A Little Getaway, Day 1

Almost dark on Chincoteague Island

Ward and I are on a little getaway to Chincoteague and Assateague Islands. CH and AS (as they shall be known from here on out because typing those long names gets tiresome) are barrier islands off the coast of Virginia. CH is where most of the people live in the area and AS is a wildlife refuge. Besides the beaches, they are famous for their wild pony population. Wild ponies have been living on AS for hundreds if not 1000s of years. Stories differ on how they got there, but the most popular one is that they escaped from a Spanish galleon during a storm. 

I have heard about these ponies my entire life and have always wanted to see them. So, here we are. We planned the trip just before Memorial Day to hopefully beat the crowds. So far, so good.

The islands are about 4 hours from home, and we took a leisurely drive (at least after we got around the beltway to get past Baltimore) to get there. On the way, we listened to Misty of Chincoteague by Marguerite Henty, which is a story about two children raising a pony from the pony roundup they do each year. The narrator is quite good, and we are enjoying this historical fiction kid's book, especially since we are now where it took place. 

This morning, we have a cruise scheduled around the islands to see the ponies and other wildlife. However, about 10% of the time, the ponies are not seen. But hey, that means that 90% of the time, they are. I have high hopes. The weather is in the 50s and windy, so I will be bundled up. I'll let you know how it goes, but in the meantime, here are some pictures from our day yesterday.

The Chesapeake Bay Bridge is often a choke point going to the Eastern Shore - especially during the summer. However, we had smooth sailing over it, luckily.

After a couple of hours, we decided to stop in Cambridge, MD. They had a very nice park with piers into the water to walk around.

There was also a free lighthouse museum we explored.

Harriet Tubman was born close to Cambridge and there are many things about her throughout the town. On this trip, we visited the Harriet Tubman Memorial Garden. We will do more the next time we visit.

We drove a couple of more hours and then checked in at our hotel.
This is the view from our balcony. (The same view as the sunset picture at the top of this post.)

After a seafood dinner, we walked around town and figured out that many attractions in the area are not open until next week when the summer season begins. That's okay with us. We are finding plenty to do and are happy to avoid the crowds.

Now we're off in search of the ponies.

Until next time...