Chincoteague, Virginia

24 hours, 800 photos later...
http://picasaweb.google.com/117405333436994601330/20100919Chincoteague#

I woke early on Saturday morning groggy, groaning, and wondering why I had suggested a trip that required a weekend pre-dawn rising. We stumbled around to get ready, sort of left on time at 8:30. The drive down was uneventful. I'm not very chatty first thing in the morning, so we listened to Car Talk - which is very educational :)

We set up the tent without any maiming; had our fourth cup of tea with lunch; dressed in mosquito/sun proof clothing, hat, and blister proof socks; were ready to tackle the wildlife refuge on foot by 2 pm. The "on foot" decision had profound effects on the rest of your weekend.

The map "said" half a mile to the entrance from our roomy campsite accommodations, 3.5 miles around the wildlife loop, and a couple of miles to walk back. We, who had hiked the full length of London's South Bank and back last winter, felt up to the challenge. Well, the map was wrong, as they so often are these days.

It was a beautiful day and we set off in good spirits, laden with snacks and water. Our first destination was the wildlife loop. It looked pretty dry and the most exciting thing we found was a dodgy looking grasshopper with buck teeth (see Darren's pics: http://picasaweb.google.com/darren.518/ChincoteagueVirginia#) and a few ducks.

Things got a little livelier once we got to the beach. Darren was a trooper. He stayed to the back of the beach, but as long as no crabs crawled up his leg he was ok keeping a sharp look out, even photographed a ghost crab :). He said he did screech like a Chinese opera singer when he saw a large dead crab shell. I missed it because I was chasing the sandpipers up and down the beach, waving my camera (sort of like one of those old cartoons of butterfly catchers chasing butterflies). The sandpipers ran after the waves, picking up food in the sand, then, as the waves came back in, they raced back up the beach. They were never still and most of the 100 photos I took were blurry. Darren never once told me how silly I must have looked racing up and down in my big hat and backpack:) (not sure he was watching as he was chasing after his own birds).

We followed the beach down until we came to the parking lot. We still had a couple of hours before sunset, so we hiked down to the wilderness trail where you could see the wild ponies the island is famous for. On the way we found out why there were no birds in the wildlife loop, they were all hanging around the bay and canal beside the road, posing for the tourists driving in.

It was a bit of a hike to the pony overlook and a total disappointment. The nearest ponies were a half a mile away. I included one pic I got with my x10 zoom. They could have put fake ponies at half the distance and no one would have noticed. (PS I'm not one to approach too close to wild animals, but half a mile?) (PS this was the only section where the mosquitoes were bad. We spritzed a fellow tourist that was getting eaten alive).

We then sped marched back to the beach for sunset (anyone who has marched with Darren knows this is some serious power walking). We made it with a few minutes to spare. 50 pics later, we were ready to head back to the tent. That's when we realized we'd left the little pen lights we'd purchased for the trip in the car. Took us nearly 1.5 hours to march out of there in the dark at a pretty good clip (car headlights provided illumination most of the way). At one point I suggested a shortcut via the unlighted footpaths, but Darren said we'd end up lost and huddled under a tree until dawn.

Feeling pleased with ourselves, but very sore, with multiple blisters(me), we limped into McDonalds for a well deserved McFlurry at 8:30.

Lessons learned - mosquitoes quite happily dine through clothing and 40 is not the new 30 if one uses the creaking noises my back made climbing out of the tent the next morning as a yardstick.

I didn't hear the phone alarm go off the next morning over my iPod's white noise sound track (no noisy campers at the bath house waking me up). Darren's patting me down looking for his phone was the first indication I had that it was morning - 5:15 am.

After much groaning (and afore mentioned creaking), I crawled out and limped to the bath house. We were still bleary and looking forward to caffeine, courtesy of the local McD's (didn't trust us to operate a stove that early - drive yes, heat water - no), when we set out a little before 6. (I was driving because Darren said people sometimes had trouble understanding his accent)

We'd decided to drive into the reserve this time because I was too stiff to walk far and my super blister-repellent-socks had failed. It was also more time efficient than walking around in the dark.

My eyes still weren't focusing properly when we pulled up to the drive-thru speaker. A pleasant voice asked what we'd like to order. I asked for a large coffee and large black tea and waited. And waited. Then waited some more. We were on a tight schedule to beat the sunrise, so I drove around to the window. And waited. Thought they opened at six. A woman waved us up to the first window and said when we arrived that the speaker was automated to ask every car what they'd like to order - whether they were opened or not - just so you know if you ever find yourself at a McD's drive thru before 6 am in the future :)

With our prized drinks, we buzzed over to the island to take our spots beside the other nutty people who were out and about at that god forsaken hour on a Sunday morning. I set my mini tripod over what looked to be a crab hole, prepared to snap away as the sun came up. I'd given my attire some thought and wore warm thermals, jacket, and wool hat. Darren was further up the beach, back from the ocean - he didn't want to step on any crabs in the dark.

It was an impressive sunrise and because I wasn't moving about, the birds came in close (my co-worker has since informed me that we should have simply fed the buggers and they would have been easier to photograph).

We walked along the boardwalk at the visitor's center. That's where we got the bulk of the crab pics. Darren photographed most of them - ok all of them.

Darren wanted to catch the birds early in the morning, but we needed to get a pass for the car and I really needed another cup of tea. So I volunteered to take care of the self-serve pass and refreshments. About a mile back there was a pack of birders intent on the canal along the side of the road. There was a herd of egrets having their breakfast while the birders gawked. They were very close to the road and easy to photograph, though. I went back to get Darren so we could gawk together.

I did finally get around to getting the pass and beverages.

After a busy early morning, it was time to pack for home. Our organizational/packing skills could use a smidge improving. We pack great on international trips, but we're a wreck at car camping for some reason. It's probably from sleep deprivation and creaking muscles - at least on my part :)

Stopped at the Mexican place in Cambridge that we'd discovered on a previous trip to the area. The food's pretty good. You can't miss it - has lime green and yellow exterior. I think it may have been a Pizza Hut in a previous life.

Unfortunately, the last 50 miles before the Chesapeake Bay Bridge were horrible. There'd been an accident, but I think the bulk of the traffic was people going home. Bikers from a bike rally wove in and out of the stop and go traffic. Some were very colorful. I particularly liked the senior citizen couple on the fire engine red bike with the teddy bear riding on the back. Getting home took a lot longer than going out.

We got home tired, but happy, and the dogs and cats were thrilled to see us.

And that's the end of another fabulous Walker adventure tale.