Just ask Barry Dobil of Allentown, Pa. On a recent dreary day, he shelled out twenty dollars for a surrey and then spent hours pedaling up and down the Ocean City boardwalk to keep his children entertained.
Dobil says the idea of getting money-saving deals on fun shore activities texted to his phone sounded great.
" I would do that," he says. " I would definitely sign up for updates and get new and interesting things to do."
Dobil and shore visitors like him are the target audience of RainyDayAtTheBeach-dot-com.
On the site, you can sign up to get text messages about money-saving deals for things like restaurants, spas, kids or teens activities and more.
Site Founder Jean Samoyan says, " You can sign up to get text messages on your cell phone. You control which categories you're interested in, how many you get a day, and what days you want them."
For Prep's Pizzeria and Dairy Bar owner Marybeth Grant, the site offers a high-tech addition to the traditional coupons and ads she places in shore brochures and newspapers.
"It's an amazing concept," Grant says. "It's pretty revolutionary, I think. Noone's ever thought of that before. I'm willing to try it to get anybody into the door."
While you can sign up for the text deals just for the weeks you're on vacation, you might want to sign up for the whole summer -- for impromptu day trips.
"You may get a text message for a special deal and say, 'hey, let's head to the shore today.' " Samoyan says.
To sign up for RainyDayAtTheBeach.com, click here.
