Aseateague and Chincoteague Islands

Brian, Lily, and I took a little three day trip to Aseateague and Chincoteague Islands. We stayed at a very pet friendly bed and breakfast called the Garden and Sea Inn. Our room was upstairs in an old Victorian home. It was beautifully decorated in pinks and blues. The place was so incredibly pet friendly they had baskets on the porch with doggie towels to dry off your pooch when you come back to the inn from the beach. We had splendid breakfasts in the morning. So very yummy was their stuffed croissants with strawberries.

Chincoteague Island is a fully developed residential and commercial area. They have a cute main street with antique and gift shops, movie theater, and ice cream parlors. We spent an afternoon poking around town. We ate at a restaurant that sat directly on the sound side of the water. There was a dock just outside our table. A boat pulled up, and some folks came in for dinner.

The best part of the experience was Aseateague Island, which is a National Wildlife Refuge. There is no development on the island other than some restroom facilities, a lighthouse, and a visitor's center. It is wild and wonderful. We hiked a three mile trial out around marsh lands. We saw hundreds of snowy egrets and great egrets. There were red winged blackbirds everywhere. We saw some little black egrets too. We spied several turtles too. We also spent some time on the beach. There were two beach areas on the island for public use. One you drive your car to called Tom's Cove close to the visitor's center. The other one we walked out about about a mile and a half from the parking lot. Many people rode bikes to this beach. There were some folks there, the sand, water, and wind. The way a beach was meant to be.

The most attracting thing on the island is a wild herd of horses. We were able to see a mother and her baby trotting down the road. We wanted to hike out to see the herd. We started go, and were attacked by a swarm of mosquitoes. We were ambushed as soon as we started down the trail. We had to fight them off by shaking violently. We still managed to get a bunch of them in the car with us and had to shoo them out for awhile. We both sustained several war wounds. I am not sure when would be the best time to see the horses, but probably after a frosty time period when the bugs aren't flying.