October 19, 2012 Assateague Island and Ocean City

The wind howled and rocked the bus all night. It rained. the morning was kind of foggy, cloudy, windy and cool.

The sign as you drive onto the island.  I guess they do more than just bite, kick and charge. . .

We went to Ocean city. It is on the island to the north. It used to be part of the same island but a hurricane in 1962 swept away part of the island making a bay between the two.  It also destroyed most of this island, so it is now a park.  The north island is worlds different, every square foot has a building on it.  Assateague is all a park. We went to the Life –Saving Station Museum. It is in one of the original life saving stations on the Delmarva Peninsula. The surfmen would shoot a cannon out to the wrecks with a rope attached. The rope was attached to the mast of the sinking ship and then people were brought in in either the float seat above, or in really bad weather people were sealed into the boat underneath the guy and pulled in on the rope. If they couldn’t get the rope out, they rowed small boats out through the storm to the boats. They saved 7,500 people from sinking ships. They also a sands around the world exhibit-with sand from  200 different beaches around the world.

An exhibit on surfing of the coast. Here is a home made surf board, from before you could bet a ready made one. John thought he read the board walk is 10miles long here. Most of the business are closed this late in the year, can you even imagine this in the middle of summer?

John in a hurricane simulator on the board walk. He said it was pretty lame, it had a fan on top that blew air down on him.  A view when we left of the fog coming in over the hotels as far as the eye can see om the north island. We preferred the south island.

We stopped at the Burley oak brewery. John said the beer was pretty good. The frontier town cowboy welcoming you into the arcade and ice cream shop at Frontier town on the way back.

A view of the bay side of Assateague Island from the forest walk trail that ends in a boardwalk out over the salt marsh. This get up on the front of the trucks seemed to be the favored way to transport fishing gear in this area. Most were more elaborate, all the way across the front, coolers, gear and buckets. You can drive on the beach for about twelve miles south of the campground. You need an $80 permit.

The sun coming down through the fog. The sky was on fire, this streak of pink went all the way over head like a rainbow. See the quarter moon in the middle.

We went back to the walk in the forest trail and this is over the bay side salt marsh.

same place, just to the right of the above.