The Pitts Stop

Virginia and Maryland Beaches

June 28, Tuesday: New Bern to Virginia Beach

Virginia Beach is spotless – the boardwalk is concrete and goes for 3½ miles with a separate bike path that is heavily used. There are a number of gazebos with large grassy lawns around them where free music concerts are given in the evenings. Most shops and restaurants are discreetly inside the upscale hotels that sit back a little from the boardwalk. 

Big storm clouds began rolling in, so we went back to the campground, hoping the threatening rain would cool things off and we could spend some time on the beach. Unfortunately, we got lots of thunder, but no rain and the temps stayed above 90. We’re sure glad we were able to get a site with electric so we can make dinner and relax in the cool air conditioning. More storms rumbled through during the night and the temps finally fell to the low 70’s around 3am, so I opened the windows and enjoyed the cool air without the noise of the air conditioner.

 

June 29, Wednesday: Virginia Beach to Chincoteague

The few early sprinkles cleared out, so we walked over the dunes and spent the morning on the First Landing State Park beach. We counted twelve huge cargo/tanker ships in the distance anchored and waiting to get into port with views of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel in the distance. A few brown pelicans flew overhead while sand crabs of all sizes kept us entertained, scurrying from one spot to another, watching and waiting. If anything got close, they scurried back to their little hole. We never did figure out where they were trying to go.

 

After lunch, we drove over the Bay Bridge and through the two tunnels that make up the 20 mile Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel System. We could clearly see our campground beach from the bridge. Once across the Bay, we drove through Virginia’s Eastern Shore. We tried to visit the town of Cape Charles that the literature described as quaint and Victorian. We either never found that part of town, or our definitions of quaint and Victorian are a lot different than the brochure’s. Virginia’s Eastern Shore is mostly farmland and we stopped at a roadside stand for corn and peaches. 

 

We arrived in the wonderful little town of Chincoteague just in time for lunch. We found a great restaurant right on the water and were entertained by the seagulls and the fishing boats cruising in and out of the harbor. After lunch, we explored the downtown and the lighthouse. 

 

But the most important reason for being here was to the see the Chincoteague ponies made famous by the children's book, Misty of Chincoteague by Marguerite Henry. We visited the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge, toured their exhibits, and asked about seeing the wild ponies. The helpful man behind the desk said we should walk the two-mile Woodland Trail that ends at a viewing platform for watching the ponies. We dutifully sprayed ourselves with DEET and ventured down the path. We have never seen mosquitoes like these – swarming hoardes, biting right through shirts and pants. We practically ran down the path swatting and slapping our way to the viewing platform. In the distance, we could barely make out a couple of brown forms that looked like they may be horses – even the binoculars weren’t much help. We ran back to the RV, covered with bites and disappointed that we didn’t get a good view of the ponies. 

 

We spent a few hours at the southern end of Assateague National Seashore Beach just outside of Chincoteague. The parking lot for the Beach runs the entire length – probably ½ mile or more, so there was lots of parking, even for the RV, and then an easy walk onto the beach. Jack enjoyed body surfing in the smallish waves, but the water was a little too cold for me.

 

June 30, Thursday: Chincoteague to Assateague

Even though Assateague is only 20 or 30 miles north on the same island, you can’t get there from here. We had to return to the mainland, drive north and approach Assateague Island from the north. 

 

We stopped at NASA’s WallopsCenter where small rockets are used to launch satellites and carry weather and military equipment. They had a nice museum and Jack found the space suits interesting and I liked the exhibits on weather and  balloons. The regular balloons are made of polyethylene the weight of saran wrap, but they also have massive balloons that dwarf the Washington Monument!

 

We reserved a site in Assateague National Seashore, no hookups. As we were checking in, we saw warning signs about wild ponies that bite. We figured, yeah, right – we know how hard it is to find the ponies, so how dangerous can it be?  We drove into the campground and there they were – just walking around right through the campsites. We kept a safe distance to avoid an ugly pony encounter while also carefully watching where we stepped. Yahoo – we finally got to see the wild ponies!

 

July 1, Friday: Assateague, Maryland to Delaware

Leaving Assateague, we headed west to the mainland and on up to Ocean City, Maryland. We found on-street parking and walked a portion of the long boardwalk. This is real wooden boardwalk with lots of food stalls, shops and hotels with the amusement park rides at the southern end. We spent a few hours enjoying the boardwalk. I had a hankering for a great sausage sandwich like we get at the New Jersey Shore, but there were none to be found in Ocean City.

 

After Ocean City, we made a quick stop in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware just to look around. It is a pretty town with lots of interesting shops, and although we saw the beach, we didn’t stop. We decided to stay on the back roads north through Delaware. We reserved a campsite in Southern Jersey because we wanted to get our laundry done and empty the tanks before we arrived at my brother's for his 4^th of July party.

 

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