A Week at the Beach

We arrived in Ocean City, MD about 9 hours after leaving home. Amazingly I drove about half the time, I love my car! We checked into the hotel and then hit the boardwalk. This was our first time in OCMD and were pleasantly surprised to find the boardwalk very similar to NJ in that it is made of boards and has shops the whole length of it. We were even happier to find that the restaurants tended more toward food and less to fries and ice cream. This is very important when living in a hotel room that has a fridge the size of a shoebox!

Ah, sand!!!

After walking the boards north, we opted for a ride in the tram car south towards the ferriswheel. After a delicious dinner at a wood fired pizza restaurant we headed for the kite store.

Way back in the '90's when we vacationed in OBX we always made several trips to Kitty Hawk Kites. The Kite Loft wasn't quite as big but it was just as impressive. We bought a new kite and despite the setting sun headed to the beach for some flying time. Steve gave CJ a refresher lesson. CJ hadn't flown a kite since our trip to OCNJ during hurricane Isabel. Flying a stunt kite is just like riding a bike, a few close calls and then all is good.

Day 2

After a big breakfast we headed down to the beach. It was a gloriously hot day and the ocean was a perfect temperature to cool us down after some hard work digging holes, Steve & CJ, or reading a book, me.

The waves were breaking too close to shore for bodysurfing so we spent the day jumping and diving into them. It was a perfect day! 

We eventually headed back to the room for showers and found that the hotel across the street had live music which was a great way to unwind and relax before a night on the boardwalk.

Day 3

After getting a little too much sun the day before (yes, mother I had sunscreen on) we decided to check out Assateague Island. Thank goodness for sunburn or we would have missed this amazing place. It's a barrier island that is home to 100+- horses on the northern MD side and 150+- horses on the VA side. They are wild horses that have adapted to living at the shore. The MD horses are in a National Park and protected by the government. The VA horses are owned by the volunteer fire department and the foals are sold off each year to raise money for the department.

While they are used to being around people they are still wild and let us know that they run the place. We stopped the car to take a picture of one of the  horses and he looked at us then walked in front of the car and just stood there looking at us until the Pony Patrol shooed him away. It was quite funny. The Pony Patrol is a guy on a bike with a fan of branches that he shakes to move the horses along.

The island has many activities available including, camping, windsurfing, crabbing, swimming, and hiking. We opted for hiking the half mile trails and learning about the ecosystems on the island.

Mussels

As we walked along the boardwalk in the marshes we found crabs everywhere. In the photo below there must have been 2 dozen that we counted in just a couple of minutes we stopped.

We also visited the forest which is where the horses gather when a hurricane approaches. The forest was quite a bit cooler and very quiet. It was a great place to visit and we recommend it to anyone visiting the area.

When we got back to the hotel we quickly changed and headed down to the beach. The water was colder and the waves were stronger than the day before. Steve and CJ saw many broken boogie boards in the trash cans. Yikes.

Still, digging in the sand and playing with army guys beats a day at school, even if the water is cool and the waves wild!

And there is always kite flying. The wind was quite a bit stronger and occasionally Steve needed to make sure CJ didn't get drug down the beach!!

Day 4

Thursday brought another beautiful day. We headed out to the beach early and stayed as long as we could.

The waves were once again stronger than the day before and the water was so cold that it took your breath away. Hard to believe when it was perfect just 2 days earlier. It was really hot on the beach so we did go in but not for long. It was funny, on such a hot day, to see everyone standing just at the water's edge. There were a few brave souls all the way in, they must have been from Canada.

So instead of playing in the waves the boys dug a hole!

Which got really deep.

They got reprimanded by the Beach Patrol for digging a hole deeper than their knee and had to fill it in!

After showers we headed out to dinner.

Steve and Cheryl made the drive down from Philly to spend a couple of days on the beach and meet us for dinner. It was just like old times in OBX and  brought back some great memories from the many vacations in OBX. We had dinner at a great place on the bay. Even though we could see the rain out over the bay we took a chance ate at a table outside.

Steve, Steve

Steve & Cheryl

Just as we finished dinner the rain started. We watched the storm over the ocean from a covered porch.

CJ tried really hard to capture the lightning. This was the best he could do with my little camera.

After the rain stopped we all headed out for ice cream,

It was a perfect end to a perfect day.

And, after packing the car on Friday we headed back to the boardwalk to get a hermit crab to finalize a great, great vacation.