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.