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.
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