Well, it’s been a bit, but we’ve been on the go, so I haven’t prioritized posting.
Our time in Erie ended well. On that Thursday night we went to a Lights Out at the Lighthouse event at the Presque Isle Lighthouse. A fabulous event put on by the state park. There were mostly rangers at each station – one with decorating pumpkins/gourds, one with skulls of common animals, including a few uncommon ones that were found, one with Fresnel lenses, one with bats, one with stinky plants, and one with owls. We enjoyed the information and creativity of each station – especially the plant one that had an hors d’oeurves tray and palate cleansing scents (coffee and mint). The highlight of the night was seeing the live owls – Blossom (barred owl) and Romeo (great horned owl). Romeo spent the night hooting away and finally once it turned dark, two owls showed up and hooted back. It was really cool!
On Friday we did school and figured out Halloween costumes for the kids. Then, on our way to a family hike, we realized our van was running REALLY loud, but we couldn’t figure out what was wrong. It was a beautiful hike and we picked up pizza on the way back to eat at the hotel and watch Secondhand Lions (a great flick from 2003).
My cousin and her husband and son arrived in Erie late Friday night. They were driving from MI to MA to ME and made a pit stop in Erie to visit with us – so fun! I picked up food that my mom had prepared and sent (Thanks, Mom!) and brought it back to our refrigerator.
The next morning Matt had to work, but the rest of us went out to breakfast (highly recommend Gem City Dinor). Matt got dropped off there after work and the two guys he was working with offered their garage and help to fix our van. It was a very generous offer, but after poking their head under our van for about 5 seconds, they diagnosed the problem, and Matt would be able to fix it without them. Grateful for their help!
While Matt and Allin went to get bolts to fix the van, Mimi, the kids and I went and rented a surrey (see pictures). So fun on a beautiful fall day! The kids and Mimi continued on to the beach while we went to get our stuff out of the hotel and fix the van. We finally got on the road around 3:30 pm – but with 8+ hours back to VA, it meant a late night, but we made it.
We spent Sunday at ‘Grandma’ Vicky’s before we headed out Monday morning to Chincoteague/Assateague. To get there we crossed the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel – 24 miles of bridges and tunnels over/under the Chesapeake Bay.
We arrived at the Chincoteague Pony Centre on Chincoteague Island to discover that they offer pony rides. It was just a walk around a ring, but a fun experience to do on Chincoteague. From there we drove around the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge (buildings were closed), but was saw ponies, the beach, and the lighthouse.
Then we ended up camping at Assateague National Seashore where we had ponies walking through our campground! We also walked out to the beach at night to see the stars and ended up seeing a horseshoe crab shell and a really large ghost crab (living).
The next day we drove to a post office and then up to Delaware to get gas (and so we could add the sticker!). Upon returning to the campground we decided on a walk-in tent camping site for the night. We got everything set up and then went for a almost 4 hour walk on the beach. It was rather windy on the walk and the wind continued when we arrived back at camp. Eventually we just decided to sleep in the van since it was also supposed to rain.
The next morning we packed up and headed back around the north side of the Chesapeake Bay. We stopped at Rise Up! Coffee for breakfast before driving over many more bridges to get back to VA.
We stopped by George Washington’s birthplace. It was also closed, but we found a spot to park and walked the grounds. Come to find out, the monument for his birthplace was developed because of the Colonial Revival. I’ll post a picture of the sign that explains it. It sounded familiar…
Leave a Reply