After 17 years of smelling like Budweiser and Solarcaine, rubbing my sleepy eyes and seeing half of my neighbors, I am left with a few conclusions about who goes to the Jersey Shore.

Pittsburgh. As much of it as can fit.

This is a sweeping generalization, but with a fairly experienced broom. Pittsburghers, largely the middle-class families whose wallets prefer driving to a vacation, motor to the stretch that runs between the New Jersey towns of Ocean City and Cape May. For reasons I leave to sociologists, many Western Pennsylvanians seem to land in Avalon, Stone Harbor and Cape May.

Certain towns produce reliable ethnic mixes. I have sat at Henny's Bar in Stone Harbor and heard the karaoke master ask for cheers based on who's from Philly and who's from Pittsburgh. At one point he turned to his companion and said, "Now watch this. How many Irish here?" The roof blew off the joint.

There are two Irish goods shops in Stone Harbor, and singer Cahal Dunne, the "Happy Man" and a favorite of the blue-haired set in this town, occasionally crops up on show posters.

There are, of course, other shore destinations for Pittsburghers. I occasionally see a minivan with those oval OBX stickers, which it took me years to figure out: Outer Banks. I have also heard folks talking about Rehoboth Beach, Del., a place I visited 21 years ago and discovered to be Washington, D.C., in bermuda shorts. I still have a parking ticket from the place. No plans to go back.