A Funny Thing Happened to me on my Way to Work Today……

Wait, I must be hallucinating, we don’t work and the “W” word is a 4 letter word around our rig! At least this time of year. This is the time of year to relax and recuperate from all the craziness of the summer and fall. But a funny thing did happen to us this week……

After leaving Havre De Grace we headed south. Our plan was to spend the night on Assateague Island but first we wanted to stop by the Dogfish Head Brewings & Eats on our way through Rehoboth Beach. Google Maps showed the location right on the main strip that went down to the water and not real RV friendly. So we called to see if there was any place for us to park. “Sure, there is plenty of parking”. Well you can probably already guess where this is going. So there we are on  Rehoboth Ave. and although there was plenty of parking right along the road it was lined with trees on both sides that were tall enough for cars and pickups to park under but certainly not a 13+ foot 5^th wheel! I tried one spot but it was just too tight, I parked as close to the trees as I dared but still stuck out too far in the adjacent lane. So we abandoned that idea and headed off down the road.

About 5 miles down the road we saw a sign for a Delaware State Park campground. We had looked at it on line but thought it was closed but as we drove past there were 3 rigs in it so we pulled in and decided to spend the night. At $30/night with power and sewer it would do for the night so we picked a spot and backed in. Imagine our surprise as I went to put down the jacks and found a string or Christmas lights hanging from the side of our rig!

Apparently I got a little close to one of those trees and hooked a set of lights!

After getting set up we headed back into town to hit the brewery. We each had a flight of beers and it was just getting was dark by the time we left. All of the trees along Rehoboth Ave. were festively lit up with Christmas lights. Except one....the only lonely tree right in front of the brewery sadly had no lights! Huh, I wonder how that happened?

They had the cheapest diesel we have seen in a while! We paid up to $3.70 on our way out here!

Then it was off  to The Big Fish Grill for dinner. If you are ever in the area, we would highly recommend stopping here!

When we got back to our campground the bridge was all lit up!

The next day we carried on to Assateague Island National Seashore campground. We were in search of the elusive Assateague Island ponies! We had heard a lot about the ponies and wanted to see them for ourselves. The campground has 5 loops; two Ocean loops and three Bayside. Probably a total of 150 sites. We walked into the office to register and pay our $30 for the night (no hookups). We were told that we had our pick of the entire campground! Except site #15 Oceanside, that site was taken. Over a 100 sites and not a person in sight! Gotta love the off season! 

We chose Bayside site #14 with terrific views of the marsh.

As we were setting up we looked out in the marsh and saw something brown out there that looked like it was moving. Upon closer inspection.....

We were there less than 20 minutes and already spotted our first pony! The story of the ponies varies depending on what you believe:

Wild ponies have inhabited Assateague Island for hundreds of years. Some have suggested that the wild ponies of Assateague trace their origin to horses released to forage on the Island by early settlers. However, the evidence strongly sugests that they are the descendants of the survivors of a Spanish galleon which wrecked off the coast of Assateague. This story, which has been passed from generation to generation on Chincoteague Island, is stronger than fiction.

We then took the dogs for a walk on the beach. This was Dakota's first ocean experience and the first thing she did was run to the water, jump in and started drinking! The look on her face was priceless..... After that the dogs just started running up and down the beach like they were crazy.


Although we have been to the Pacific Ocean several times, this was our first Atlantic experience.

Barb's first time in the Atlantic Ocean!

It was a lot different than our Pacific experiences where the coastline was more rugged with only small sections of sandy beaches. This area had miles and miles of beautiful sandy beaches!

There was not a lot of driftwood or sea shells, just lots of beautiful sand! Oh, and a smattering of horseshoe crabs here and there that Daisy thought were really interesting. She could not figure out why it would not play with her! 

The next day we were packed up for a day trip down to Chincoteague Island National Wildlife Refuge in search of more ponies. Along the way we stopped by Wallops NASA Flight Facility. 

Not a lot to see there but we did get to see a picture of a space monkey and we each tried on a couple of new suits!

When we got to Chincoteague Island we hiked the 1/2 mile trail to the lighthouse.

The 142 foot lighthouse was first lit in 1867 and is still in use today. 

We also hiked the 1.6 mile Woodland Trail where we saw various forms of wildlife.

Interesting note about these squirrels..... They are actually Delmarva Fox squirrels from Pennsylvania and were listed as an endangered species in 1967. In 1969 biologists started relocated these squirrels to Chincoteague Island where they are now thriving.

A little while later we came to an open area and what do we see? More ponies!

Overall we had a great visit to the area and is someplace we would like to come back to. But for now we need to continue to head south as we are off to the Outer Banks!