In April, 2002, we decided to visit Assateague Island, MD. We wanted to attend the kite festival held in Ocean City and didn’t want to stay in a beach hotel. Camping sounded better. We had made numerous trips to the Virginia section in the South. The northern end of Assateague has both a state park and a US Assateague Island Seashore. Its part of the same park in the south.
There isn’t much on the island other than camping and paddling. There is a grocery store just off the island but for more than that, you head towards Ocean City, MD. We tried to take everything with us.
Some
of the campsites are on the beach. At least, they are close. Actually they are
just across the dune. They seemed to me to get more crowded. Since it was
April, it was hard to tell.
There are several sites on the bay as well. Many have nice views and some open to the water. We had kayaks so we were grateful for the easy access. Some of the sites are really big as well.
We got our tent all set up
and staked down really well. We put the tarp over the picnic table and staked
it
down really well. Actually we did this a few more times before the trip was over.
That evening, the ponies came calling. Two of them grazed their way through the site. We stayed out of their way. It was very cool to have them pay us a visit.
The
first night we were there, the storm rolled in. I finally had to give up and
take the dining tarp down and tie it to the table. Couldn’t possibly eat there
anyway. The wind was howling and I could only hope we didn’t get blown into the
bay. It was a pretty noisy night but we stayed dry. When we got up, it was
pretty chilly. We checked out the showers but it was cold water. That just
wouldn’t work.
We did get up to the kite
festival. Weather was beautiful and kites everywhere. If you’ve never seen one
of
these you should. We were glad things changed for the better.
Oops. Think again. That evening, it was even worse. The walls on our tent are nearly vertical and not built for the wind. The lantern was hanging in the center and swinging in a wide circle. We got very little sleep. We also decided we needed a different tent when camping questionable conditions. By the way, Assateague is always questionable in the Spring.
We got a little kayaking in during the trip. It was kind of windy and chilly but we had fun. Always looking for ponies to photograph. We were very happy to leave, though.