The Ponies of Asseateague aka My First Ever Spring Break!

After seven years of college, I finally took my first ever Spring Break vacation!!! Just let me bask in the awesomeness of the one time only event for a minute more because if I want to actually finish school anytime soon I can't do any more spring breaks.
Of course, it wasn't a normal spring break that most people think of when spring break is mentioned. I went camping! Shocker. I know. It was awesome. I got to check another National Park off of my list of National Parks to visit, there was a lot of campfires, and even some beach!
Our first stop was Assateague Island National Seashore which is home to the infamous Chincoteague ponies. Unfortunately, these famous ponies are the herd on the Virginia side of the island and not the Maryland side. Oh well, I got to see the wild ponies and that's what really matters. The only thing is that they don't look like typical wild horses. No offense true wild horses are not the prettiest things in the world. Most wild horses we think of are the American mustangs or the Australian brumbies. These are not true wild horses but are what is called feral horses. Basically, they are untamed horses that came from a domesticated ancestor. They think that the horses arrived on Assateague from a shipwreck off the coast of Virgina. I guess you all wanted to know the difference between wild and feral horses. My bad. Blame all the horse books I read as a kid. The good thing is since they came from a domesticated ancestor, the current generation is pretty!

We were lucky and we were able to see the newest foal! The little guy was only 9 days old at the time!

I'm not sure who was more excited about the ponies, me or Lindsey.

On Assateague, we camped on the beach quite literally. All that separated us from the main beach was a sand dune. It was awesome! It would have been even more awesome if it wasn't so cold or foggy. Our little camping adventure came with several lessons. One being that I'm easily offended when guys think I can't do some things because I'm a girl. The park ranger offered to start our fire for us because he couldn't believe that I actually knew how to do it. Or that I couldn't do it on a foggy day. Let's just say I was a little smug when he stopped by later and was dumbfounded to find our fire blazing away. The second lesson was actually not for me but Lindsey. This was the first time Lindsey had gone camping without her parents and we decided to use her family's tent because my biggest tent in Maryland is a two person. Let's just say that she will never forget the rain fly again. Unfortunately, it was a cold, wet night for us. Third lesson, it is the scariest thing in the world to be heading to the bathroom in the middle of the night while using your phone as a flashlight when you run into a wild pony. I thought that I was dead when I encountered said pony. But it's okay, I think I only startled him a little. Unfortunately, I think I came off worse in the exchange since it was the middle of the night and I was a diabetic with a very full bladder. I'll let you take a guess at what happened.

Our tent. Notice no rain fly. Not a good idea when it's foggy and most of the moisture is going to nucleate to your tent. Oh well, the beach was just over that sand dune behind it.

As I said it was a cold day. Don't worry I soon changed out of my shorts and put real pants on.

This was Nella's first camping trip. Can you tell she is a little excited to be sleeping in a tent?

The Ponies kept invading the camp in large numbers. Hence why it should be no surprise that I ran into one in the middle of the night.

As I said, the beach was really close. But like always, I was the only one who got in. I grew up in a place that has several glacier lakes. I'm used to cold water.

It actually wasn't too cold but it was not warm enough to go swimming without it being a warmer da

We also enjoyed the nature that was around the island. There is something beautiful and creepy about marsh land. Unfortunately, I kept thinking of the Dead Marshes from the Lord of the Rings. Fortunately, there were no dead elves in this marsh.

We did one of the nature walks around the marsh land.

I'm an Idaho girl and a chemist. I like lots and lots of fire. My favorite thing about camping is the campfire. Hence all the wood.

See! I did not need a park ranger to light our fire. I passed my wilderness survival class in college thank you very much! Besides all girls learn how to build a teepee and the log cabin when they go to girls camp or at least I did.

It's not a good trip without a good book!

See it's a nice fire. I couldn't make it too big because I was building coals to cook dinner on.

I know camping is to get a way from life and technology but I love my Nook! It has so many good books in it! Of course it had to come! I didn't want to carry five real books with me and that would still be too few since I read eight books that trip.

Dinner was tin foil dinners which is my absolute favorite camping food.

Dinner is cooking! Thank you grandpa for the gloves at Christmas! I think this was a better use for them instead of wrangling mice.

The fire was especially nice that night since it got super foggy and cold.

I love camping! Thanks Nella and Lindsey for being awesome and going with me!