Heights that had rides like bumper cars , games and the best food such as italian sausage and pepper rolls . Wow were these good . Typically , we would walk along the boardwalk until we spotted the beach we wanted and we then paid a fee to get access to the beach . We had to just about walk over the blanket ’ s and towel ’ s of other people to find a spot for us . We then usually ran into the water that was murky and brown and you could ’ t see your ankles . I learned later on that they closed the beaches around 2-3 times a year because of raw sewage pollution . Yuk . But this is the life for families for one to three months during the year as they vacation at the Jersey Shore . English was a second language in many areas at the shore . Unfortunately , in October 2012 , the entire Seaside Heights was destroyed by the super-storm Sandy .
A good friend of mine was a scuba diver and instructor and he took me diving a couple of times . The first dive was in a crystal clear rock quarry that was not too deep . After a few joints and some very brief instructions , we walked into the water and dived down to the bottom which I recall was about 50 feet . At the bottom were these old train tracks and carriages that carried some of the minerals that were mined . I was very comfortable in this underwater environment and it was such a great adventure . There were no fish or anything living but the visibility was absolutely clear . Another time my friend took me to a nearby lake and we rowed out into the middle with all of our scuba gear . We took time to light up and get stoned . The water was murky so he tied us together for safety reasons . We then fell over backwards from the rowboat and we both had way too many weights on so we sank down to the bottom quite quickly and fortunately it was not too deep . But when we hit the bottom , we stirred up the mud and black murk surrounded us and it was difficult to tell which way was up . After a few minutes , we got ourselves oriented and dropped some of our weights . We took our time to surface and once we got there we were in the middle of a major storm . The wind was incredibly strong and it was difficult to get back into the boat that was anchored . Just then a large motor boat passed close by and we asked for a tow . They yelled out , “ We don ’ t give tow ’ s to hippie ’ s .” We couldn ’ t believe their response . We then jumped back in the water and swam to shore with our scuba gear on and no weights . We wound up getting out of the water on someone ’ s backyard and walked to our car . I have to admit that I can ’ t remember how we got the boat back !
Well pot led to LSD and there we were at 2001 Space Oddessy in the front row totally afraid of the monkeys . We were all on LSD and it was passed around at the concerts in canteens that everyone readily drank from . Oh yeah , we were totally into this at this stage and it just kept getting better . We were starting to now combine camping with parties . Traveling out to Colorado to camp and see many concerts was amazing . Then we heard about a Vietnam protest in Washington DC so several of us packed up and drove down there and pitched our tent next to the Potomac River and the famous DC icons such as the Reflective Pool and the Washington Monument . I believe there were something like 40,000 protesters and we partied all night . Wow it was great . But early in the morning possibly , 6:30 am , I heard a loud speaker saying that we had 30 minutes to get out of the area . I jumped out of the tent and saw police that had surrounded us in full riot gear , helicopters , gun boats and horses . We were out in 15 minutes running as fast as we could . The police did then go through the crowd and they used their batons on people who remained .
Needless to say , this new found culture was not resonating with high school as all we wanted to do was get high , listen to music , take advantage of the free love and essentially have fun . So we went to school reluctantly and cut quite a bit of classes . My grades had fallen and I had a real attitude problem . Teachers would send me to the
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