Bridge and Birthday Dinner

Chesapeake Bay Bridge

 Friday, Oct. 2, 2020

We left Assateague Friday morning on a bright sunny day, sad to know that we would be missing the Anatares launch on Friday night, but heading for an even more special evening. Oct. 2 is our friend Howie’s birthday, and this year was a “big” one! In fact, we actually planned our trip around this weekend, because we wanted to help him celebrate.

We really enjoyed the drive through rural Maryland (we skirted the bottom corner of Delaware) and up along the eastern side of the Chesapeake Bay to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge which crosses over to Annapolis. The traffic, which was pretty sparse in the early drive, picked up as we got closer to the bridge. I was a little bit afraid of it, because it is a VERY high bridge and was voted one of America’s “Ten Scariest Bridges” by Travel & Leisure Magazine. It is almost 200 feet in the air, and four miles long. There’s a company which charges $25 to drive people across when they are too afraid to drive their own cars!

However, we crossed with no problems, and I was able to enjoy the spectacular views while Joey did the driving.  (It’s funny to think that 2020 is the year we drove across both Chesapeake Bay bridges--this one, and the Bridge-Tunnel in Virginia, which goes from south of where we were camping down to Virginia Beach.) The traffic around Annapolis was a bit heavy, but all we needed to do was stay on our road for a while until we got to the Washington Beltway. Of course, THAT traffic was horrific. We went north around D.C. and back down the western side, which is usually a lot worse in my opinion than the east side, but we were heading to Reston, VA, just west of the beltway. The entire drive around D.C. was horrible, as always, and made worse by towing the Jeep, and by the fact that there was construction which narrowed the lanes.

When we got off the Beltway, we were still in a lot of construction, and not at all certain where we were going--we just had to follow our GPS and hope the directions were reasonable. One of the roads we were on was a narrow 2-lane road, going up and down like a roller coaster, and I wasn’t even sure it was the right road! But it was, and it brought us almost to the entrance of Lake Fairfax County Park, our destination for the weekend. We were very happy to find this park, because there is almost no place within Washington, DC to camp, and we were meeting up with Howie and his family at his daughter Laura’s home in Fairfax. This park was “only” about 25 minutes drive from there.

It turned out that the park is quite large, and has not only a campground with about 50 sites, but a huge water park, trails around the lake, boat rentals (closed for the season), sports fields, and even a skate park for skateboards.  We thought it was a real “find.” We stopped at the office to check in, and they were observing strict Covid protocols-- in one door, out the next, one person at a time. We checked in, and then went into the parking lot behind the office to unhook the Jeep before driving through the park. The directions and park map that the office guy gave me were a bit confusing, and with Joey following me in the Jeep, I was not sure where to go. I ended up pulling over and he scouted up ahead with the Jeep to make sure we were on the right road in the park. Then he came back and I followed him up to the campground.

We backed into our site with no trouble-- it was almost entirely flat (some were not--the campground was actually on the top of the hill) and got hooked up, and checked in with our friends. Dinner was planned for 6:00 pm, so we had a short time to recover from the traffic and check-in related stresses, and change our clothes, before we had to head towards Fairfax.  I wanted to stop at the garden store which was about a 1/4 mile from the park entrance (I wanted to take a house-gift to Laura) and THAT was a mistake-- to get to the store, we had to make a left turn onto yet another road with construction, and find a place to make a U-turn to get back, and then there was a Fall Festival happening at the garden store, with buses of kids and a jump-house and petting zoo... It delayed us about 45 minutes, I think! And then when we left, we immediately were back in traffic, on the roller-coaster road again, trying to get through rush-hour outside Washington, D.C. Our route included a small part of the Beltway yet again, and man, it was HORRIBLE. We also lost all our GPS on our phones duirng the trip (our phone batteries died), and we were quite relieved to get to Laura’s house in one piece.

We were greeted by Zeke, their yellow Lab, big hugs from Howie, and then more hugs once we got into the house. While dinner was being finished, I was given a full tour of their new house by Abigail, age 8.5 and a very informed tour-guide. Then we settled in for a wonderful steak dinner in the Sukkah (it was the first night of Sukkot, too) as we celebrated the holiday and Howie’s birthday. The entire evening was lovely, except the driving back to the RV part. We tried to take a different route this time, to avoid the Beltway, but we still ended up with traffic and construction. But we did end up safely back at the RV eventually, noticing that the sky was clear and that the rocket launch would have gone up into a beautiful warm sky. Joey and I, on the other hand, crashed into bed, exhausted from all the driving, and full of a wonderful dinner.

A Little of Everything

 Thursday, Oct. 1, 2020

Today turned out to be a lovely day, although with an unexpected beginning and ending. In the end, we did a little bit of everything-- town, beach, parks, and repairs.

We woke up before dawn, when one of our “detectors” went off-- I think propane. It was not because of a propane problem per se, it was because the “house” battery which operates the detector died completely, setting off the alarm. Joey was quite perturbed, and insisted on running the engine of the RV for about 10-15 minutes (at 4 a.m.) in order to give the batteries SOME charge. But both of us were disturbed, and I could not go back to sleep for quite a while. Joe, meanwhile, got up at his usual 5or 6 a.m., and as soon as the 7 a.m. “quiet time” ended, he turned on the engine again. I just felt so sorry for the folks in the tent right next to us!

As a result, we were both tired in the morning, and he even took a nap. So other than walking Cassie on the beach, and noting that it was again a beautiful day, we did not do much. After lunch, however, we headed into Berlin, the town nearest the campground. I wanted to just look around (it was supposed to be “the coolest small town in Maryland” according to some kind of survey), and also we planned a stop at an auto parts store to get a battery replacement. It was clear that the battery we had was just not functioning anymore.

We stopped first at the same National Park Visitor’s Center that we stopped at yesterday-- today it was open, and I was able to buy a book for Juniper (“Ponies”), and a national park pin for my collection. Then we went to downtown Berlin. It was, indeed, very charming, with lots of red brick buildings. There were a number of gift stores, eating places, a historic hotel, and a large antique store. But all in all, although we browsed a little, we left empty handed. Then we stopped at the NAPA store and got the exact battery Joe wanted, before heading back to the island.

We turned down the road to the national park, and stopped at the first nature trail we came to, after passing several horses by the side of the road (they totally ignored us.)  The walk was simple, and really pretty--the “Marsh Life” loop (there are also the “Woods Life” and “Dunes Life” loops, which we did not go to.)  I love the green grasses and blue waters on the marsh side of the barrier islands, which are so beautiful. And again, we were lucky enough to see a few horses making their way through the grassland (they know where the solid ground is). It was all very mellow, and I wish we’d spent more time in the park than in Berlin. After that short hike, Joe was ready to go back to the RV, so we headed home.

Joe replaced the battery, while I read a book (not sure I will ever finish it, it is not very good!) and then we had some dinner. And then, we simply hung out while waiting for time to go onto the beach for the rocket launch at 9:38. Joey even just lay down and went to sleep for a while. At around 9pm, we put on some warm clothes and sweatshirts, picked up a blanket, and walked up and over the dunes to wait on the beach. I’d kind of thought it would be quiet and pretty, but we were closely followed by a crowd of 4-5 younger people who conversed VERY LOUDLY only about 20 feet away from us, sort of ruining the “quiet” aspect. Of course, very soon there were other folks coming onto the beach as well, until there were 30 or so of us (all plenty socially distanced.)  

The moon was 98.8% full, according to Joe’s app, and Mars was right beside it. We could also see Jupiter and Saturn, which were in conjunction directly to the south. But the moon was SO bright that we actually saw very few stars. It was comfortable and not too cool, though--a beautiful night. Unfortunately, beauty is not everything. 9:38 came and went, with no pyrotechniques toward the southern sky. Soon enough someone managed to find a radio connection to Wallops Island, and heard the disappointing news that once again, the flight was scrubbed. Slowly, we all trudged back over to the campsites, and disappeared into our campers for the night.

Joey went right to bed, but I was feeling sticky, so I decided to make use of the bath house before bed. It was as well maintained as Joe had said-- tiled, and the water pressure was hot and hard. Really excellent. So that turned out to be a good way to end the night.

It Feels Like Vacation!

 Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2020

 Both Joey and I slept pretty well last night, despite the fact that the most incredible line of rainstorms were moving through the entire eastern seaboard. All night we were buffetted and the rain pounded down on our roof just a few feet above us. It was loud! The good news, though, is that we couldn’t find any moisture in the ceiling this morning, so all the re-sealing that Joey did on the roof last week seems to have worked.

We awoke to a glorious blue sky, breezy air, and the sound of the surf crashing just over the dunes. Joey took Cassie for her first walk, which happened before I even got out of bed. I took her for her second walk, and caught up on the “reviews” of last night’s presidential debate. It sounded like, as one friend put it, “spiritually toxic,” and I was truly glad to have missed it. While I was reading, Joey went to investigate the bath houses, and discovered that they were all tiled, very clean, and had hot showers, which I had not realized. So he took a shower while I just hung out. Before we knew it, it was noon!

We decided after lunch to go up to Ocean City, about 20 or so minutes north, to walk on the boardwalk. (Our first choice, the Visitor Center at Wallops Island, is closed due to Covid.)  We took Cassie with us. We strolled up and down the boardwalk, people watching (most wearing masks, as required by rules stated at each entry point) and just enjoying being outside. I indulged in some ice cream, but otherwise we didn’t spend any money or do anything more thrilling than walk down to the jettys at the end of the boardwalk.

When we came home, though, we did have some excitement. There were a few wild horses grazing on the other side of our campground loop, and we stopped and took their pictures. Maybe an hour later, just as Joey and Cassie were heading for a walk, suddenly we saw a line of ponies walking casually down the road in our direction. I grabbed my camera, while Joey and Cassie stood watching, and Cassie barked a few times to let them know she was on guard. They passed our campsite, but tried their luck for goodies right across the road from us. I got some photos of them looking for treats in the pickup truck while the family who owned it retreated (with a very small black puppy) across to our side of the road. From there, they went up the walkway over the dunes, and we watched them up on the ridge of the dunes for a while. At one point, we saw one of them gallop along the peak of the dunes toward his friends-- it was so beautiful! I sorely miss my camera’s zoom lens, which I left at home yesterday. Waaaahhh!

Although we had internet connection via our phones most of the day, it seems that in the evenings, everything stops working. So I am writing this off-line, and will probably upload it (with photos, I hope) tomorrow. Our plan for tomorrow is to go into the National Seashore (which is just south of where we are), and back across the sound to the visitor center--it was closed today but will be open tomorrow. So we will stick pretty close to home, but hopefully see more horses. They are the most fun part of camping here, but the beauty of the location is really perfect. We definitely will have to come back here for a longer time in the future.

Nuts to the Pandemic!

 Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2020

As everyone knows, it’s been a crappy year. Since March, no one has really gone very far from home, and we felt that it was probably not a great year for a long-distance, long period of time vacation. We did take the RV for a long weekend down to Lum’s Pond State Park in Delaware, so we could celebrate Juniper’s first birthday in June. We stayed at the exact same site we had in 2019, with a lot of grass all around us. We brought down pop-up tens for some shade, and Beth invited only close relatives and the friends who were part of their “pod.” We all stayed socially distance outside, with masks handy, and had a lovely time together. But that was the RV’s only outing since our wonderful trip last fall.

This year, after “things” started loosening up just a LITTLE bit, I thought it would be good to just maybe take a short trip, 10 days or so. So we left home this morning and came down to Assateague State Park in Maryland to start things off. The immediate draw here was that tonight at 10:27pm, there was scheduled to be a rocket launch from NASA’s Wallops Island base. Wallops Island is only 30 miles due south as the crow flies from Assateague, and supposedly we would have a pretty good view of the launch and the rocket going up from here on the beach. So I made reservations and we hustled, trying to get out of the house the morning after Yom Kippur.

The holiday being the day before made it very difficult to really feel under control with our departure. I tried to have everything smooth, but in the end, i hadn’t even collected all our clothes together by the night before. As a result, this morning was a madhouse, including me oversleeping after staying up until midnight. I was running around like a nutcase, and in the end, i forgot a few things, like the Travel Journal I’ve taken on all of our previous trips for the past 15 years. I also forgot the set of new camera lenses Joey gave me for my cell phone. This is especially annoying because Assateague has wild horses, and having a zoom lens on my camera would be extremely helpful. 

Then the weather got ugly. I knew by last night that the launch had been delayed, due to the forecast of thunderstorms for the next two days. We got out of HP before the rain hit there, but we drove through some incredible rainstorms coming down here. The visibility was non-existent. Fortunately, we didn’t have much traffic and we arrived with no problems, and the rain stopped during the few hours when we arrived at the campground. It picked up again around 7:30pm or so, and indeed, it is raining quite hard and is miserable outside. There’s a strong breeze (or wind) blowing, but I can’t keep the windows open because the rain blew into the RV when i tried that. It’s supposed to rain all tomorrow as well..... i don’t know if we’ll just catch up on our sleep and our reading, or take the Jeep (which we have with us) and see if we can find someplace indoors to visit.

I guess the bottom line is, at least we aren’t still stuck at home. The rules here in the park are pretty strict regarding Covid 19 precautions, such as masks must be worn in the bathhouses. But we probably won’t be near many people here, the beach is huge, and I’m sure we’ll be safe. We are staying until Friday morning. The launch is currently rescheduled for “no sooner than THursday, 9:27pm”..... and Thursday night would be just fine with us. We are keeping our fingers crossed, and even without my zoom lenses (Waaaahhhh!!!) i should get some photos, at least i hope so.

No photos today of anything—although we did see some of the wild horses grazing in the marshes when we drove over to the island. So they ARE here, and we’ll see if we can get shots of them when the rain lets up.

Place Holder for Flight 93 Memorial

 I never wrote this blog, but I do want to fill it in at some point. So i am holding this space so it will be sequenced correctly.