Assateague National Seashore

We went to find a couple of caches near the shore. One of them was at Assateague Lighthouse. I've never seen so many mosquitoes as I did there. It was crazy. The kids and Rich went to the top, I stayed down to find the pieces I needed to solve the cache puzzle. It was hot, humid, and skeetery. Not fun.



Then we drove to the beach. Saw some wild ponies on the way.



They posed for pictures.





Then the fun really began. Rich went to find an earthcache, and the boys and I went to the beach. Of course, we weren't expecting to go to the beach, so we didn't have swimsuits with us. At least the boys were in shorts, I had my jeans on. Naturally, we got soaked. The ocean is much colder than I expected, but it warmed up quickly. The boys made friends and sandcastles. Richard found the cache.



And inside the visitor center -- horseshoe crabs!



Next it was off to the south, to cross the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and Tunnel. But first, a cache at an impact crater in the Bay. Who knew? The tsunamis generated by the impact went to the top of the Blue Ridge mountains.

Here's the view from the long fishing pier.



We though this nest belonged to a pelican, but it was really an osprey.



The kids waded out to this island. Andrew picked up a couple of large shells and brought them back to the beach. Then he found out they had crabs in them! So he took them back out to their home.



Then it was on to the bridge and tunnel.

The start of the bridge.



This is the view looking back at the last tunnel.



Then we had to hightail it to DC. It was a really long day and a long drive, and my jeans were still wet when we got to the hotel. But it was fun. And the conference was fun too.