Tuckahoe State Park, MD and Pocahontas State Park and High Bridge State Park, VA

60-acre lake at Tuckahoe State Park in Maryland

Frisbee golf at Tuckahoe SP

Pocahontas SP in VA.  In addition to fishing, there are are
80-miles of trails in the park.
The Civilian Conservation Corps Museum dedicated to
 the depression-era workers, who helped build the state park
 system, was the highlight of our bike trip

My fishing buddies at Pocahontas SP

High Bridge SP in VA-31 mile biking, walking or horse riding trail

More than 2400 feet long, originally built in the 1850s, rebuilt
and renovated through the years.

Traveling in a generally southerly direction, we are headed toward Raleigh, NC, for a flight out to Las Vegas, but our arrival in Raleigh will overlap with the Wide Open Bluegrass Festival.  This is a massive event, hosting dozens of top-notch bluegrass talent.  We plan to enjoy the free aspect, which takes place on 4 different stages in the downtown area near City Plaza.  Our travels have been uneventful but filled with biking, fishing, and kayaking in a variety of beautiful state parks along our route.

Head of the trail in Farmville, VA

High Bridge towers 125 feet over Appomattox River

Twin Lakes SP in Virginia--Goodwin Lake

Fishing in Prince Edward Lake at Twin Lakes SP

Cambridge and St. Michaels, MD

After a busy weekend along the Atlantic coast, we were ready to kick it down a notch.  Driving into Cambridge, along the Chesapeake Bay, the town was recovering from the first inaugural Ironman Maryland, with around 1400 athletes competing in the triathlon.  Starting at 6:50 A.M. with the 2.4-mile swim in the Choptank River, followed by the 112-mile bike competition through Dorchester County down to the Blackwater NWR, and then finishing with the 26.2-mile run along country roads, competitors had to complete the course by midnight.  Qualifiers race in the World Ironman competition in Hawaii, October 2015.  So clearly our weekend was not that busy.  Ironman Village along the waterfront, near the marina, offered Ironman merchandise, products, and services.  Despite the name, the event is open to men and women, and the age groups range from 18 years to 80+, so we can always compete another year.

Driving over to Easton, we set up camp for a couple of nights in the local Walmart parking lot.  This

is the first time we've done this, but NO campgrounds were available in this part of the state.  The attractive historic district of the town, with multiple antique stores, galleries, and restaurants, features Colonial and Victorian architecture.  With a population of just over 16,000, there are almost 100 restaurants in town.  Not surprisingly, according to Trip Advisor, the number one activity in Easton is a walking food tour.  Easton considers itself to be the big city in Talbot County, while the nearby St. Michaels, established in the mid-1600s, with a population of around 1200, is said to host around 100,000 visitors a year.  They refer to their town as "The Heart and Soul of Chesapeake Bay."

Push boat, the "engine" for the Skipjack (oystering boat)

Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum was the highlight of our visit to the town.  With 12 exhibit buildings on 18 acres, this is an expansive, well-organized museum, that brings history to life.  By entering during the late afternoon, we didn't have time to complete it all and walked briskly through the last few buildings.  One of the most popular sites is the Hooper Strait Light, built in 1879 and moved to museum grounds in 1966.  Many of the exhibits are interactive and include photos and old films.  By amassing such an extensive collection of Chesapeake artifacts, there is little, if anything, that is missing, from oyster and crabbing history to the wide variety of vessels, from skipjacks to sailboats, and an informative exhibit on their part in the War of 1812.  The small battle resulted in the British being turned away and saved the important St. Michaels shipyard.

Time for us to move away from the Bay.

Hooper Strait Light built in 1879

Choptank River Lighthouse, Cambridge. Original 1871, replica 2012.

Cambridge Marina

Boatbuilding at the Maritime Museum

Soybean crop along the Chesapeake.  Agriculture is #1 for the economy in Maryland. 

St. Michaels waterfront

Along Talbot St. in St. Michaels

Tarr House B&B built in 1667, St. Michaels  

Assateague Island, Berlin and Ocean City, MD

Driving along the Chesapeake Bay eastern coast, we had no intention of backtracking to the opposite side of the state to visit the northern end of Assateague Island.  But plans change.  One of our visitor center stops had provided a flyer advertising the 22nd annual Berlin Fiddlers Convention.

 Understanding my love of bluegrass music, Alan proposed that we shift direction, and a few minutes later we were driving toward Berlin.  It also turns out that this small town is just across the bridge from the Assateague State Park and the Assateague Island National Seashore.

The state park is located on the same barrier island that is home to the Chincoteague NWR, but no

road is available from the southern to the northern end of the island, which is owned and preserved by various government entities.  Luckily, we were able to secure a site in this popular oceanfront campground.  On the east, the park is bordered by the white sand beaches on the Atlantic Ocean, and to the west by Sinepuxent Bay which provided us with a kayak launch site.  The 125 or so wild ponies in this park, and in the National Seashore, are owned by the National Park Service.  Unlike the southern herd, these ponies are not checked by vets and herd size is controlled by the use of birth control darts.  Wild ponies roam freely between the two parks, along the beaches, the roadways and through the campgrounds.  Visitors are warned, by signs posted throughout the parks, to keep at least 10 feet away from them.  While mosquitoes were not an issue in the campground or while we were kayaking, our early morning bike ride through the National Seashore became a race to keep ahead of them.  Having forgotten to bring any repellent, slowing down to do anything resulted in an assault from dozens of the blood-sucking insects.  We traveled ten miles in record time.

Nearby Berlin was voted as the number one "Coolest Small Town in America" for 2014 by Budget Travel.  Arriving in town, we found several artists working on paintings of the downtown area for the upcoming Plein air affair, which overlapped with the fiddling event.  The three-day free live music convention started Friday evening with last year's competition winner and ended Sunday with a Bluegrass Gospel Jam.  Saturday was filled with competitions, for all ages, for best band, guitar, banjo, mandolin, and violin.  Hay bales topped with wooden planks and lawn chairs provided sitting for the thousands of visitors.

As it turned out, there was another, even bigger, event taking place that same weekend in Ocean City,

about 10 miles north.  So Sunday, we headed over to the 40th annual Sunfest.  Deemed one of the largest arts and craft shows in the country, offering 180 craft vendors, 30 food vendors, and two stages of non-stop (mostly free) music, large crowds took advantage of all the offerings.  The music ranged from the Oldies played by The Diamonds to the extra high energy 80's music played by the 8-piece band, Party Like Its.....

Time to head back over to the Chesapeake.

Janes Island State Park and Blackwater NWR, Maryland

Upon departing Chincoteague, we ventured about 35 miles to our next destination.  At this breakneck pace, we should be back home a few years from now.  Actually, there are numerous fingers of land reaching out into the Chesapeake Bay, that offer opportunities for kayaking, biking, fishing, and crabbing.  We're just trying to visit as many as possible.  Camping sites in these areas are limited, creating a bit of a dilemma, but so far we've been able to find someplace to camp each night.

Janes Island State Park offers six different kayaking trails, totaling over 30 miles, and we secured a

campsite overlooking the marshy waterway.  Heading out in our kayaks, we had a rough idea of where we were going but wound up paddling over a combined 10 miles of trail.  Since our kayaking had been put to a halt last spring due to two broken fingers, this was our first kayaking in several months; it was gorgeous and peaceful.  Herons and egrets were elusive and seemed to fly off when we got within a hundred feet or so, but we managed to get a few photos.  Over the hours we spent on the water, we saw only a handful of other kayakers, and then they were tiny dots in the distance.  Horseflies, "big enough to wear a saddle," Alan said, were widely present in the park, but disappeared in the evenings, so we could enjoy our first campfire of the year.

Checking out the nearby, small community of Crisfield, the self-proclaimed "Crab Capital of the World", we couldn't leave the area without trying some.  Linton's Seafood, located north of town, has been selling and shipping crab for over 35 years, so that's where we headed.  Ordering a half dozen of the colossal blue crab, we returned to our campsite to indulge in the feast.  Without question, these were the sweetest and meatiest blue crab we have ever had.

Moving up to Taylor Island, we found an older, funky campground overlooking the Chesapeake Bay. Our destination was the nearby Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge.  With 27,000 acres, the refuge offers plenty of biking and kayaking opportunities.  Primarily, we spotted blue herons, white egrets, gulls, geese, and ducks.  One very cooperative bald eagle made several flights over our heads as we were biking, allowing some photo opportunities.  Once again, by visiting off-season, we missed the hoards of birds that use this refuge as an important stop on their spring and fall migrations along the Atlantic Flyway, but it was still a beautiful area for our visit.

Chincoteague Island, Virginia

The Assateague Lighthouse built in 1867 

Having visited Assateague Island four years ago, we had known since our departure that we would come back again.  This time we planned to spent several days, and for the most part, the weather cooperated beautifully.  Known as the Chincoteague Island National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) because that is the closest zip code, visitors come to see migrating birds and wild ponies.  We did not see any ponies during our earlier stay in the area and intended to remedy that this time.  By camping on Chincoteague Island, VA, we were only a few miles from the NWR.  The northern portion of the island is designated as the Assateague National Seashore (located in Maryland), but that will need to be explored on yet another trip.

With several miles of biking and walking trails available within the NWR, we enjoyed a few outings

Great Egret looking for lunch

on the well-maintained bike trails that meander through the refuge.  Even though the area draws ten of thousands of birds during the migration season in the fall and spring, we caught it offseason.  But Canadian geese, Great Blue Herons, Great Egrets (Great White Herons), cattle egrets, ducks, gulls, terns, sanderlings and vultures were still easily spotted.  One Bald Eagle even posed for pictures (which I missed getting in spite of his help!)  The refuge is the residence for or temporary resting place for over 300 bird species.  Spraying up with some type of mosquito repellent, before heading out for a walk or a ride, is essential.  As home to the endangered Delmarva Fox Squirrel, we did catch a glimpse of one of these large (up to 30 inches) furry fellows, but he wasn't posing like our eagle friend and disappeared quickly into the brush.

The NWR herd of 150 wild ponies is owned and cared for by the
Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Department. Herd size is
controlled by a Pony Auction every July.

Learning about the Chincoteague Natural History Association bus tour, I booked us on the next open excursion.  With only 30 seats in the air-conditioned vehicle and limited trips (none offered from December through March), the popular tours fill up, but seats can be reserved ahead of time.  The 90-minute trip goes into an area that is not typically accessed by visitors, down a 7.5-mile service road.  A knowledgeable bus driver also functioned as our tour guide.  With a spiel covering all the basics about the NWR, she was also able to answer most of the questions thrown her way.  On this drizzly day, it turned out to be a perfect outing.  The numerous ponies and waterbirds (and the aforementioned eagle) could care less about the rain and were seemingly following their normal routine.

Bigger Dream rockin' the town.

Unbeknownst to us, a Plein air painting event was also scheduled in the area overlapping with our stay.  Alan set up his easel and painted a few times in preparation for the Ft. Myers happening he will be participating in this November.  With 40 artists registered for the Chincoteague affair, we sighted artists in town and in the NWR.  The culmination of the artist's efforts was shown Saturday evening, which happened in conjunction with the town's monthly Art Walk.  Featuring music by the 6-piece band, the Bigger Dream, along Main Street, we joined many residence and visitors dancing in the street to their lively mixture of rock, Motown, and country.

All the ponies are named and checked by a vet 3 times a year.
Their bloated stomachs are caused by excess of salt in
their diet from eating the plants in the marshes.

Concluding our visit with a trip on Captain Dan's Tour Boat, we lucked into seeing numerous ponies, dolphins and an eagle, hitting what Dan terms his "trifecta".  Having scheduled a morning outing on a  chilly, windy day, we bundled up for the trip.  The 2-hour tour departs from the waterfront dock downtown and runs around Chincoteague Island.  With a 6-pack license, the groups are always small, and we traveled with another couple and their young child.  Captain Dan provides a knowledgeable narrative but is also open to questions.  It was a wonderful finish to our return visit.

Canadian goose

Statue of "Misty" in a waterfront park, The local horse made famous
 by the children's book, Misty of  Chincoteague written in 1947
by Marguerite Henry.

Commercial fishing boats along the waterfront

Small shacks in the waterway built by oystermen to keep
watch over their oyster leases, built in the 1800s

One of numerous birdhouses in NWR for Tree Swallows, said to eat
2000 mosquitoes a day.