Assateague Pictures, 1st batch

Welcome to Assateague! I have many stories but want to get the pics up first, since they are worth 1,000 words and it's much quicker to put up 1 picture than 1,000 words.

Assateague is a barrier island so it's extremely long and skinny.  Our campsite was on the bayside, I'd been given a hint by my awesome barn owner Lisa that bayside was the place to be if you wanted to see horses. She brings the 4-H team and other interested parties down here every couple of years so she knew what she was talking about!

This is our initial unloading. If you compare to the Water Gap pictures you can see we are already getting a bit more efficient.

We discovered that chocolate wrappers are NOT waterproof. My insistence that they be stored in the cooler to keep them from melting backfired as the ice melted and waterlogged our delicious Job-Lot bought swiss chocolate stash.  We decided to try and dry them out, since wasting chocolate is never an option.

 They still tasted somewhat like chocolate, and wet chocolate is better than no chocolate!

A view from the other side of the camp.  Beyond our stuff you can see the marsh, beyond that is the bay, and then the Maryland coast is just visible as  dark line.

Our dinner, kielbasa and corn. Nom nom nom!

After the "stampede" the first night we caught a picture of this horse out in the marsh behind the campsite. This is the first of many, many horse pictures (not included in this post) and is the mare I  later dubbed "Belly". She can be identified by her large belly (I'm so creative!) and the roan patches on the left side of her face and belly.

You got to see the view of our sleeping quarters from the outside of the car, here's what it looks like from the other side! There's no cooler with us, there are no bears on Assateague but we did push the cooler under the picnic table so that hungry ponies couldn't get into it.  Don't laugh...there are signs and pictures all over the park of how destructive these guys can be if they think you have something tasty in a tent or cooler.

Allright folks, I want you to know that in this next picture no trick photography was used, no stunt doubles or photo-editing...

Yes indeed folks, believe your eyes that is the Miriam you all know and love cooking. Here's another shot for those who remain skeptical.

So the first morning on Assateague we had bacon and potatoes fried in bacon grease...mmm mmm yum! (And for all you people appalled by the health risks of this breakfast, please note the very healthy tea and cranberry juice also included...Rob had coffee and an 11 mile bike ride)

It turns out that despite my lack of enthusiasm for cooking in a kitchen, outdoor cooking seems to tickle my fancy and I've been quite happy to prepare most of the meals (and do the dishes!) on this trip while Rob does site set-up, car-packing and fetches water (6 gallons at a time! That's heavy!) The division of chores out here has been much easier and we've had much less stress over who does what than at home.  Hopefully we can take some of our trail skills and attitudes with us when we find ourselves back in the "real world"

That's all for now folks, We're pretty tuckered out from our hike this afternoon (and hungry!).  I'd like to stay here in the air-conditioned (down to what feels like a chilly 80) Grants Public Library and keep getting you all caught up but I fear it must wait, hungry and tired Miriams and Robs are probably as unpleasant to be around as the bears we've been lucky to not see. Till then,

Happy Trails!
-Miriam, the Camping Cook