Off to Spot the Ponies

Chincoteague and Assateague Islands are located on the Eastern Shore of Virginia and are home to wild ponies made famous be a story written by Marguerite Henry in 1947.  The book was later made into a movie in 1961which led to the area becoming a tourist destination.  I thought it would make for a fun day trip.

 

Crossing the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel (CBBT) is the fastest way to make the trip to the Eastern Shore.  The CBBT was designated as one of the seven engineering wonders of the modern world.  It is twenty miles in length.  

 

There are a couple rest areas along the bridge which offer beautiful views.  There is a toll to cross the bridge from both directions, so for tourists just wanting to experience the bridge, the rest areas also offer a chance to turn around without paying the toll on the return end.

 

Across the bay we could see the lighthouses we had visited at Fort Story the day before.

 





There is a foot bridge that connects either side of the highway at the rest area.  Walking through this was my least favorite part.  There is glass on either side which offers views of the highway on one side and the entrance to one of the tunnels on the other.

There is a fishing pier on the backside of the rest area.  Aaron and my dad walked out to see if the fisherman were catching anything.

When driving across the bridge the road appears to disappear.  This is actually a view of where the tunnels descend under water.

Hannah likes taking pictures of wildlife and captured this picture of a seagull.

After crossing the bridge, we stopped at a welcome center.  The lady working gave us information regarding the wild ponies, but she also mentioned there was a gun that had been removed from a Navy ship and placed near some old World War II bunkers in the area.  As soon as she said that, I knew my dad would be on a mission.

We drove to the area where the gun was supposed to be, but couldn't find it.  We another visitor's center where we were told we had been right by it.  We returned to where we thought it was and hiked down a path.  No gun.

We did find this sign which explained that the refuge where we were was purchased by the government in the 1940s.  During World War II, large bunkers were built to protect the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay. Most of the structures have been removed by the refuge management in order to restore the natural habitat.

This trail was one of Hannah's favorite parts of her day because she saw many butterflies and dragonflies.



There were blackberry bushes lining the path.

Once we reached the sign, we realized we must have missed the big gun.  We turned around and headed back to the parking lot.  We met a retired sailor on the trail who told us the gun was right by the parking lot.  As we reached the parking lot, we could see the entrance to an old concrete bunker.  It was well camouflaged by the trees.

Here is a picture of my dad, Aaron and P.K. with the big gun and the bunker in the background.

 

After we found the gun, we continued our quest to find the wild ponies.  The highway through the Eastern Shore is full of old houses.  I loved them all.

When we arrived in Chincoteague, we started at the visitor's center.  From there, we visited the Assateague Lighthouse. 

The red and white on the lighthouse was so pretty against the clear blue sky.  We didn't climb it because the last climb was at 2:30 and we were too late and we had just paid to climb a lighthouse the day before.

 

P.K. and the kids at the base of the lighthouse

 

We then drove trough several areas of the park.  It is very beautiful.  We finally spotted the ponies.



 







 

We spent about an hour walking around Main Street checking out some shops then Dad treated us to a nice seafood dinner at a local restaurant.  It was delicious and I ate grits for the first time. 

 

The trip was so beautiful.  It would be nice to spend a weekend on the islands.

Old Cape Henry Lighthouse

We all had the day off yesterday, so we decided to head to Fort Story to see the Old Cape Henry Lighthouse.  It is near the spot where the settlers of Jamestown first landed.



This lighthouse was built in 1792.  In 1870, it began to crack and was replaced with the New Cape Henry Lighthouse which is located just over 350 feet away.  These two lighthouses are located where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Chesapeake Bay.

Climbing the 191 stairs to get to the top of The Old Cape Henry Lighthouse was well worth it. 

 

 

This is Rachel on the ladder at the top.  I kept telling Hannah to be careful on the ladder to which she replied, "Mom, I've climbed a ladder before."  This is where all those trips to the park paid off.  Ha!

 





 

I love the expression on Hannah's face.  This is when she turned and saw the view of the water.

 

 

The New Cape Henry Lighthouse in the background as seen from the top of the Old Cape Henry Lighthouse.

 





The view was gorgeous.  The New Cape Henry Lighthouse is an active lighthouse and operated by the Coast Guard.  Since it is active, it is not open to visitors, but we were able to get tons of photos.

After we climbed the stairs and spent some time enjoying the view at the top, we decided to spend some time exploring the beach. 

Aaron especially loved climbing on the rocks. 



Hannah did, too, but she didn't spend as much time on them.  Of course, the biggest kid got in on the action.

 



 Notice the moss on the side of those rocks?



Hannah did after she stepped on it and slipped into the water.  When will I ever learn I still need to carry a change of clothes for each child in the car?  On our way back to the car, we noticed the sign that notified visitors that climbing on the rocks is prohibited.  Oops!

There were tons of shells and other things washed up on the shoreline. 



We found skate cases, whelk egg cases, crab shells, jellyfish, small sharks and horseshoe crab shells.

Hannah was over-the-moon excited when she found this bird skull.



 

We are quite certain it is a seagull.

 

Aaron thought he had spotted a bald eagle, but it turned out to be a seagull.  PK spotted The Eagle.  It is the Coast Guard training ship which PK has sailed on.  It was built in Germany in 1936 and taken as a war prize by the US at the end of World War II.  Who knew we could wrap so much history and science into one trip to visit a local lighthouse?

 

 

 

The kids on the beach with the two lighthouses in the background

 

We all know I love the beach.  I think we could have spent hours exploring this particular beach and we will have to make a trip back the next time we all have a free day.





More Friends

That isn't a catchy blog title, but we have had lots of friends come visit in the short time we have lived here.  Actually, we are very blessed that we often have out-of-town guests visit us wherever we live.  I guess knowing people from all over the country some of them are bound to pass by.

Tracie, Montana and Charlie came to visit from Georgia.  Tracie said she would come visit before we even left and I knew she would.  They arrived on Friday and Aaron and Hannah ran out to the driveway to greet them.  I didn't snap pictures, just enjoyed the moment.  When Holly realized someone was outside she ran out barking, but immediately became excited when she realized who it was.

We exchanged Christmas gifts that evening. 

Aaron had carved Charlie a spear out of a tree branch.  He worked on that for hours and was so excited about it.



 
He carved "From Aaron To Charlie 2013."  It was the first time he had carved letters so he practiced on other wood first.  That was probably one of the sweetest gifts exchanged in our home this year because I know how much love and tender care went into making it.

PK started a fire after dinner and the kids roasted marshmallows.

Saturday was a beautiful day for December.  The temps were in the 60s and the sun was shining.  We decided to get out of the house and went to explore Yorktown.  We visited the Victory Memorial, walked around the historic homes and walked along the water front to the pier.  The kids were excited to see jellyfish swimming below.

Aaron, Hannah and Charlie took some time to roll down this hill.  That was probably one of their highlights.



Sunday was rainy almost all day, so I was glad we were able to get them out of the house on Saturday.  Tracie and I ran a couple errands and she treated me to lunch.  One of the perks of having built-in babysitters.

Tracie, Rachel, Montana and I played a board game called "Truth Be Told" and laughed and laughed.  PK played Doctor Who Monopoly with Aaron, Hannah and Charlie.  It was a gift from Cynthia and Brian.  After dinner we all played more "Truth Be Told" and played "Just Dance."

They are all sleeping right now and the house is peaceful.  Soon the boys and Hannah will be up and it will be loud, but a happy loud.  Then Tracie and the kids are going to leave and there will be a sad silence as their leaving reminds us of not only how much we miss them, but all of our other friends we have left somewhere along our journey.