a walk in the sand (with wild ponies)

the 3rd of july was our anniversary (#2) and we have started a tradition of going camping on our anniversary (last year we went to worlds end ) this year we decided to go see the wild ponies!

we had been talking about the wild ponies for YEARS...at least 4 (jak read a book as a kid about the wild ponies of assateague which is how we knew that there were wild ponies to be seen). there are national, state, and private campgrounds in assateague (maryland) and chincoteague (virginia), i did my best to sort through all the info and determine what would be the best option for us. i settled on the camp site at the assateague national seashore and we chose a site on the oceanside that looked like it would be nice.

on monday we packed up all our gear and headed out. it was supposed to be a 3-4 hour drive, but we decided to stop for lunch along the way at a great looking seafood counter/restaurant in delaware where i had an amazing fried oysters sandwich (jak had a less than amazing crab melt) at a place we can't remember the name of. we hit a few pockets of traffic and got a little turned around here and there but we made it there finally in the late afternoon.

we have decided to be car campers. it's just plain easier. so we have a fair amount of crap that we bring with us, and this year we added a 10 x 10 screen room because of the repeated bug warnings (many many 'squitoes & bitey flies). our site was a walk in site, and we didn't have to walk all that far, but it was mostly sand which made it a little slower. 5-6 trips back and forth to the car and we were ready to get set up.

OH, the ponies!! yes they are everywhere! it's pretty great...we saw several driving in, and as the sun started to go down they came into our camp ground and even into our site to chow down on grass (and anything else they could find ) they are VERY pretty, but you are not allowed to touch or feed them, and they aren't much interested in humans anyway (except maybe our food stuffs). they are known to kick and bite, so it is best to just admire them and leave them alone.

we were one big dune away from the ocean. it's a perfect site, the sunset was beautiful, with glowy pink light reflecting off the patterns in the sand. we went for a walk on the beach, cooked up our pork chop, potato, roasted corn dinner, went for another walk on the beach, and called it a night. unfortunately there are no open fires, so there was no campfire sittin' into the night, which is one of our most favorite part of camping...that's was a little disappointing.

in the morning we discover (horror of horrors) that we forgot to pack our stove top espresso pot!! this is a disaster! but jak comes to the rescue and rigs something up from twigs/wire/aluminum foil/paper towels. it works! the coffee is perfectly tasty.

breakfast was scrambled eggs with sweet corn left over from dinner and toast. yumm. after breakfast we loaded up our bikes and drove down to chincoteague. we rode our bikes all around and (i will edit out the details about reading the map wrong and ensuing miscommunication) we ended up on the beach where we ate our picnic lunch and searched for shells. a little too much sun, there is no shade anywheres (we need to add an umbrella to our gear for our next beach trip) so we biked back to our car and drove into chicoteague where we got some ice cream and then wandered around the town until we were hungry for dinner.

we polled a few of the locals for restaurant recommendations and ended up at bill's. the food was just ok. we ordered steamed clams and half a dozen chincoteague salt oysters on the half shell for appetizers and they were quite good. for dinner jak got crab cakes and i orfered fried oysters, which were not as good as the ones i had in delaware, (but the company was excellent, so that made up for the mediocre food)

we might have been better off eating at PT pelicans intercoastal deck bar at the chincoteague inn which was more along the lines of the delaware joint, we stopped there for a gin and tonic before dinner and it was full of locals and open to the water, mostly fried seafood and chips, but i'll take that over fake fancy any day.

after dinner we headed back to camp. upon our return we noticed that the wind had really whipped up and our tent and screen room were rocking and flappin' in the wind. jak re-secured all of our various shelters and we tucked in for bed, and then the whipping wind turned into wind and rain. it rained all night. it was still raining when we got up in the morning & the sky was dark and gloomy with no signs of clearing up. jak secured a tarp over our (not really a rain shelter) screen room and i drove up to the ranger station to see what the weather report was for the day. they said it should clear up by late morning and be in the 80's, and then more wind and possible rain that night.

we made our macgyver coffee and scrambled some eggs and decided to stay. we went for a long walk in the wind along the beach. i left my flip flops at the bottom of the dune where we started our walk, and when we came back they were gone (someone stole my freaking shoes!). we searched and searched and did not find my shoes (bugger). the weather did start to clear up and we rode our bikes along all the different trails in the park (the dunes, the marshes, and the life of the forest) it was still really windy all day, which was nice because it stayed pretty cool and kept the bugs away (mostly).

after our bike rides we went back to camp and made some lunch and then went down to the beach to sit and read our books. the wind was still blowing like crazy, and it was much like being in a sandblaster. along the surface of the sand you could see a cloud of sand grains blowing along... i wrapped myself in scarves and tried to ignore the 35 mph wind gently constantly pushing and enjoy my book. that lasted only so long before we retreated back to our camp site, where it was only slightly less windy. did i mention that it was windy? and that the sand was going everywhere. everywhere, including a mini dune that was forming in our tent.

we decided that maybe it might be best to pack up and head home. we had to be out by 11am the next morning anyway. so why spend another windy rainy night sleeping in a sandy tent? we lounged a little longer reading our books and then started to pack up. we made some sandy soup for dinner and packed up the rest and left.

we stopped for ice cream along the way so that i would feel less sad about missing (because now they were closed) all of the farm stands that i wanted to stop at on the way home to buy sweet corn and tomatoes. we made it home in a record 2.5 hours (the last hour in the pouring rain). we both took desperately needed showers and passed out. happy anniversary.

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