Pacific Avenue you'll find the American Safari Motel and on the side of their building you'll find this fun American Safari Wall Mural. I think it really sticks out due to the fact that it isn't beach, ocean or island themed. It was painted by MG Signs and while it's pretty...it just sticks out like a sore thumb. Just my 2 cents on that.

As you're driving around on the downtown streets and through the business district in Wildwood you'll come across those electrical traffic light boxes that I previously spoke about. Forgive me, I'm not sure what you officially call those boxes! Anyway, you'll find them at the various intersections and each one is done in a different theme and all of the designs pertain to the Wildwoods Island, the Beach and/or the famous Wildwoods Boardwalk. They're colorful and very artistic in nature. I really enjoy seeing them!

The Sightseer Tram Car design was located up by the Convention Center by those famous Wildwood Beach Balls, across from the StarLux Mini Golf Course. The Sighseer Tram Car is an icon on the island! The Love by the Moon design was located down at an intersection in the downtown business district. I believe we saw it on or around Rio Grande Avenue. The Greater Wildwoods Tourism Improvement and Development Authority (GWTIDA) sponsored these particular designs and the others that you'll find.

As you can see...Wildwood is a great place to visit if you enjoy seeing outdoor wall murals, street art and artistic graffiti. You'll find gorgeous designs all over the entire island...so the next time your down to the Jersey Shore for a visit...spend an hour driving around and checking out all of the beautiful designs.