Distilling the Chincoteague visit into a blog post is going to be challenging. We saw and did so much! However, here goes.
After a wonderful breakfast and a quick sightseeing trip through Princeton with Jan, we left New Jersey and headed through Delaware and Maryland on our way to Virginia. As we were getting underway, I noticed I had an email from Captain Dan, the captain for our upcoming boating pony tour on Sunday. Apparently, the weather was going to turn and he was concerned the wind would be too high to take the boat out on Sunday, but that the rest of the weekend looked OK. Sandy and I talked about it and decided to change our Pony Tour to Friday to be on the safe side. After that decision, we settled into the drive to Virginia. We passed through farmland and rolling hills that made for very pleasant scenery. There continued to be, no surprise, more corn and soy beans. Once we hit Delaware, we were surrounded by the Chesapeake Bay on the west and the Delaware bay on the east. The towns became more and more rural and smaller and smaller. We decided to grab a fast Subway dinner in a small town at the far south point of Delaware, then we crossed the Virginia border and in no time at all arrived in Chincoteague, Virginia. This is a place Michelle has wanted to visit ever since she read the book Misty of Chincoteague when she was eight years old – so this is on her bucket list. We are staying at a short-term rental we found online called “Peace, Love and Ponies. The instructions from our host told us in no uncertain terms NOT to follow Google directions because we would surely get lost. The last bit of the directions read something like this:
“Turn left on Zxxxx Lane. It is a private, sand packed lane. Bear right at the fork, which is Jxxxx Lane. Drive past the marsh grasses (they were about six feet tall on either side of the very narrow one lane road). Make the first left when you see boats on the right, trailers, and two red sheds. Drive down the road past the trailers. Even if it looks like the road is ending (it did look like it was ending) keep going, go past the thick grove of trees, go past the home on the left with cars galore and the trailer with the pond (a trailer with a pond?!? Yep, that is exactly what it is). When the road winds around and meets the marsh, you will be at Peace, Love and Ponies. (This is the best part.) You can’t miss us.”
The directions were somewhat concerning but we found it without trouble, and it really is a lovely place. It overlooks the marsh and we saw white tail deer right outside our wrap around windows on Friday evening and ponies grazing in the distance on Saturday and Sunday. We also saw dozens of not hundreds of waterfowl migrating south over the marshes outside our windows; some of them even stopped to feed right in front of us.
I saw all of the animals except for those horsies. They looked a lot like ants to me. I like this place, but Mommies tricked me. There is a HUGE fenced yard for me to play ball, but there are really horrible stickers that hurt. I think they knew.
The next day (Friday) we were scheduled to be at the boat dock for a 10 AM, two-hour tour. We found Captain Dan’s boat and Captain Dan. There were 14 people on the tour and six of them were from Ventura so against all odds, the Californians outnumbered the other passengers. The tour was everything we could have asked for – we saw a bald eagle, a pod of at least 30 dolphins that played in the water around our boat for 15 minutes or so and LOTS of Chincoteague ponies! We also saw a Flamingo that was blown off course during the recent tropical storm and is now pretty much lost. There is another Flamingo in the south end of the marshes that is most likely a mate to the one we saw. It was pretty cool to see a Flamingo in the wild, but sad to think that they are lost and separated.
Now, a little about the ponies. The most common origin story is that the ponies are on the island because of a shipwreck of a Spanish Galleon. That’s a very romantic tale but the most likely explanation is that local farmers turned their horses/ponies out on the island to graze and over the years enough escaped to create the herd. The local volunteer fire department keeps the herd at 150 head by selling some of the foals every July. They round them up and swim them from Assteague Island to Chincoteague and hold an auction. We came this time of the year because we weren’t interested in the auction, we just wanted to see the ponies in their natural habitat. And see them we did. Captain Dan brought us to within 10 or 15 feet of ponies. We saw at least 5 different herds and probably 30 – 40 ponies of the 150 on the island. Captain Dan identified the ponies by name for us and told great stories about the ponies and the island. He loves them like they are his own. This trip he was searching for one particular pony who was very pregnant. Most of the ponies foal in the spring but there will always be a few late foals. We found her and she was still pregnant, so no foal yet. After a wonderful two hours, we returned to shore and had a nice lunch at A.J’s on the creek. Not sure why it’s named that as it sits on a bay not a creek but, you do you, Chincoteague. We also picked up our trays at the Chamber of Commerce for the oyster festival we are attending the next day. We read online that it’s much easier to collect the goodies at the festival if you have a tray. We then wandered back home and rested for the next day’s events.
It sounds like you had lots and lots of fun. I was in prison in a crate in a closet. I thought you two were all about being out of the closet. Well, you be you, Mommies. Don’t worry about me.
Saturday morning saw us up bright and early so we could get to the festival and in line. It’s a good thing we are always early, because the line was already pretty long, and we were there almost an hour before the gates opened. We struck up a conversation with the people in front of us and passed the hour with conversation. Once we got in, we realized that everyone gets there early with the hope of staking out territory and setting up chairs, tents and other creature comforts. It’s quite a thing as some people decorate their area, some hang flags and we saw one area completely decorated in Alice in Wonderland decor.
However, we could see why it is so popular. The music was provided by a local band called “The Island Boys” and was really good. Their set list included Journey, the Eagles, Chicago and even a little Dave Mason. All the band members were great singers and at one point when an Eagles song was on, Michelle walked over to see them because the vocals were spot on. The food was great, oysters on the half shell, shrimp cocktail, clams steamed, fried and frittered. The lines are VERY long to get the more popular dishes, but everybody talks to everyone else in line so it’s actually fun to stand in line. We had two companions at our table, Desmond (Des) and Dawn who were there from Pennsylvania and spent the few days before the festival crabbing in the area. They were bringing home 10 pounds of crabs and that’s just what they caught and didn’t eat.
By 2 PM, we were stuffed and ready to head home. We rested and decided we wanted to eat out somewhere, but every restaurant was booked so we found a great wine and cheese shop and bought a fabulous bottle of Sancerre, good cheese other nibbles and had “noshes” back at “Love, peace and ponies”. Hard to imagine a restaurant could have beaten that. Another wonderful day on the island.
Glad you had such a wonderful time. I know songs. I can sing. “O lord, stuck in Lodi again…..”
Eddie, want some cheese and crackers?
All is forgiven. I love vacation.
Sunday was our last day on the island, and we decided to visit Assteague Island National Seashore and Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge. But first breakfast. There are surprisingly few breakfast restaurants on the Island and Sandy had a unfortunate meal at the one we tried on Friday. So with some trepidation, we decided to try the Beach Road Round-up, which is purported to be “the home of the Saltwater Cowboys”. The Saltwater Cowboys are, for those who don’t know, the riders who wrangle the ponies for the swim and auction. It was good inexpensive food and decent portions. Then we headed to the National Parks. We’re so glad we did! Both parks are beautiful, and we were lucky enough to see more ponies and lots of waterfowl. We also saw a woman doing plein air painting by the side of the road. As we went by, we could see she was finishing a beautiful picture of the bay marshes.
We walked out to the beach and Michelle touched Atlantic Ocean water for the first time. We went to the visitor center and met a very nice woman named Susan who works the retail shop at the center. We chatted and she shared how much she loves living here. We’ve had many, many people tell us the same thing, that they love living here and are still knocked out by its beauty. We can understand why although we’re not sure how they put up with the mosquitos. This is supposed to be a good time of the year for mosquitos, so we shudder to think about the worse time of the year. It’s a big part of the reason we didn’t come for the pony swim and auction, it’s at the height of the “buggy” season.
We went to dinner at a local eatery called “Bill’s Prime”. In spite of the name, the server pointed us towards the seafood and it was pretty good. Tomorrow we take off for Williamsburg VA to explore some historical sights.
I liked this place. I could see lots of fun stuff outside through the windows. There were giant dogs, but Mommies said they were deer. Oh deer. Deer me.
Another bucket list item checked off!
You Girl just have to muck fun…