Assateague Island National Seashore

As a child I read Misty of Chincoteague and many other of Marguerite Henry's books and dreamed of going to Assateague to find my own wild horse...I mean what child doesn't dream of that?

Today that dream became half a reality...we got to go to Assateague Island National Seashore.

We saw a few horses in the distance

but headed to the Rangers station to try our luck at a campground. Nope, so we drove back out to the Assateague State Park to see if they had any camping spots and nope. So we headed back to the Assateague National Seashore.  Our America the Beautiful Pass covered the $15 entrance fee.

For those of you starting to get tired of seeing our warm water beach adventures have no fear this beach was COLD so you don't have to be jealous of the warm wonderful waters anymore! Cold or not the girls had fun and I jumped in the waves a few times myself.

 Aayla made a slide in a big hole

 And we saw many dolphins swim by. This was a group of probably 10 or more.

 Sierra got chilly so she snuggled up with daddy

Then we headed back out of the park in search of a place to get closer to the horses. You are not allowed to touch, feed, harass, chase etc the ponies but you are allowed to get within 10' of them. Within minutes we came across many!

(believe it or not I have many more pictures of this mom and foal...can you tell I was excited to see the foal???)

The horses roam the roads and cause traffic jams of those taking pictures and of those who just can't move :)

The dark Stallion in the background of the picture below walked out in the raod and stuck his head right in a cars window!!!

We saw this dead snake while walking...we assume it was trampled by the horses.

These horses above walked right by us and one came up to sniff Sierra but I was changing my scandisc card and missed it all I got was the one below of them now in the distance.

Here the horses are walking by us as we are getting ready to leave...I secretly hope one will pop their head into our window...Ian hopes they don't!

I could have stayed for a week watching the ponies and would have gladly paid the camping fees...another trip we will reserve ahead of time for sure!

Unfortunately it was time to leave :(    We drove North and stopped at a rest stop in Smyrna just off of the 13 (North of Dover) It's a nice little rest stop; very clean. We made supper, the girls played on the playground

and then I saw a tick on Aayla. I quickly picked it off and saw another one. We then headed back to the trailer to find 2 more on Aayla and one on Sierra.

These ones didn't come off so easily. Nasty little bugs!!! Aayla had a really hard time staying still and we couldn't get the tick's head out so it looks like we are rushing up to Canada to go to the doctors. We researched on line as I was prepared to go straight to the hospital here but from online research it looks like we will be OK to wait a couple days until we get back into Canada and have her checked out for Lyme disease. I am sure she is fine but better safe then sorry. We'll keep an eye out on the area until we arrive in Canada early next week. Since we will now arrive to NS before my mom even fly's there we will probably head to PEI first...who knows, plans seem to change daily with life on the road.

Boondocking REVIEW near Snowhill/Girdletree Maryland

This spot at a National Wildlife Area tonight was a wonderful spot. The closest house was about a mile away and all we could hear was the crickets chirping and signing their song as the fireflies glowed.

To get here head South on the 13 from Snowhill (Maryland) to Girdletree. Continue South for about 3/4 of a mile until you see the below sign for the E A Vaughn National Wildlife Area on your left. (If you hit the town of Stockton turn around and go back. It will be shortly up the road on your right now.)

 

Value 5/5
FREE

Site Quality 3/5
This parking area near the National Wildlife Area (NWA) was beside an open field. The ground was packed dirt and was fairly level. We did use one leveling block to even it off. No other services here.

Facility Fun 3/5
We arrived at about 6:30 so just late enough not to worry about hunters as the signs posted said Dove hunting from noon to 5:00pm daily. There was a road in behind the gate but we didn't walk down it. The girls were quite happy to fly their fairy dolls around all the wildflowers in the field.

Natural Surroundings 4/5
In the middlw if a NWA so we were surrounded by forest and parked beside a wide open field. Lots of flowers, crickets and many, many fire flies in the evening.

Bathrooms N/A

Staff N/A

Location 3/5
This spot wasn't far from Pocomoke which is a fairly big little town and was about 40 minutes from Assateague Island. It was fine for a stop over. Not sure how much it is used for hunting but I wouldn't want to stay hear as a getaway if there is alot of hunting as the gunshots would certainly disturb the peacefulness of this spot!

Overal 3/5
If needed we would stay here again. It was a nice little FREE quiet spot for a stop over.