After we left the Washington DC area we headed to the Atlantic Ocean to visit Chincoteague Island and the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge on Assateague Island. We will be spending 3 nights here relaxing, walking along the beach, and visiting the Refuge to see the wild horses. We traveled on country roads (Hwy 50 and 13), passing beautiful colonial style homes on grassy acreage. After 3.5 hours and 168 miles we arrived at TALL PINES HARBOR in Sanford, Virginia.
TALL PINES HARBOR
This RV park is in a forest of pine trees right on the beaches of Pocomoke Sound with the Chesapeake Bay beyond that. This is a ‘summer resort’ with lots of permanent trailers (that are empty at this time) just waiting for its owners to swarm this area on weekends and especially in the summer. The Sandy Beach is great for summer swimming and there are lots of events and activities at this RV park during the summer. We were glad to be here in the off season where we have peace and quiet. And this place is quiet. Its dead quiet at night. This is the first place we’ve stayed at during this trip where there is no highway, train, or airplane noise.
Please see our RV PARK REVIEW BLOG under Virginia to see a review and more pictures of this campground. http://charleston-rv-park-review.blogspot.com/
DAY 42-43, APRIL 12-13: WILD HORSES
I can even hear that wonderful song that new singing artist Susan Boyle recently sang on her album “I Dreamed a Dream” as I write about the wild horses of Assateague Island. This is a fascinating story.
The rumor is that 300 years ago, the horses swam ashore from a Spanish ship that had ran into the barrier reefs and sunk. The most probable story is that 300 years ago the farmers brought their cattle and horses to Assateague Island (with it’s natural fencing of water on all sides) to graze to avoid paying the ‘grazing taxes’ that the farmers had to pay at that time. The horses were left there to go ‘wild’ and multiply. Today Assateague Island is a National Wildlife Refuge and the wild horses or wild ponies, as they are called, are still there.
In 1920 and 1924 there were fires that burned out of control on Chincoteague Island (next door island) for lack of effective firefighting equipment. To prevent this from happening again a small group of men organized themselves as the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company and came up with a fundraising idea of rounding up the wild ponies on Assateague Island and swim them across the channel to Chincoteague Island to auction them off. The first roundup was in July 1925 and has been an annual event on the last Wednesday of every July at ‘slack tide’. The Firemen who round up the ponies became known as Saltwater Cowboys and they are legendary figures in this area. By the way, the Chincoteague Firemen got their equipment and there has never been a catastrophic fire on the Island since.
They only round up the healthiest of the colts. And no ponies are harmed during the event. They are horses and not ponies, but are called that because the diet they eat on the island is poor in nutrition which causes these horses to evolve into smaller horses with short legs and look like ponies. Their diet also contains a lot of salt so they drink lots of water which causes them to look bloated. They are left to stay wild, except for the colts that they round up to be auctioned, and they are given no vet care except to euthanize the severely ill or injured ones. To keep the population under control, the mares are only allowed to have one colt then they are annually injected (with a dart gun) with a vaccine to prevent pregnancy. These horses are not ‘native’ to the area and can really cause damage to the ecosystem. So with the vaccines and the roundup they are able to keep the herd down to a reasonable number of 80 to 150.
It was exciting to find these horses. It was as exciting as finally seeing our first moose when we traveled to Alaska last year. We saw them grazing in the distance in an open field, we saw them along side of the road and on the road. We also saw them strolling into the parking lot (one turned towards me looking for a handout....human interaction is not allowed, they are not pets, but are wild and can bite). They then turned onto the beach, got into the water and swam over to a strip of land to graze. What a thrill !!
One morning we packed our bikes, drove over to Assateague Island and did some biking. On the way we spotted a large turtle on the side of the road. Of course I had to investigate. It turned out to be a snapping turtle and a large one too. You want to stay away from those.
We biked along the wetlands on 5 miles of paved hiking trails and a loop road that is closed to traffic for several hours each day. We were told about an eagle nest with two chicks on the loop road, but we couldn’t find it. We saw other wildlife such as Canadian geese, deer, Delmarva Penninsula fox squirrel (which is endangered). It was a nice ride and after two years, I finally got onto my bike and lived to tell about it!!
We saw this T-Shirt in one of the gift shops on this island. I think it is good advice that we all should follow.
DAY 44, APRIL 14: A GALLOP INTO MARYLAND
On our last day in this area we drove into Maryland to explore the Maryland side of Assateague Island. The main road on the Island does not go all the way through, so you have to drive on Hwy 50 on the mainland, go into Maryland and then get on the Island from that end. We saw some more wild ponies. This is where we saw them walking on the road and in the parking lot where they got into the water.
We left the Island and continued on Hwy 50 into Ocean City, Maryland. This is where most of the East Coasters spend their summer to cool off. What a place. Ocean City is on a very narrow strip of land with the Atlantic Ocean on one side and Isle of Wight Bay on the other. You drive on the main road and you can see beaches on both sides of the road. There are also thousands of high rise hotels, resorts and motels and beach houses. There are also tons of souvenir shops, beach shops that sell colorful boogie boards and T-Shirts. We also saw several miniature golf places. All these places were closed up with empty parking lots. The town was pretty dead.....but wait until summer. I can only imagine the crowds that descend on this place. I bet every room is filled and the cars and people take over the town. We were glad to see it before it got crowded.
Ocean City is also the end of the line for Hwy 50. You people in California, did you know that Highway 50 runs from Sacramento, California all the way across the country and ends at Ocean City, Maryland. Well, you know now. There is even a sign that tells you the mileage to Sacramento. There is also supposed to be a sign in Sacramento at the start of Highway 50 that tells you the milage to Ocean City, MD.
SMITH ISLAND CAKE
We found this great little café, Sea Shell Café, on our first day in the area. We were looking for a place to have lunch after we settled into our campsite. This place also happened to have free WiFi so we came back to this café several times. The RV park had free WiFi, but the connection was awful and we could not get online. So we were happy to find this place as the people were very friendly and the food was fantastic. This is where we discovered the Smith Island cake. This is a wonderful dessert that is famous in this area. I’ve never heard of it in California or elsewhere for that matter. It’s a cake with 5 to 10 very thin layers of cake and icing. It comes in all kinds of flavors and it’s “to die for delicious”!! If you are ever in this area, be sure to try this cake. You will think you’ve died and gone to heaven.
Our next destination is to explore more of Virginia (Williamsburg) and visit West Virginia (Harpers Ferry).
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