This weekend was originally scheduled for one of the above mentioned dual purpose trips, but when the wedding we were supposed to be traveling for was canceled, we rearranged some vacation time and decided to take a weekend trip to the beach. Since we're not fans of big crowds, we decided against Ocean City or Rehobeth Beach and chose Chincoteague/Assateague Island instead. Our vacation weekend happened to coincide with their annual pony penning week, so I couldn't find campsites, so we decided to just spring for a hotel instead. We left Saturday with no plans other than: 1. go to the beach, 2. eat seafood.
We had a pretty uneventful drive there, despite moderately heavy traffic when we first got across the Bay Bridge. After we checked into our hotel, we decided we'd spend the rest of the afternoon/evening walking around Chincoteague. We checked out a few touristy gift shops on our walk across town and back. We went back to the hotel to cool off, then had dinner at this outdoor BBQ restaurant. We really enjoyed dinner and then played mini golf before heading back to the hotel and bed.
On Sunday, we decided to go to the beach. We had a few option on how to get there (foot, bike, car). We'd left our own bikes home because we didn't have the time to get them tuned up before our trip. We thought about renting bikes or driving and paying the car entrance fee to the national park, but in the end, I think in the interest of saving money, decided to walk. It didn't look that far on the map, but it turned out to be 3.5 miles to the beach. That wouldn't have been too bad, but it was pretty hot and humid and we were lugging a bag of towels/blankets/lunch/water, a beach umbrella and Josh's art bag. It felt like it took forever, but we eventually made it to the beach. We were so hot and icky that even Josh was ready to get right into the water (he's not a fan of swimming or water in general). Shortly after we got in, a mom and her daughter came over and told us they had to introduce themselves because they'd seen us walking and we made almost as good time as they did on bikes (with 2 small kids). She was pretty impressed we'd walked the entire way (and turned out to be a cool marine biologist who we enjoyed chatting with about sciencey stuff). We had a really nice time at the beach, but, for me at least, it was overshadowed by knowing we had a long walk back. We eventually packed up and set out for the walk back and it was, well, unpleasant. Next time, we're definitely going to spring for the $8 car entrance fee and just drive (or bike).
We were pretty worn out, blistered and slightly sunburnt when we got back. We went out for our seafood dinner at an all-you-can-eat seafood place. We didn't get all-you-can-eat meals, just regular entrees and we were both stuffed (choosing to eat all the food in one sitting was another not-so-wise choice!). We went for a short swim in the hotel pool before calling it a night.
This morning we were feeling too worn out to do much, so we pretty much just headed home. We got home this afternoon and have caught up on most of the chores that got neglected while we were gone (and washed all our sandy, sweaty clothes).
We both really enjoyed our vacation and I'm looking forward to our next vacation. At least now we know what we should have packed and what we should have left and that walking 7+ miles to enjoy the beach is a little nutty (as is stuffing yourself with seafood!).
We didn't actually go see the wild ponies, but the hotel had it's own small herd of ponies. Also, our camera crapped out, so we only just got a few cell phone pics. Here are a few pony pics, plus a bonus picture of Charlotte since I just figured out how to email myself the pics off my cell phone!
1 comment:
You just have to schedule in more vacation time together!
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