Maryland's Awesome Eastern Shore!

We just got back from our camping trip to Maryland's Eastern shore. We bought a bunch of new camping gear last week, and we definitely put it to good use on our trip. We camped on the Maryland portion of Assateague Island. It is a barrier island just off of the Atlantic Coast. Assateuague Island is famous for the wild ponies which live and roam there. After a few campsite changes, due to overbooking and mosquito infestation- we ended up in site 57. We camped behind a sand dune and were just about 50 yards from the ocean! it was great: we could hear the ocean surf from our campsite! It was so beautiful and peaceful there.

We actually camped at Assateague Island National Seashore. Online, the description of the campsite said, chemical toilets available. I asked kraig if that meant an outhouse. He said yes- to which I replied, "so this is going to be like real camping then!?!" If you did not already know, I once went an entire weekend only going to the bathroom twice (when i was in civilization) to avoid using an outhouse.

Our first day of camping was the 19th. We had a great dinner of hot dogs. We walked around the camp a little and got to see some of the wild ponies. They just walk around in their little herds eating grass. They are really cute and their coats are pretty scruffy. We drove around the area and toured the little towns in search of buying some tin mugs for camping. Eventually, we found a trusty Wal-mart and the elusive tin mugs. Back at the campsite, we ate smores and drank some of kraig's dad's wine in our new mugs. We also talked with the guy staying at the campsite next to us. He was an artist out on a little mini vacation trying to learn how to surf fish. He was never successful with the fishing, but he was really nice.

The area where we stayed was beautiful: there were so many stars in the sky. We also went for a little night hike out on the beach. We talked to some people doing some night surf fishing. One guy had actually caught a small tiger shark earlier that day. We spent a lot of our time using our tiny flashlight to make sure we didnt get hit by the tide which was creeping up. We also found a few horshoe crabs on the beach. They were really cool. I guess we were pretty lucky to see them, because early June is when they usually start coming up to the beach to lay their eggs in the sand.

Of course, Kraig had to pick one up to see what they looked like underneath. From the top, they look like a bowl with a tail walking around. We really liked them. Despite that- kraig still wanted to eat one. He figured that you would just boil it like a lobster. I talked him out of it based on the fact that I did not think they were edible. I have never seen one on a menu. Once we got home, we looked them up on the internet and found that only their eggs are edible and that they arent really crabs. They are related to scorpions and spiders. They have also been around for 250 million years! Thank goodness he listened to me for a change.

I about froze to death before I finally fell asleep that first night. However, once I did, it was really comfortable. Somehow, Kraig got the air mattress into the tent for me- so it was nice and cozy. The next morning ended up being pretty sunny, and we started the day with a breakfast of hot dogs! There were tons of red-winged blackbirds living in the brush around our campsite. They were always squawking at us and trying to raid our food. We walked along the beach, collected black seashells, and relaxed at the campsite. I went to the visitors center where I learned about the horseshoe crabs, the ponies, and learned to identify some of the other things we found on the beach. I got to see the wild ponies many times. Legend says that the ponies arrived on the island hundreds of years ago when they were shipwrecked and had to swim to shore. However, there has been no proof of this. Some people think they were farmer's horses that were put out on the island because they would not have to be fenced in and the farmers would not have to pay taxes on them. So over time the ponies were left and they became the island's residents. Who knows- but they sure are cute!

That night, I made grilled pizza sandwiches and Kraig made some bacon for dinner. I actually ended up getting an upset stomach and making friends with the outhouse (theirs were surprisingly cleanish, but still an outhouse). After I went to sleep that night, Kraig went out crab-hunting for actual crabs that he could eat. He found lots of them on the beach, but none of them big enough to make into a snack. He said that he had fun picking them up and putting a bunch of them next to each other, making them fight. I can just picture him running aound playing with the crabs. I wish I could have seen it.

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I felt much better the next morning and had hoped to have a smore for breakfast. Unfortunately, our giant bag of marshmallows came up missing. We are pretty sure that had something to do with the campsite of stoners set up a few sites away. I was not happy!

We packed up our campsite and then drove north a little bit to visit Ocean City, MD. The highlight of this resort town is its 2 mile boardwalk which is around 100 years old! It was really cool and walking on it kind of felt like going back in time. It had a lot of charm and just felt like it was from a much simpler time. The beach in Ocean City was also really nice, and I have heard that surfing is possible there! We got back to our apartment later that day. We had a really, really great time and hope to find ourselves back their someday.