Chincoteague

Well now I can say I've been to Chincoteague. It was awesome. We started the morning by checking out if the places we found to visit in Norfolk were open on Thanksgiving. None were, so we decided to do outside stuff today and then do some of the inside stuff tomorrow. We decided to first go to a lighthouse that my mum wanted to see and piled into the truck. Then Ty asked if we could go across the "Brunnel" (the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, which Ty renamed the Brunnel after we went across it on our way back to SAU last spring break) so we did that first. After that adventure, we took a turn right on the other side of the Brunnel that led to a state park and had fun exploring the area. My mum went picture crazy at this bird blind we found and so the rest of us found some fun things to keep us busy while she took her bird pictures. Oh and I also drove the truck around a bit. It's a huge diesel and I usually don't like driving large vehicles, but it was kind of fun driving around the area, especially because there wasn't much traffic and I could pretty much take up the entire road.

After my mum had taken her fill of bird pictures and Q-children pictures (and also a picture of a deer in mid-stride), we took a vote and decided to keep driving north to Chincoteague. I was thrilled. I got less thrilled when the trip that was supposed to be only 64 miles, stretched longer and longer. I was sitting in the middle seat of the front and it wasn't the most comfy place to sit, but I figured it was better than being in the middle of the back and having Bryn and Ty's legs resting on my lap. Finally we got to the turn off and I got really excited. We drove by this NASA place with bunches of satellite stuff all spread out across a big field and surrounded by a high fence topped with barbed wire. Then we went across this bridge and then we were in the village of Chincoteague. We drove around for a bit trying to find out where all those wild horses are and passed a school. Bryn piped up, "Whoa, guys! I bet that's the school that Misty went too." I turned to stare at her and she said, "You know, the Misty in Misty of Chincoteague." I burst out laughing and so did my mum. We laughed so hard and Bryn kept saying, "What, what's so funny?" which just made us laugh harder. Finally I caught my breath enough to explain to Bryn that the Misty in Misty of Chincoteague is a horse. Then Bryn laughed too. I just kept imaging Misty being like the lamb in "Mary Had a Little Lamb" and would start laughing again. It was all highly amusing. Anyway, after getting over the hysteria I got out the GPS and found the Assateague National Wildlife Reserve and we headed there. By that time it was almost dark so when we got to the reserve we found a trail to a lighthouse and hiked that trail and took a bunch of pictures by the lighthouse. Then we drove around the rest of the reserve trying to figure out where those elusive wild horses were. It was too dark to see by then, so we never saw any wildlife other than birds, but I still loved being there.

We left the reserve and went to a little cafe that Ty had seen on our way to Assateague Island. It was about the only eating place we'd seen open pretty much the whole entire day and so we investigated. It was having a special Thanksgiving meal where you just paid a flat rate per person and then could order any Thanksgiving meal-type item from a menu. It was amazing food and I almost felt like a true American by the time I was done my food and stuffed to the gills. We hobbled out of the cafe and managed to climb back into the truck for the drive back to the hotel. So that's what I did today. Sorry if that account was boring or too detailed, but I figure I might as well write down what I did over Thanksgiving break my senior year in university...you know, for when I'm old and grey and am trying to remember all the awesome trips I used to take but can't because I'm old and grey and can't remember things.