Back in October 2007 (shortly after our Big Adventure started), C & M went camping on the beach in
Assateague Island National Seashore.
On that trip (you can read the story in the archives), we decided that sand was the enemy of that trip - it was cloudy, really windy, and sand got EVERYWHERE (thanks to the constant winds). The wind on the previous trip was so crazy that we had to routinely floss the sand out of our teeth after nearly every conversation.
Determined to give Assateague a chance to redeem itself, we took advantage of a long break from our schools - C was off holidays and M was done and awaiting graduation... Luckily, though, C's break fell mid-week (Tu-Th) and we were able to find a quiet campsite with no neighboring campers (sweet!). So, off we went to the beach for Take #II.
This time, we left early enough and made it during the daylight. After setting up the tent, C got to work building a fire on the beach in which to cook our dinner - old school foil packs (like the boy scout days).
With the fire roaring and the foil packs cooking, we settled in for a little relaxation. Despite the thick overhead clouds that completely blocked out the sun, the constant ocean breezes, crashing waves, and lack of other campers made for a delightful time.
After a long night-time fire on the beach, C & M retired to the solitude of our tent for some
Pass the Pigs (our favorite) and sleep. The next morning we awoke to the same thick low clouds and gentle sea breezes - great for beach walking and shell hunting (there were so many shells on the beach and we were almost the only ones there to look at them). However, the highlights of the morning walk was definitely the pods and pods of dolphins we saw! Total, we must have spotted about 12-15 dolphins - some as close as 25' to the shoreline. The pods were just swimming along parallel to the shore- if the water was warm enough we would have jumped in for a swim with them!
As the morning evolved, we ventured to the bay side of the island to see the horses (and watch them go for people's food). Upon our return to the beach that afternoon, the sun popped out and everything turned beautiful!
View of our campsite with the ocean in the background (Wednesday afternoon)
Wednesday night ended in similar fashion to the prior night - a quiet campfire down on the beach.
We woke up early Thursday morning, packed up the campsite and returned to DC to meet up with our families, who were in town for G-town's graduation. Despite the cloudy and chilly start, it turned out to be a great trip!
But this isn't all of the trip... you can check out
the rest of our Assateague Take #2 photos & stay tuned for our special surprise - they were filming a national TV show out on the island while we were there - they invited us to participate (video coming soon).
