Beach Week

Chincoteague, VA

July 14 - 21, 2012

Last year Buddy took me to Chincoteague for the first time and I wrote about how it took me back to an era of times gone by.  We returned this year and I was once again taken back, but this time to my childhood, when every year we made the trek to Ocean City and usually timed it when aunts & uncles and their families were there too.  A week at the beach with family, friends, sandy feet, lazy days, fishing, biking, eating, reading, no plans, no schedule.  This year we held a reunion or celebration of sorts with the Koolhofs, Straughans and Hughes families.  And what a time we did have!

Jester Wallace House

Cheers!

We left mid-morning Saturday only to hit Rt. 50 traffic near Annapolis.  Buddy was surprised.  Apparently he hasn't done Saturday-to-Saturday beach rentals.  No worries, we took our time and reached T's Corner 10 miles after Mike & Alice.  First things first - we met at the Chincoteague Inn for a lunch of fresh oysters.  While sitting there, we saw Eileen & Allan arriving at the town dock on their boat, coming in from Cape May. (Congrats to them for making their first circumnavigation of the Eastern Shore on their "new-to-them" 34' Pursuit.  They should write a blog on their trip!  FYI... dockage at the town dock in Chincoteague is $1.00/ft, including electric)  Vanessa arrived not long after.  The rest of the clan converged on our welcoming beach house - the Jester-Wallace (same as last year) and we all set off in a whirlwind for 2nd Saturdays on Main St., when the stores and galleries stay open late.  With so many of us it was hard to keep track of who was where, but funnily enough we found each other upstairs at Don's (go figure) enjoying icy cold beverages.  More fresh seafood for all!  (I see a theme here!)

Mophead & Nessa

The next day we beached it.  We lounged & swam while Buddy & Vanessa were surf fishing.  The ocean was as warm as I'd ever felt it.  The wind was out of control though, so I put my chair at the foot of the waves while enjoying my toes in the water and ___ in the sand!  Buddy caught a croaker but he was an inch too small. 

We enjoyed a special dinner that night as Mike and Alice surprised us with a 10 pound prime rib complete with fixings.  Sunday dinner with the fam, lots of wine, over sized baby dolls and a dimly lit attic make for great ghost stories!  Buddy was a huge hit with the younger crew with his over-active imagination and stories of Bethany and Shawanda.  pitter-patter-pitter-patter...

Chillaxing!

Pretty much the same for the next five lovely days.  Beach, food, beach, dinner, fishing, dinner, beach....  One day Allan took his boat 65 miles off shore to the canyon and we all reaped the rewards of mahi mahi three ways - baked, grilled & blackened!  (They earned it - 5' to 6' waves all the way out!)  We found steamed crabs $30 for 1/2 bushel and ate to our hearts content with enough left over for fantastic crabcakes.  We biked to the Blueberry Festival and indulged in freshly made blueberry pie and poundcake.  We cooked out.  We took the Sand Bar Shuttle where Tug enjoyed his first romp on the beach.   We played bingo at the fireman's carnival (and I won - TWICE! Thanks Mom-Mom!).  We went for ice cream.  We drove through the refuge looking for ponies.  We played rummy and told jokes on the porch.  We did what millions of Americans do every summer - we were a family at the beach.  And it felt so good.  I love faraway places and exotic cultures, but sometimes you just can't beat good old fashioned fun!

     

Wayward herd swam over too soon!

Allan & Tug onboard Solitaire

Sand Bar Shuttle

                

Landlubbers Back in Time

CHINCOTEAGUE ISLAND, VA

No boating for us this weekend, we drove to Chincoteague Island, VA instead.  But since you CAN boat there, I figured I'd write about our experience.  Buddy and I were the lucky bidders at a silent auction on a house in Chincoteague.  We headed out early Friday morning for the 3 1/2 hour trip.  It's an easy, pretty drive through the flat countryside.  A left turn at T's Corner means you're on approach and once you get past the daunting/fascinating Wallops Island you begin the long, beautiful, marshy approach in to Chincoteague and over the new bridge and there you are on Main Street.  A charming downtown populated with a couple of restaurants, some shops and bookstores and B&B's.  We stayed in the Jester Wallace House on Jester Street.  A truly charming beach home with 3 1/2 bedrooms, 2 baths and well equipped with everything you need (minus a few modern amenities like TV/internet).  (The owner is accommodating and friendly and to her credit tried to have the cable hooked up before we came, but it's not quite season there yet and she wasn't able to get it done). 

Jester Wallace House

My husband spent many summers on the island with his family as a child camping, fishing, crabbing and clamming; however, it was my first trip to the island (we were an Ocean City family).  We unpacked the car and Buddy was anxious to go exploring the island he had once known so well.  We drove out to the inlet as he talked and reminisced about his childhood, then down Maddox past the ice cream parlors, bicycle rentals, crab shacks and seafood houses to the entrance to Assateague Island.  Not much has changed and he knew the names of the businesses and told stories about locals he had met and things they had done as kids.  We paid the $8.00 weekend rate (it's $5.00 daily) and drove through the refuge all the way to the ocean.  To me it looked like an expansive, beautiful beach with lots of room to spread out (unlike Ocean City in the summer time when you have to hunt for your spot).  According to Buddy though, the dunes were washed out and the beach was half the size it once was.  There are nice eco-friendly facilities across the parking lot.

Chincoteague ponies

Chincoteague Island Lightouse

When we got back to the house, Buddy was a little anxious about what we were going to do there with no internet or tv...  No worries here though - it's a dream to me.  We spent three lovely, quiet days exploring the island, tasting lots of salty Chincoteague oysters and clams, fishing and biking around the island.  We played rummy on the screened porch at night and window shopped on Main Street in the evenings, chatting with the friendly locals.  Our house didn't have a radio, but I got the feeling that if it had, I would have turned it on to hear doo-wop playing and wolf man jack as dj. 

Buddy catching flounder