In the week leading up to Labor Day, it became clear that it was in fact going to rain. all. weekend. The problem is, I had already paid a $50 deposit on the camp site that was nonrefundable inside 30 days. Suddenly I was significantly less excited for the trip (which was really a bummer, considering how high I'd been previously), but I did my best to be a good sport and prepare for a rainy trip that would still include ponies and camping, but probably no beach or bike riding. Then about 48 hours before our scheduled check-in to the camp site, the rain developed into a hurricane. Hermine, I believe. I was incredibly relieved to get an email from the campground administrators that included the official severe weather warning from the sheriff's office of Chincoteague (expected power outages and flooding) and an offer to reschedule and apply the $50 deposit toward another time.
So, I rescheduled for the following Memorial Day weekend. Since that would also happen to coincide with our 2nd anniversary, I thought it would be a perfect little getaway (I also ran across a blog listing the "Top 10 Romantic Camping Locations in Virginia"—Chincoteague was #1). But I ended up having to reschedule again when Matthew's sister got engaged. Fortunately, I was well outside the 30-day deposit period, so it was no problem (although the camp had changed ownership in the interim, so it took some googling to figure out how to contact them when the email they'd previously used no longer worked). I discovered that Matthew's work gives him a 4-day weekend for 4th of July, and with my flexible scheduling, I also was able to take that time, so in the end, it probably worked out all the better.
The problem with rescheduling (and re-rescheduling) is that the trip then manages to somehow sneak up on you. I spent the last part of June working on a party for my birthday, and then some other random things came up so that it got to Saturday morning, and literally the only thing I had managed to do in preparation was book a kayaking tour of Assateague (where the ponies are). Matthew kept asking, "So what are we going to eat while we're there?" I mean, I had a vague idea in my head and knew we needed to go to the store, but we ended up spending most of Saturday doing the preparation that should probably have been done in the week leading up (or at least Friday night... but Redbox gave me a free movie code for my birthday, so that's where that went). Combine that with the inevitable traffic resulting from accidents on the one bridge that leads out to the Eastern Shore (the peninsula part of Virginia that is actually connected to the mainland by way of Maryland), and we ended up getting to the campsite around 8:00 (pm) instead of 2...
Bridge from the mainland to Chincoteague
But we made it in the end. The campground was not entirely what I expected (and not even close to what my poor husband—who's idea of camping is backpacking through a national park—thought we were getting into). There was a giant "jump pillow" right at the front entrance and some kind of concert going on, from what we could hear. And all the campsites were squished very close together with hardly any trees (you know, for privacy). Then we found out when we checked in that what I'd paid for (and rates had gone up with the new owners—KOA—so my $50 deposit didn't go as far as I was expecting, either) was actually not a site at all, but rather a "pick your own spot" privilege in a field (there was one on either side of all the packed little sites). However, this ended up working in our favor. We skirted the edges and found a little hollowed out spot that was surrounded on three sides by tall grass and had a copse of trees between the opening and the rest of the camp field. It made for a nice little space and made us feel like we could be out in the middle of nowhere. We built a fire before it got dark and then spent some time roasting hotdogs and starbursts and marshmallows before getting to sleep. It rained a little that night, but considering that it was the only rain we had all weekend (the weather forecast had said it would storm overnight on Monday and possibly rain during that day as well), it was really not bad. Also, Matthew decided he wanted an outdoor pavilion-type cover for the beach that doubled as a rain cover, so we were well protected.
Our little campsite
Pinterest cinnamon toasted buns for first breakfast
Dutch oven (it ended in about 2 inches of ash with some charcoal-tasting what-was-supposed-to-be-chocolate-orange-cobbler on top)
Successful egg and sausage burritos for breakfast
The next day we went to the beach. Shortly after I made my initial Chincoteague plans, my sister sent me a video of wild ponies wandering a crowded beach somewhere in Virginia and said, "You should totally go there!" I was like, "This is literally exactly the place I've been telling you about that I am already planning to visit..." Haha. The beach is on the shore of Assateague, which is a national park/wildlife refuge. I'm sorry to say, however, that there were no ponies on the beach that day. Probably because there were about 8 million people. I was a little disappointed, but ponies or not, I really just love the beach, so it was still a pretty great time. We had borrowed some boogie boards, which was fun. The waves weren't that great, but I guess you can't really compare to San Clemente, CA. I brought Misty of Chincoteague (I'd bought a copy back before that first Labor Day to bring to read there), and it was really fun to read on the beach. Apparently the story is actually true, plus it gives a lot of context and history about the island and the ponies, which was neat.
After the beach, we went back to the campground to change and get our bikes, and then biked back across the bridge to Assateague. There are a lot of pretty great trails, all through the woods and everything. We both got quite a lot of bug bites (despite the bug spray we had applied), but it was probably worth it. There was a place you could stop that was an overlook of the meadow where the ponies graze, and we saw a herd off in the distance. (I knew we'd get the chance to see them up closer when we did the kayaking.) We also saw some fat, fuzzy gray squirrels on the trail, and a 3-foot black rat snake crossed in front of us at one point, which was pretty cool. About halfway across the Chincoteague/Assateague bridge, Matthew had me switch to his bike, which he thought would be easier for me because it weighs less than the one we'd borrowed. It's a very expensive bike, since we bought it for him to ride to work, but being on it, I definitely understood why. I mean, I finally understand what gears are supposed to do...
Far view of the ponies
Monday morning, we left the bikes behind and just drove over to visit some of the other attractions. Assateague has this really awesome old lighthouse that was built in like, the 1800s. It doesn't look like that much from the outside, and I was a little confused about why it was on the Chincoteague-facing (rather than sea-facing) side of the island (turns out it was actually on the southern tip of the islands when it was built, but sand build-up has added about 5 miles of island since then, we learned). But inside, it has this really cool cast-iron spiral staircase, and you can go all the way up to the top, which is (I looked it up) 142 feet tall. We also got the chance to see it lit up at night when we went out the night before to find the kayaking launch place so that we would know where to go. It gives two flashes every five seconds (there were info cards in the windows of every other landing inside the lighthouse—nice for catching your breath on the stairs). Then we went out to a little visitor's center at Tom's Cove, near the beach. I was most excited for their air conditioning, because Monday morning was actually brutally hot (and we were camping...), but they had a touch tank with horseshoe crabs that you could pick up, and a whole bunch of panels with all different kinds of wildlife identified (that's how I knew the snake we saw was a black rat snake). It even had the ponies on one of them. And just about every one (they were divided by habitat, as in marshes, woods, beach, etc.) had mosquitoes (thanks, we noticed). I also found out that the black-headed sort-of seagulls I'd seen at the beach are called laughing gulls. Makes sense.
Matthew appreciated this cone...
Tiny crab at the aquarium
By the time we went out for the kayaking tour, it had cooled off a little. I was looking forward to being in the water, but you don't actually get that wet if you're doing it right, so it was nice to have a breeze. It threatened to rain, which I actually wouldn't have even minded, but it never did. Matthew and I shared a kayak. I knew this was going to be our best chance to see the ponies up close, so I had bought a water-proof case to keep my phone in (Matthew was certain I would drop my phone in the water, since I would have to take it out to use it—it was just a cheap plastic thing—but I had to have a camera!), but I forgot to watch my battery, and the stupid thing died about 10 minutes after we got on the water! I was so frustrated, but I figured I could probably ask someone in the group to share their pictures, so I didn't stress too much (also, what can you do? we were literally already in the ocean...).
Kayaking was a little slow going at first. Matthew is pretty well-experienced, so we were pretty fast, but our group was fairly large and we had to wait for some less-experienced kayakers. I was kind of impatient to get to the ponies, so I was kind of wishing they would split the group (there were two guides) by experience, but they didn't. About halfway out into the sound, my paddle scraped against something, and I suddenly realized the water, even as far out as we were, was probably less than 3 feet deep, which was kind of weird. But we were staying pretty close to the marsh, which was where we would be going in to find the ponies. The guide told us we should paddle single-file once we got into the little inlets. We were first in line, right behind him. It was neat chatting about the wildlife—he knew what all the bird species were. There were a lot of ibis, and we also saw an egret and a heron (not that I would have known the difference...). Then he started pointing out far-off pony herds. There was one hanging out in a copse of trees (the stallion of that herd was named Riptide), and one out on the marsh (Ace's herd) that he thought he could get us up close to.
Riptide's herd
Ace's herd
Unfortunately, about 50 yards out from the ponies, Matthew and I ran adrift on a sand bar. The water we were in was probably only about 2 feet deep to begin with, and I guess we got cocky, because we didn't stay to the side of the inlet where it was deeper, and we got pretty stuck. So we had to let about two-thirds of the group go around us while we tried to scoot our way off the sand bar, and we lost our spot at the front. But we still managed to make it to where the herd was. We were probably 20 feet from them, and it was really cool. I saw one lady taking pictures with an iPhone and made a mental note to ask her to airdrop them to me later. There are a bunch of babies this time of year. One of them got real curious and came running over to see who we were. I thought this was great, but our guide said, "Hey, we need to start backing up guys," with kind of a nervous tone in his voice. Since we were toward the back of the group, we had to leave first so the others didn't get caught if the ponies started to get too aggressive, but I kind of just let Matthew take on paddling duties, and I turned around in my seat to watch.
Ace
One of the mares (not the mother of the foal that wanted to say hi) was standing in kind of an aggressive stance, with her forelegs splayed and looking straight at us. Ace (the stallion) had positioned himself kind of between us and the rest of the herd as we came up, but he was pretending to be absorbed in his grazing, for the most part. He did end up lifting his head and giving us the eye a little as his one mare got nervous. I thought that they would be content to stay away from us once we started moving away, but they actually kept coming toward us, as if chasing us (though not terribly aggressively) out of their territory. Eventually they seemed satisfied that we had been shooed off, so they stopped. We made our way back through the winding inlet to the open sound, and that was our kayaking tour. I did manage to get the pictures, and due to our unfortunate incident, this lady that took them was actually about 10 feet closer to the horses than we were anyway, so I'd call it a win. ;)
After that, the trip was pretty much over. We stayed one more night and then packed up and came home. I'm happy to be able to get all the grit off me. Camping is very dirty. I did get a fantastic tan, though. :D
We also got homemade ice cream while it was hot on Monday morning
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