OCMD Vacation Day 8 aka our last day

Sunday, September 26, 2010
70 degrees, cloudy skies, light rain off and on

We woke on our last day in Ocean City to gray skies, damp winds and considerably cooler temperatures.


I was glad the weather held so beautifully all week.  We could have not asked for a better week for vacation!


I took a walk down the fishing pier to get some last minute pictures and see if I could show you what the weather looked like.

The sun was nowhere to be found!


We took our time, packing and cleaning the house.  We were the last renters of the year, so Fran said we could stay all day.  Normally we have to be out by noon so they can have the house ready for the next family by 3 pm.  


There was a Nascar race at Dover Speedway in Dover, DE that weekend.  Fran said traffic was going to be a mess and we should wait until 6 or 7 pm to leave.  John had to be at work at 7:30 the next day, and didn't want to be getting home too late, so we compromised and left a little after 5pm.  


We did really well, until just after the first toll on Rt. 1.  Then we hit the traffic jam.  Fortunately I knew we could take Rt 13 all the way up the state, so we hopped off as soon as we could and did just that.  Until we had no choice but to get back on Rt 1 because it merged with Rt 13.  And we were back in the thick of it.


We decided to look for a place to stop and eat.  Unfortunately, there were only fast food places at rest stops.  I really wanted a good meal and no a BK burger.


We finally saw a sign for Texas Roadhouse and we stopped there.  The place was packed (apparently we weren't the only ones getting off the highway to eat and kill time), but we didn't have to wait more than 10 minutes for a table.   John had steak and shrimp with applesauce and a potato.  I had a steak with a sweet potato and a Caesar salad.  The food was really good!


When we left, the traffic had dwindled quite a bit.  I had a pain in the ass teenage boy on my ass going back on the highway.  He flew past me on the exit ramp and nearly ran me off the road.  I laid on my horn and that asshole decided to play some games, not allowing me to pass, keeping me parallel with a tractor trailer so I nearly missed my exit.  I was very very agitated by the time I got away from him.  I hope he gets multiple speeding tickets and loses his  license.  I hate hate hate driving in front of teenagers, especially boys (although teenage girls are dangerous too).  I'd rather have them in front of me so I can see what they're doing.


OK, enough of the tangent!


No other obstacles were in the way, and we arrived back at John's around 10 pm.  We unloaded the car and hit the sack short thereafter.  I was really tired!!!  John had to be at work the next morning, but I actually had another vacation day and went back to work on Tuesday!


So that was out exciting vacation!  We really had a good time!  I hope you enjoyed reading about and seeing our pictures!

OCMD Vacation Day 5

Thursday, September 23, 2010
Sunny, 88 degrees, light breezes

We decided to take a trip to Chincoteague Island, VA on this day.  It's about an hour's drive from the little Housita that we stay in.  


We had breakfast at home and I packed a lunch to take along with us.  Ham and cheese sandwiches and turkey and cheese sandwiches.  I added plums, nectarines (for me) and peaches (for John) and some of the Doritos we've been snacking on all week.  


Our first stop was at NASA Visitor Center at Wallops Island Flight Facility, just outside of Chincoteague.  We weren't allowed inside the real facility, but they had a small museum at the Visitor Center, which was cool!

They've done tons of testing of weather balloons and rockets and stuff here for years and years.  If your'e a science nerd buff, you'd probably get a kick out of this place!  

click the picture to see it larger

I could tell we were getting near the place because I saw a bunch of these:

There were more than a dozen of these dishes all over the place!  

John having some fun!

I didn't take a lot of pictures inside.  They also had several short films about NASA and science stuff, some of which we actually saw at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia.

There were some picnic tables near the parking lot, under trees, so we had our lunch there... and got eaten alive by mosquitoes!  I managed to not get bitten all summer and in 5 minutes I had about 10 bug bites on me!

Then we continued on to Chincoteague!  Chincoteague looks more like a New England fishing village than a beach resort.  I was collecting sand for my sister (she collects sand from all over the world).  Do you know that I couldn't find one single beach on Chincoteague Island? I always thought Chincoteague was below Assateague, MD but it's not,  Chincoteague is in between mainland Maryland and the island of Assateague.   So it's all bay!  Chingoteague is nestled in between Maryland and Maryland.   The only place that actually has a beach is Tom's Cove Beach, which is in Chincoteague National Park, which is located on Assateague Island, in Maryland!  We drove all over that stupid place, looking for a beach so I could get sand for my sister.  By the time we left there, I was so frustrated that I got a bit pissy.  That, in turn put John in a bad mood.  

But before the day went south on us, we had a nice time.  We drove to Chincoteague National Park and found  Assateague Lighthouse.  We couldn't go up to the top  because there was a wasp swarm inside. (darn! I couldn't walk the 198 steps to the top of the lighthouse)  They had pictures for sale of the lighthouse, looking all pretty and shiny, but I kinda like my photo better.  

After the lighthouse (and before the pissing match), we drove around a bit and found Tom's Cove Beach.  It's not a large beach.  As a matter of fact, it's a long narrow beach, only about 20 or 30 feet to the water's edge and you can park your car  within feet of your blanket, just over a small dune.  We only stayed for a minute or two.  I didn't get any photos.  Sorry.

So it was a very quiet ride back to Ocean City.  Neither one of us was in the mood to do anything fun, so we ordered Pizza delivered from Lombardi's and watched  the CSI and The Mentalist premieres.  

What's in store for tomorrow??  Why, it's Sunfest!!!  and John got happy again!


**psst!  I'm wondering who is the person who reads my blog every day from Broken Arrow, OKlahoma.  I'm as curious as my cats!