Chincoteague


This weekend we made the trip to Chincoteague Island to visit a friend from college who works there. Seeing the city melt away behind us was the best feeling in the world. I am going to apologize up front because I forgot to take pictures of all the pretty things, I was having too much fun for that.

Saturday night I looked up and saw a sky full of stars. In DC the sky is always an eerie orange color at night and stars are nowhere to be found. They were really pretty and I appreciated being in the middle of nowhere for a little while.

Chincateague is known for its ponies, but what a lot of people don't know is that there is a wildlife refuge there as well as several Navy and NASA programs. The friend we went to visit has clearance to go to the NASA beach. No joke. She showed a badge, filled out a form, and we got our own private beach for the day. Well, we had to share them with the ghost crabs and horseshoe crab moltings, but that was better than the hordes of people the other beach had. It reminded me of Dan Brown's "Deception Point" actually because of the proximity to the ocean and all the gear that was there for NASA. I also learned that the station we were next to is meant to protect DC from missiles fired from the ocean. I never would've guessed that we are being protected by some guns 3.5 hours away.

I was really impressed by nature friend's knowledge of the random stuff we were finding on the beach. In my head I know it's her job to know these things, but she is only person I know who can tell you exactly what kind of shell you just picked up. She is also fearless and had a stand down with a giant ghost crab. Most of the ones we saw were babies you could barely see (pictured above) because of their camouflage. This one was huge and did not run away from us.

And now I have to re-enter the real world which makes my soul want to leap from my body and go back to Chincoteague.

1 comment:

  1. Awh fearless nature friend. I love it. And I love you guys. It was so nice having you here in nature world hehe!

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