Actual accomplished adventure: 1 hour visit to Assateague Island in Maryland with a slight glimpse of ponies
You can almost see this pony... but it's just the powers of camera zoom.
For those who don't know (and I've been seriously alarmed by how many people didn't know when I talked about this adventure), Assateague Island is an island in Maryland with wild ponies. You can camp there, go to the beach, kayak, and hike. Brittany and I visited the National Seashore park, which was actually surprisingly affordable, if you are local enough to go to the beach there (just 30.00 for a car-load of people for the entire season- compared to 25.00 or so dollars a person on some of our NJ beaches). It cost us just $15.00 to get our vehicle in for the day and we got some handy hints for pony spotting from the park ranger manning the gatehouse.
We stopped in after spending the night in Ocean City, Maryland at a Bachelorette party (Congrats, Meg!), so we were exhausted and slightly dehydrated, but DETERMINED. We started on the bay side, where the park ranger told us she likes to sit in the bay in her beach chair and wait for the ponies to come to her. It was really neat to see crabs and fish in the water. Since it was so shallow, we spent a bit of time with our feet in, just enjoying the view. From here, we glimpsed our first (and only) ponies in the slight distance. They were pretty far back from the viewing area and the parking lot, so apparently, ponies are no fools and not trying to be hanging out with people.
We visited the beach and found plenty of people but no ponies.
We also walked along a boardwalk through the marshy bay area. From there, we got a view of the ponies where they pretty much looked like ants. But, we also got to see a VERY large congregation of turtles sunning themselves, and also, a mom and baby turtle swimming around in one of the waterways there. We also saw quite a few birds.
On the way out, we got a view of more ponies... probably the closest we got to a pony the entire time.
Hopefully, next year I'll have the opportunity to camp at Assateague, as I imagine the camping area may attract the ponies because I KNOW people feed them, even though it is NOT permitted. As with any opportunity that you have to view wildlife, it is hit or miss. I can't blame the ponies for wanting to steer clear of people as I'm sure they are regularly bothered and harassed by people. Next time, I will make sure I have at LEAST a whole day to spend there, to sit quietly and wait for a better sighting. Patience pays off, and we didn't have the time or energy for it during our visit!
photos enlarged AND zoomed in, so you can actually see these ponies better than we could in person!
