Summertime means a lot of things in Rehoboth Beach: sun, sand, tourists and traffic. It also marks the time when hundreds of international students, mostly from Russia but also from countries such as Turkey, Bulgaria, Poland and Ukraine, bid “do svidaniya” to their homeland and say “zdrastvui” to Rehoboth.

This year the influx of foreign students has been delayed. According to Gareth Tonnessen, assistant pastor in discipleship ministries for New Covenant Presbyterian Church and official greeter for the International Student Outreach Program, the buses carrying many of the students haven’t arrived as a result of a merger between Trailways and Greyhound.

As more gas stations throughout Delaware crept toward the dreaded $4 a gallon figure, fewer travelers took to the roads over the Memorial Day weekend.

The state's busiest highways -- Del. 1 and I-95 -- both showed a large dropoff in the number of cars passing through toll plazas, according to numbers released Wednesday by the state Department of Transportation.

Memorial Day weekend traffic on Del. 1 was down 10 percent, or 65,000 vehicles, from last year. The state collected the figures from the two toll plazas on Del. 1 from Thursday to Tuesday.

Your Type A sister-in-law might argue that it's only 150 miles to Ocean City from the Washington area, a short enough trip to drive in three hours without even a bathroom break. You know better.

For one thing, traffic on Friday afternoons on Route 50 between this weekend and Labor Day will be maddening enough to make anyone long for an ejector seat or pull over for an ice cream cone. And besides, seasoned travelers say, the stops along the way are as much a part of tradition as the saltwater taffy and boardwalk rides at the beach.

Everything was in place to kick off a summer of discontent.

Ever-rising gasoline prices. Grim economic news. Global environmental worries. Election year partisan wrangling.

None of it intruded at Rehoboth Beach early Saturday, though, as Miles, Lexi and Riley Keogh of Alexandria, Va., opened Memorial Day weekend playing tag with a gentle surf.

"We came over early, so we missed a lot of the traffic," Miles said during a break in the action on the city's storm-battered but recovering beach. "It wasn't the worst we've ever been in. I'd say it's probably in the top third. Gas prices aren't great, but they're not that horrible."

As much as kids know that the 3 R's define the school year, they also know that summer is all about the 4 S's. That's right: Sun, surf, sea and sand are about all kids need for a memory-making family vacation.

Of course, a week at the beach along the Delaware-Maryland-Virginia shore also means arcades, thrill rides, water parks and Thrasher's fries. But if you find that, by day four or five, you're looking for something a little different, something a little special that might mean new memories, you're probably not alone. Here are a few favorite excursions. Some take a full day, others just a few hours, but regardless of where you're staying, they're worth the effort.

Construction crews are dwindling, the smell of fresh asphalt is in the air and the morning commute gets a little bit smoother each day.

But motorists aren't the only ones happy to have the sound of jackhammers cease and see the hundreds of orange traffic cones disappear.

For business owners along Route 1 in the Lewes-Rehoboth Beach area -- many of whom have seen a drop in customers since the construction crews moved in fall of 2006 -- the end can't come soon enough.

This summer, the magic word for bars and clubs at the beach is "outdoors." From Rehoboth Beach to Ocean City, the night life is moving to poolside cabanas, outdoor tiki bars and waterfront cantinas.

Rehoboth Beach

Aqua Grill on Baltimore Avenue will be holding serious parties this summer. After an off-season makeover, the restaurant reopens this weekend as a warm-up for Memorial Day's blowout. Sponsored by PlanetOut, the three-day party features appearances by singer and performer Randy Thompson from Key West, Fla.

Even without throngs of tourists filling the boardwalk, residents should expect a little less walking room on the sidewalks this weekend.

As the 25th annual Spring Sidewalk Sale kicks off this weekend, Rehoboth Beach-Dewey Beach Chamber of Commerce President Carol A. Everhart said visitors should expect some great deals and merchants can expect to clear additional retail space for new summer merchandise.

Mid-Atlantic resorts are hoping gas prices spiraling toward $4 a gallon and a cooling economy won't keep vacationers at home this summer -- but they're bracing for shorter stays and less spending on restaurants and entertainment while people holiday.

"People are staying less time,'' said innkeeper Vicki Barrett, who runs a six-room bed and breakfast in Ocean City. "They're not staying for five days or seven days -- they're staying for two days or three days.''

It's still the offseason here, with a few seagulls spotting the gray, drizzly skies. Some boardwalk shops are shuttered tight against the wind and rain.

The beaches will soon come alive with the sun as thousands of vacationers descend, spending freely and countering the gloom and doom, forgetting for a short time about high gas prices and food costs, layoffs and mortgage payments.

At least, that's the hope of beach business owners, who rely on the summer for the bulk of their income.