A Week Away

We just spent an amazing week on Maryland's Eastern Shore for our family vacation.  One fabulous and amazing week with no electronics, and no television.  We stayed in a place where, horror of horrors - there was no cell phone reception!  The kids couldn't even text their friends!

Very sadly, I realized that this is the last year that we have as a family for vacation before everything changes.  My oldest child is headed off to college in a little under two weeks.  He'll be living on campus, beginning his own life. 

Anyway, we stayed on the Western Side of the Eastern Shore in a wonderful little house on the water.  We saw Osprey.  We saw Bald Eagles.  We kayaked every night.  We rode bicycles.  We went crabbing.  We watched the most beautiful sunsets every night.  And we did crossword puzzles,  played games, and talked.

We did spend one day down at Assateague Island.  (Where the wild ponies live.)  We were on the beach side of the island, playing in the water.  We looked up on the shore and saw a line of four wild horses come over the dune.  They walked in a line through the beach towels, giving each and every one a good sniff.  The family just in front of us had left a bag of apples on their towel.  The lead pony grabbed the bag, and twirled it around in his mouth until the apples fell out- onto MY beach towel.  They then stood around, eating the apples.  My daughter and I had left a change of clothes in a grocery bag on my towel.  Since the ponies had hit pay dirt with another grocery bag, they then nosed through our bag full of clothes.  Finding nothing, they moved on to the next beach towel. 

When we got back up to my beach towel, we found an interesting situation.  Our unmentionables had been spread out, but someone had thoughtfully scooped them back into our grocery bag for us.  Thank you mysterious, thoughtful person!  However, my beach towel was covered in horsespit, apple slime, and sand that was thouroughly ground into the wet parts of the apple slime/spit combination.  Easily one of the most disgusting things I've ever seen.  I've washed that towel a couple of times now, but I think it just may be a lost cause.

Now THAT is a priceless vacation memory!

A bald eagle hangs out on top of a telephone pole, looking for his lunch.

A look down our dock and into the river leading to the Chesapeake Bay.