Camping Trip

We went camping Oct 3 - 5 to Assateague Island. Ryan and Amber had a great time playing with their cousins and friends. Amazingly, we had 3 days of great weather. We headed out on Friday and arrived around 5pm. We quickly set up the tents and inflated the air mattress. We found that the air mattress is really nice since sleeping on sand is a lot like sleeping on a concrete slab. After that was all setup I went out and got the wood. When I got back we started up the fire and started making smores. The rest of the people got there around 9pm. We roasted some more marshmallows and then went to sleep. We forgot to put the garbage away. In the middle of the night we heard a bunch of stomping outside the tents. The horses had smelled the garbage and come over for a feast. We didn't go out to check, but we figured the horses didn't find anything interesting and just walked away. It was a little freaky to hear a bunch of stomping outside the tent in the middle of the night, though.

The next day we got up and had eggs and sausage for breakfast. During breakfast, a horse ambled up to our campsite looking for food. I was holding Amber, while eating, and the horse walked right up to me. I tried shooing the horse away, but it just kept coming closer. I wouldn't have been to worried, except that I had Amber right there. Plus all the kids were standing around the horse. I was afraid the horse would bite or kick one of the kids. Finally, I decided to pet the horse. That turned out to be the trick. The horse snorted, neighed and then walked away. I guess he didn't like to be pet. After that we played around a little bit and then packed everything up to catch some crab and fish at the dock. The crabbing was disappointing. We attached chicken necks to strings and lowered them into the water by the dock. The crabs were supposed to grab on to the chicken necks and then hang on when we raised the string. I guess all the crabs were gone for the season because we didn't even catch one. Fishing, on the other hand, was a great success. We caught at least 20 fish. They were a combination of bluefish, spot, and probably something else. We took them all back and fried them on a griddle above the fire. That was the freshest fish I've ever had. In the afternoon the kids played in the sand and went to a nearby park. That night we had chicken and short ribs for dinner followed by more smores.

The next morning we had more eggs and sausage for breakfast and then packed up to go. On the way back there was an accident on the Bay Bridge, which delayed us for about an hour. That turned out to be too much for Amber. We were about 20 minutes from getting home and she started crying and holding her mouth. All of a sudden, she threw up all over her seat. I quickly dove into the backseat, cleaned up the mess, and comforted Amber. She was fine after that so it must have just been car sickness.

All in all it was a great trip. We'll definitely be doing it again in the spring