We were visiting the National Seashore campground just down the road back then and trying out camping without electricity for only the second time. It was in the mid to upper 80°Fs during that visit and we sure could have used some electricity for air conditioning.
Fast forward to our current visit and this time we're camping in the State Park campground, where they do have electric sites. But now, in mid-October, we're using the electricity to heat THE POD. The overnight lows are in the mid-40°Fs and the afternoon highs are in the comfortable upper 60°Fs range.
From the top of the bridge we could already see the first of the wild horses the island is known for. It was lazily grazing in the marsh grasses far from the edge of the road.
The bridge is named for Giovanni da Verrazzano, who in 1524 was the first European explorer to enter New York Harbor and the Hudson River.
It wasn't until 2018 when a college student made it his mission to get legislation passed to correct the spelling to include the second "Z" in Verrazzano's name.
Although the Jamestown Verrazzano Bridge over Narragansett Bay in Rhode Island has always had the correct spelling, the Verrazano Bridge here in Maryland is still officially misspelled.
We arrived at the entrance booth of Assateague State Park at 1:39PM to tried to check in early for our 2:00PM reservation.
We were very politely told to come back later, at least 1:45PM, to check in for our campsite.
So we exited Assateague State Park and drove 2-miles down the road to the entrance of Assateague Island National Seashore, showed the attendant my Lifetime Senior Pass and drove through the Bayside Campground to pick out the best suited sites for THE POD in preparation for a future visit in 2027. YES, I do plan that far in advance!
Along the 2-mile stretch of road we "spotted" several more of the wild horses. I use the term "spotted" loosely because they were all within a couple of feet of the roadway.
We returned to the state park and timed it perfectly as we slowly rolled up to the entrance station at 1:59PM. I lowered down the window and asked if I could check in now. She glanced up at a clock on the wall, outside of my view, smiled and stated it wasn't 2:00PM yet. I asked if she was sure and suggested she look again. She looked up and then turned back to me and said "Welcome to Assateague State Park, how can I help you?".
We both made fun of the situation the park management put us in, but I still don't know why some campgrounds are so strict while others are so lenient about their check-in times.
It wasn't much later we were all settled into our new no frills campsite. We got all hooked up to the electricty and then raised our anemometer to check the 20+ MPH winds speeds.
So shortly before 10:00AM we jumped into ROVER to take a drive around the rest of the state park and then headed over to the National Seashore for a more indepth look around.
ASSATEAGUE ISLAND SIGHTSEEING
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We were less than 100-yards away from our campsite when we spotted this beauty.
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Sika Deer were introduced on Assateague Island during the mid 1920's.We spotted this young deer on the other side of our campground loop.
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As we made our way to the State Park exit gate these two appeared to be standing guard.
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The Assateague horses are all a short legged species and appear more like ponies.
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Most of the horses appear to be growing their winter coats.
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The horses here have free roam of nearly the entire island, so don't be surprisedwhen you find one standing outside your toilet stall after you've finished with your business.
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I thought maybe she was taking photos of the sunrise, but with a 10' tall sand dune between us and the seashore I didn't expect them to be very good.
I guess she felt the same way and after about 10-minutes I realized she hadn't come back in the trailer. By looking out the window, I realized she was no longer on the campsite.
About 30-minutes later she came back with 23 photos and 4 short videos of this morning's sunrise on Assateague Island's shoreline here in Maryland.
After Tricia returned to THE POD we ate breakfast and I looked through the photos of the sunrise. Then around 10:00AM we drove over to the National Seashore to explore two very short ½-mile hikes that we didn't do when we were here 6-years ago.
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This is a ½-mile elevated boardwalk trail with an optional walk along the shoreline.
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This is also a ½-mile elevated boardwalk trail through a forested area and the open bay.
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We were just in time to watch the Ranger and her 4-helpers see what they caught in their net.
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This is why horses always have the "right of way" in this park.When they don't want to move, they simply don't, no matter what!
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There are always horses to be found along the roadside.
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This deer ran across the road right in front of us, left to rightand disappeared into the brush before Tricia could even think to raise her phone.
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Usually on moving day I publish the blogpost while she's doing her morning walk, that way we're both ready for some breakfast and to start packing down to leave when she gets back.
Today was no different, except as the sun rose into the sky I started seeing people, a dozen or more, walking passed our campsite carrying surfboards. Some of them were young 20-somethings, a couple of them were my age. There were even two girls carrying boards.
Not that girls can't surf, it's just not that many choose to.
Well here are the few photos from this morning that just had to be added to the post, even if they were late to the party.
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