Travel Tales: Ocean City, MD

In celebration of our ten year wedding anniversary and sixteen years together anniversary, we took a road trip to Ocean City, MD. About 10 miles south is Assateague Island, the place that we first vacationed to together. We’ve been there several times over the years but haven’t been back recently. Assateague Island is a campground that is known for having wild horses that roam the island. It’s fun to see them just walking along the beach or eating grass in the campground. However, it’s not fun to come back from swimming and your tent be knocked down from horses snacking on your site’s grass 🤬. We had that happen the last time we were there, a trip that we brought my mom along on and was her only time ever seeing the ocean. 

The drive took about 8 hours and had a miserable start for me because we left going out WV Rt. 7 and I get car sick. I realized quickly that I forgot my Dramamine so we stopped to get some outside of Morgantown, in Bruceton Mills, another place from our history. That’s where Philip lived when we first met, and the gas station we stopped at was the first place I ever drove to in a standard, Philip’s old car. 

Dramamine isn’t the only thing I forgot to bring. We planned to bring our body boards to play with in the waves. We bought them probably 14 years ago while on vacation in Virginia Beach. Mine has a sun on it and Phil’s has a shark. I’m sure those aren’t at all juvenile for thirty-somethings to have, right? I also forgot my water shoes, a necessity for me going into the water. I’ve told you all I don’t like things touching my feet. Those are easy to buy, it’s just annoying because I already have a pair and who needs two? During our drive I was nodding off, trying to nap away my stomach upset, when I suddenly remembered that I forgot to pack underwear 😳🙄. Things I did remember to bring? Our Chemex pour over coffee system, filters, the last of our ground coffee and a bag of coffee beans, a grinder for the beans, creamer, cinnamon, and sweetener. Priorities. 

Our first full day was spent exploring the boardwalk and hanging out at the beach. The hotel we’re staying at is a great location for us, just at the end of the boardwalk so it’s quiet and we had the full length of the boardwalk to mosey along. It’s four and a half miles roundtrip so there are plenty of shops to stop and see. The food is typical fair food and there’s an obsession with fried Oreos, I think. I’ve had them, they’re delicious, but I found it curious that they’re offered at almost every stand. The boardwalk is a sugar lover’s dream. I bought caramel popcorn from Fisher’s Popcorn, a half pound of fudge (birthday cake flavor and dark chocolate caramel sea salt), and a caramel bliss donut from the Fractured Prune—easily the oddest named food establishment I’ve ever heard. The caramel popcorn was great but Philip makes a pretty mean recipe and I actually think he has them beat. It was still good, nonetheless. The donut came out freshly baked, it was hot and and the chocolate chips on top were melty. We ate dinner at the Bonfire seafood buffet. The food was all amazing but it was super expensive 😳.  

I think this one is for kids 😂. 

Day two was spent mostly at Assateague Island. We stopped at the Assateague Market and bought string and raw chicken necks to use for crabbing. The string has a metal prong to use for sticking the meat on and you just toss it in the water and pull it in slowly. If there’s a crab eating it (and there almost always is) you use a net to scoop it up. I caught five and Philip caught two. We don’t eat them so we just put them back in the water. I also caught minnows by accident when the crab let go before I got it scooped up. Those little annoyances will eat your chicken neck in a hurry. 

We wanted to find the horses so we walked along a trail hoping to see them, and also to take pics in yoga poses. Marsha set the standard for yoga photoshoots so Philip had to fill in for her. Anyway, I think there must be less horses around than there was the last time we were there thirteen years ago. Before I remember it being easy to spot them and we never had to hunt for them. We didn’t see any in the marsh but when we were leaving we knew their location because there were several cars parked along the road. A large group of tourists is a pretty good indicator of an attraction. I wish I had brought my nice camera (that I still don’t know how to use completely, outside of just point and shoot) so that I could have gotten a better shot of them. We walked along the bridge that leads to Assateague Island and we had to do some yoga poses there as well. The wind was strong so it was a bit intimidating standing up there. 

Warrior 3

Corpse 

Tree

Corpse 

We walked the boardwalk again in the evening because I was set on getting ice cream from Drumser’s Dairyland. I had mint chocolate chip and it was everything I hoped it would be. The boardwalk is not a good place to hang out in the evening if you don’t like being in large crowds of people 🙋🏻‍♀️. When we were there the first day it was hot and most people were at the beach, making it a pleasant place to walk without frustration about people cutting you off, changing directions without looking around first, or walking on the wrong side going the wrong direction. PSA: look behind you before you 1. Stop in the middle of a crowd, or 2. Abruptly change direction. Thanks. 

That night we finished the first season of a show that’s on Netflix called The Sinner (Kim, we can talk about this now lol). We had already started it and had 3 more episodes to watch. It’s really good; watch it if you’re looking for something new to get hooked on. I believe the second season starts soon. 

We had a great view for the blood moon on our balcony…if only I had that camera with me that I keep talking about 🙄. 

Our last day was spent primarily at the beach. We tried to do a morning bike ride on the boardwalk. You’re only allowed to ride on the boardwalk until 11am and we didn’t get down to the rental place until 10 but that ended up being a bad time to do it because the boardwalk is busy then with other riders but more annoyingly, lots of people walking. People who do all those same things listed above, which are even more annoying and hazardous when you’re on a bike. So we cut our ride short and went to the beach. I loved playing in the waves (I bought new water shoes, of course)! The riptides got a little rough though and the lifeguard called everyone out of the water to talk about how to stay safe in them and what to do if the impending storm made it’s arrival. It never really did though. We had some rain but we never had to leave the beach, which is protocol if there’s lightning. The storm cleared up and we took a nap and then wanted to go mini golfing.  The rain made it’s reappearance as soon as we got started but we just golfed anyway. When you’re at the beach being wet isn’t that big of a deal. 

Dinner was a disaster. I would advise anyone going to OC to arrive on Sunday and leave on Friday before the weekend crowd sets in. Every place we went was packed. The other two nights were busy but not like it was on Saturday. We really wanted to eat at Mother’s Cantina, a Mexican restaurant, and the wait time was half an hour (not bad) to an hour and a half (no thanks). So we left there to try a steakhouse called Ky West, but the parking was limited and very weird and we couldn’t find a spot. We decided to drive back and just go to a place we saw that was close to our hotel, called Guido’s Burritos. Warning: don’t eat here. The wait for a table wasn’t bad but we waited an hour for our food and the $23 chicken fajitas, honest to goodness, had less than ten strips of chicken in it. It was a huge plate full of peppers and onions, food that Philip does not eat. So someone *ahem* was a little hangry during this whole experience. For the record, my food was good but not nearly worth the wait or the price. I’ll be leaving them a Yelp review to hopefully save the next poor hungry soul the hassle and the money. 

We drove home today and I’m very grateful for the new Apple maps that have lane guidance, which makes navigating a breeze. The first time we visited Assateague Island and Ocean City, we printed out Mapquest directions and followed them. I remember one time we went and got rerouted and lost. Luckily we had an atlas in the car and I navigated us home while Philip drove. I don’t remember now which city it was but when we were leaving there was a billboard that said, “Feel safe? You just left a high crime area.” No joke. I’m glad those days are gone. 

We had a great vacation but are happy to be home with our girls. They were happy to see us and they’re sound asleep already. I picked them up from boarding and grooming and they smelled great and looked cute with their little bandanas on. We took them for a walk since they hadn’t been on one in four days and after they rested for a bit they went outside and rolled around playing in the grass 🙄🤷🏻‍♀️. I’m so glad we paid for that bath.

Oh My Garden!

This week we finally got an item checked off our wishlist for our house. We have been wanting to get a fence installed in our yard since we moved into our house and had our first set of pups. It was finished on Tuesday and we love it! More importantly, Sansa and Sophie love it, too! I had no idea what an outdoor dog Sophie is. I have a feeling she didn’t either. We had tie outs hooked to our patio before and we would tie them out when we were outside working. Sophie would always immediately run back up the steps and sit in front of the screen door, wanting to be let back in 🙄. Before we had Soph, Sansa was the same way, but since we’ve had Soph, Sansa has started enjoying her alone time outside 😂. I can’t imagine why 🤷🏻‍♀️. My friend, Kim, got me a gift this week that perfectly sums up my life: 

Now the girls run and play inside the safety of the fence and it makes my heart happy. What doesn’t make me happy is when Sophie decides to run underneath the deck and come out covered in mud. Also filed under the category of Things Sophie Does That Don’t Make Mommy Happy, is what happened this past Thursday morning. I got to sleep in for once, waking around 9 am, feeling pretty refreshed. Sophie was still sleeping, which is unusual for her. My typical wake up involves a puppy kiss, nose nibble, being sat on, or all three. I woke her up and said good morning to Sansa, who was laying on her bed beside me. This was only our second morning having the fence so I was pretty excited that I could just open the door and let them out, rather than having to take them each out on their leash. Sansa is the biggest procrastinator when it comes to finding a place to poop. She’s ridiculous and stubborn in the mornings so this makes my routine much easier and less stressful. Anyway, I opened the door for them to go out and potty and then went to the bathroom myself. After I brushed my teeth, I came out to find them both excited and standing at attention at one of the windows in the living room, in front of my big stand that holds several potted plants. It only took a second for me to realize what was going on because the curtain started moving like crazy because there was a FREAKING BIRD IN MY HOUSE!! 😱 They were both fixated on it and kept jumping up each time it fluttered inside the curtain. I was like, “OMG, how am I gonna get this stupid thing outside?!” So I went and got some gloves because I didn’t want to touch it. When I came back from the other room, they were both still standing there but I didn’t see the bird anymore. I assumed they’d kept watch on it so I decided I was going to have to move the plant shelves and as I started by picking up a heavy pot with a huge peace lily in it, they both ran to the other window. I saw then that it had relocated and I tried to put the plant down quickly, however, it wasn’t quickly enough and in a nanosecond, Soph had the bird in her mouth! I was screaming at her to “spit it out!” and “come here,” which she did…with it’s head hanging out of the side of her mouth 😫. So I grabbed her collar and dragged her outside because I didn’t want her dropping it in the living room. Once we got in the yard I told her to “drop,” and she did but as I went to pick it up, she snatched it up again 🤬. If the poor thing wasn’t dead before, she finished the job then. I told her to “drop” again and this time I was able to pick up it’s limp little body. I took it outside the fence and laid it down to make sure it was dead, and it was. Poor baby. I was so conflicted with emotion because three minutes before, I woke up feeling pretty good and now I’d discovered that my child is a cold-blooded killer. And what’s worse, with way more access to unsupervised outside time, she’s likely to do it again 😭. UGH. I just kept thinking about my grandma always talking about her superstitions and I’m pretty sure having a bird come inside your home is a bad omen, meaning someone is going to die. Good thing I’m not a superstitious person or the fact that it was the day before Friday the 13th would’ve probably really freaked me out 🤭😧. 

They have a big yard and can go anywhere they want and where does Sophie sit? Right beside Sansa, of course! 

Now that they can go out whenever they want into the backyard, Sansa gets pretty miffed when I won’t take her out to the garden. Just this morning she gave me the most sass she has ever given me and kept pointing with her nose to the door 🙄. I told her no but then took her after I made some coffee. At least she had to wait 🤷🏻‍♀️. That dog had better learn who the boss is around here and that it’s not her 👸🏻#momstheboss. Anyway, speaking of the garden, we have had about 30 cucumbers in the past week, which resulted in 20 jars of pickles, so far. The tomato plants are doing well, in their own, recommended spacing apart, spots. No tomato jungle this year! However, we do have a surprise tomato visitor growing in this year’s watermelon bed, which was home to last year’s tomato jungle disaster zone major. It is literally right beside the watermelon plants and they might even have roots entangled. Kim and I wondered if it will breed with the watermelon and she coined the term, “watermato,” as a new species of fruit if it happens. I’ve eaten all the lettuce and onions and will have to replant. My carrots looked better this year than last’s but that’s because last year’s were terrible lol. I had to google why our carrots had grown weird little legs on the sides and found out that carrots don’t like fertilizer, which was applied to the bed right before planting. It would be super helpful if I read this stuff BEFORE we planted but you know, that’s not really my style. I’m a live and learn kinda girl. Oh well. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Cucumbers 

Pickles






Tomatoes

3 watermelons 🙌🏻. 



The girls have been providing me with some really great photo ops lately so here are some of my favs from the past couple of weeks 💕:

Opposite ears flipped 

Soph sound asleep

Sunbathing

How I wake up most days. Yes, that lump is Philip that she’s crammed against 😂. 

Sansa sleeping with Sophie’s binky Kong. 

Captured by Lori at our 4th of July cookout 😂

“Mom, why are you not petting me?”

Sansa wearing my niece’s headband 

Aww how sweet! 😍

These two fill my heart with so much joy! Love them! 💕

That’s all for this week. Goodnight!

Travel Tales: Taylor Swift Reputation stadium tour Columbus, OH

I had a really great experience yesterday that I want to tell you all about! For Christmas, Philip got me tickets to see Taylor Swift (one of my favs! I may not like everything she has said or done but I love her music) in concert. My reaction was one of pure glee but also surprise as I had two tickets and asked, “You’re going to go see Taylor Swift?!” 😱🤗. He said something like, “Hopefully not. I asked Holly if she wanted to go with you and she said yes but if she doesn’t then I will.” This was totally amusing to me because Taylor Swift is probably the LAST concert Holly would ever want to go to, but I appreciate that she agreed to be a good friend and accompany me. However, to her relief, I’m sure, I let her off the hook and asked my sister-in-law and friend, Lori, to go with me (Holly was totally cool with not going lol). I wanted Lori to go because she’s a hardworking stay at home mom who doesn’t often get a chance to take a break from life and do fun, just for grown-ups, things. I’m so glad that she was able to go, we had a great time together (even if we did discover just how old we are 😂😉)! The show was at Ohio University stadium in Columbus so we had a little bit of a drive to get there. That part was fine. Waiting in traffic to get to the parking garage was a nightmare and the moral of that portion of the story is to book a hotel room more than 3 weeks in advance to ensure getting one within walking distance of the venue! It literally took us an hour to go about 2 blocks. It was bumper to bumper and we sat for a good while at a traffic light that had an arrow so that we could turn left. There was a crossing guard because of all the foot traffic and he was also a state trooper. When the guy in front of us finally made it to the front of the line, he got extra frustrated that he didn’t get to go, even with a green arrow, because the traffic hadn’t moved enough for him to turn into the street. So instead of waiting patiently for the next one, he decided to turn left on red and almost hit two pedestrians while doing so. The cop went over and they had a nice long conversation (that I unfortunately couldn’t hear😒) that resulted in the cop telling him he couldn’t turn down that street and made him go straight and get back in line with the traffic 😂😂😂. That’s probably a worse punishment than a ticket in that situation. Concert traffic is not for impatient people. I should know 🙄. 

Once we FINALLY got inside the stadium we realized we had entered on the wrong side (the even side when our seats were in the odd section), so we had to shuffle our way through thousands of people (seriously!). When we got to the other side, we then had to climb no less than six flights of stairs to get to our section, and then up to row 37, four (four!) rows from the very top. I texted Philip when we made it to our seats and said, “I love you and I appreciate your gift but these are the worst seats possible 😂. He laughed and said that’s all that was available when he bought them). That sort of thing is totally amusing to me and I was just grateful to be there! The only bad thing about sitting atop Mt. Everest is there’s no going to pee. You definitely don’t want to climb those stairs more than once.Also, no vendors are climbing their way up to you. They just want to sell drinks to the thirsty people on the bottom rows, which I kind of don’t blame them for. 

Anyway, the opening act was Charli XCX, who was…. interesting. Maybe she’ll be a better performer when she has a little more experience, I don’t know. This was her outfit.

Maybe you can’t tell, because this picture was taken from 12 lightyears away, but that pink is some sort of plastic or vinyl material. I have a hard time listening to someone sing when all I can focus on is the fancy trash bag that they’re wearing for clothes. During one song she put her arms up over her head to make a heart and I swear her sleeves looked exactly like a mesh wreath I’ve seen on Pinterest. Yeah? 

She also likes to thrust her crotch forward as a way of dancing and I thought that was frowned upon after Miley Cyrus’s performance a few years ago, but what do I know? I kind of felt bad for her because she was all alone on the stage and she kept having to remind everyone to clap for her and getting us hyped up by mentioning Taylor’s name. Poor girl. Lori and I were a little underwhelmed, obviously, and I wondered aloud to her if maybe we were too old to relate to Charli. But then Lori pointed out that she was wearing “mom” shoes with her fancy trash bag so they had that in common 🤷🏻‍♀️😂. 

The next act was Camila Cabello and she was an improvement over Charli XCX. I actually like some of her music but by 8:36 (the show started at 7:00), Lori and I were both yawning and complaining about our backs hurting from sitting on the stadium benches with no support and that our knees were stiff 😩. Everything is downhill after 25, I swear. 

Taylor finally made her appearance at 9 pm (this fact is duly noted. I haven’t been to many concerts but if at the next one the headliners are people I’m less than thrilled to see, showing up 2 hours late may be my course of action). However, the wait was totally worth it because she was amazing and it was a fantastic show. She hasn’t always been a good performer. I remember seeing her on TV when she was first getting started and she was at Jamboree in the Hills (not something I even watch so I have no idea why I saw it then) and she was terrible! I remember asking Philip who she was and he knew her name and told me she was famous. I didn’t believe him, that’s how bad she was. She must’ve taken singing lessons over the years because she’s now an amazing performer and singer. The whole atmosphere was fun. When we entered the stadium they gave everyone a white bracelet that looked like a Garmin smart watch and they lit up different colors during her show. I think that’s the modern day equivalent of a lighter, which isn’t allowed inside anymore. You couldn’t even bring a bag into the stadium. I didn’t know what counted as a bag so I wore my waist pack (aka fanny pack) to hold my money, phone, and keys. Philip makes fun of me for wearing it but I don’t care. They’re really convenient and socially acceptable again lol. Mine is a cool fanny pack anyway, you can hardly see it (and yes, I just used the words “cool” and “fanny pack” in the same sentence). I forgot to tell Lori that you couldn’t bring a bag so she had to keep her stuff in her shorts pockets, of which she only had 2 because the back ones weren’t real. Why do clothing companies do that shit?! Like who decided that girls don’t need to carry things in their pockets? We are the carriers of crap, why wouldn’t we need pockets to store it in?! I think they’re in cahoots with the purse industry (or some companies make both) and they do so to make it necessary for us to have to buy and carry a purse. There’s a fashion conspiracy going on! Be aware of wardrobe manipulation and boycott bottoms with no pockets! I’m starting a revolution! 👊🏻

Anyway, I had a really great time, singing along with thousands of other people to several of my favorite songs, creating a super cool, lasting memory. The only complaint I have with the whole experience is the freaking parking and traffic. We were trapped in a parking garage for an hour, no kidding, until people started going out the “do not enter” and freed us to go. That whole process seems to need some serious reconsideration. Leaving large groups of people to make their own decisions is never a good idea. There needs to be someone in charge to tell people what to do. They can’t be trusted to make good choices, it’s a fact. I actually don’t know if there’s any scientific evidence to support that claim but I’m claiming it anyway. It’s true, I pinky swear. 🤙🏻

The crowd lit up from the wristbands. 

I’m grateful to my husband for getting me a gift that I loved so much. My passion is to collect experiences rather than things so this was so much more valuable than material items. I’m also so happy that Lori was able to go with me and share this experience. We visit each week but it’s sometimes hard to have a conversation with children around and this gave us an opportunity to just talk about life. I love you both very much! 😘