Assateague and Chincoteague Day 3

Our last day, and we started early, of course, as C7 woke early (having fallen asleep like a reasonable child) and Q5 slept in a tiny bit (having not fallen asleep like a reasonable child). Breakfast at the breakfast buffet, and then ... the pool. The girls spent two whole hours in the pool, and I even swam for an hour (wow).







We left the islands and headed north to the Maryland national seashore. The ponies are not fenced in here, and one of the first things we saw was this:





The ponies in Maryland aren't penned as they are in Virginia. The authorities in Maryland use a chemical birth control to control the population rather than herding and selling them as they do in Virgina. But they roam free, over the parking lots, on the grass, around. So people do get bit and kicked, although thanks to Q5 The Cautious we didn't. When we saw ponies from the car she demanded we roll up our windows.

So, we spent some time on the glorious beach, where we saw about five surfers and two swimmers (they stayed in the water about 2 minutes), a few dogs,and more people than you'd think looking at this photo.





The kids enjoyed the sand.















And me with kissy lips and my awesome wavy-curly hair!




We went out and took a mini-hike on the dune trail in the national park. On the way there we went by this bunch of ponies ... they just jumped out of the woods along side us and started walking!! And yes, Q5 demanded that I roll up my window, you can hear her in the video.






Q5 was a little nervous because of the ponies and did NOT want to go on the walk, as you can see from this photo. She is walking along a road that was built in anticipation of subdividing the whole island and filling it with resorts and houses. Luckily, this was right before a hurricane blew in on Ash Wednesday, 1962, and resulted in the creation of the national seashore. Thank goodness.




C42 brought her back, though.




And I think that is it! Glad to be home!

Assateague and Chincoteague Day 2 part 2

After the beach we all were getting hungry, and left the park and went to the sea shell restaurant. The girls loved it. I thought it was kind of yuck, and C42 thought it less than ideal, but edible. So, a draw in the end.

After that, we headed to the museum, which was a hodge-podge of everything Assateague-Chincoteague. A small small museum, kind of what you'd expect, but they had this great scavenger hunt for the kids to complete. We eventually found everything, but it wasn't easy.

Best and worst part of the museum ... the ponies (of course). They had stuffed Misty and stuffed Stormy (Misty's colt). We got pictures of C7 with the horses.





I had asked Q5 if she wanted to take a photo with the ponies and she said no. C42 asked her why when C7 and I went inside, and she said that "something was missing" from them, they weren't real. She has a lot of insights.

We had ice cream at the Island Creamery, which was fantastic. GREAT ice cream. Yum.

The rest of the day was spent at the hotel pool, which made C7 and Q5 very happy.

Assateague and Chincoteague Day 2 part 1

Day two was our only full day on the islands, and we headed straight out to Assateague Island, Chincoteague National Park. Confusing? Yes.


Wildlife sightings (pony, great blue heron, and great egret):





Talk about wild:




The ponies we saw here were across a ditch, a fence, and some water, so they were a ways away, but we got to see some great pony action as they had some internal disputes. Creamy (so named by Q5 the day before from the boat) and another horse did some neighing and rearing up. They settled down after a few minutes, but it was interesting to watch.

We headed to the Assateague lighthouse, still being used, but not owned by the coast guard. That plus it is a good bit further from the coast than it had been when it was built, as the sandbars have built up. But here are the girls and C42 at the bottom.





The lighthouse was cool because the walls inside don't slope, they are straight up and down ... the walls outside slope. Is that normal for lighthouses? I don't know! The walk from the parking lot to the lighthouse was quick and easy, and bug free. I hear if you go at any time of the year it is a bug-fest, so that was a good thing! I was worried it wouldn't be much of a view from he top, but despite what looked to be fog on the ground wasn't an issue from the top.

We walked up the ... approximately 228 steps up and got a great view of the area. And the tour guide at the top (who was very willing to chat) took a photo of all of us. The first one was probably better, but this one is more representative:




After the lighthouse we walked over to the nature center and looked at the exhibits. Best moment there? Q5 climbing the pole to look through the binoculars.




Then we headed off to the beach and collected sand and shells and just enjoyed looking at the waves.

Assateague and Chincoteague Day 1 Part 2

The boat ride.

C42 organized a boat trip around the islands to see the ponies from the water. It was early, so they warned us to dress warmly. I was wearing two sweaters, a hat, gloves, and a coat and they offered me another coat on top of that. Which I put on, and it made me look like a little head on a very big body.






Q5 and C7 driving the boat


C7 driving the boat




We actually did see a lot of ponies, but they were very far away, so I'll leave pony pictures until later.

Assateague and Chincoteague Day 1 Part 1

We decided to spend a bit of our spring break on Assateague and Chincoteauge in Virginia. Q5, being a girl's girl, has a thing for horses, and C7 has read Misty of Chincoteague, and Q5 has read a condensed version of the same story. What really can go wrong with wild ponies? Besides getting bit and kicked which we successfully avoided. And had we actually tried to get near one Q5 "The Cautious" probably would have screamed bloody murder to get us away from the ponies. One of the restrooms had pictures of pony bites, and she took the warning to heart.

First, so I get this straight: Both Assateauge and Chincoteague are islands, but we stayed on Chincoteague, the town and island. Assateague is the barrier island and national seashore, stretching along the Eastern Shore of Maryland and Virginia.

We left Hyattsville Friday morning and arrived after multiple stops (bagels, park, gas, donuts, coffee) and arrived at Wallops Island, where there is a Nasa Flight Facility, around 11:00 or 11:30. Q5 was having a bit of a mood, but she shaped up and in we went to the museum. The museum was really a great museum. I expected little, and got a lot. Hands on, interesting stuff. Entertaining for all of us.





One thing that stuck with Q5 were the test flight monkeys, Sam and Miss Sam. Q5 liked them but was worried for them, thinking they might have been scared and sad going up in the Little Joe, the rocket.

We eventually left because we were all hungry, and checked into our hotel, the Hampton Inn and Suites. When we arrived the girls smelled chlorine, and ran around searching for the pool, much to the amusement (or feigned amusement) of the staff. Actually, the staff never seemed annoyed at us. Pool found, luggage left in room, we headed out to lunch at the SeaStar.





This, to me, was our best food out on the islands. That, plus Q5's outfit was stunning.

Next up: Boat trip.

Yo Yo

C42 brought home a yo yo the other day, and it has brought some entertainment to our lives. At least once or twice a day the girls get on a chair to try to yo yo (if they don't stand on the chair the yo yo hits the ground).

Here are some of the latest attempts.









Yes, she did hit the ceiling with that last one! :)

thoughts

In school recently C7's class was asked to write out whether they'd rather be famous or live forever, and why. Many of the children chose famous so they'd have a lot of money.

C7 also chose famous, but her explanation was so she wouldn't be alive when the polar ice caps melted. I asked her why and she said that on the first day of Green Team (a TAG thing) one of the teachers said that when the polar ice caps melt the world will flood. That was enough to make her decide to not live forever.

I'm listening to them talk about it now, and C7 is saying if she were famous she'd give the money to charity. Q5 would like to live forever and be famous, because if she was famous, and if she had the power of freezing water, (and that was why she was famous) then when the polar ice caps melted she could freeze it back over, and save the polar bears.

Lovely.