Assateague Island

We arrived at Assateague Island around two or three, and after crossing the bridge, we saw two horses, just nosing around in the grass at the base of the bridge. That led us to believe that they were very common. Not so much, as we drove around looking at campsites, we saw one other horse, grazing calmly. We ended up choosing a camppsite in the Oceanside Campground, with dunes separating us from the beach, so it was just a few hundred feet to he water, but it was out of site. After setting up, my mom and I took a quick bike ride, Elliot did some reading just outside, and my dad read on the beach. My mom and I only rode for about four or five miles, so we decided to take a quick walk on the beach. My dad met up with us on his way home. As we went to bed, it started to rain, and continued to do so for most of the next day. We saw no horses. The next day we walked two nature trails and id a bit of biking. We still saw no horses. As we were leaving, going over the bridge, we saw three horses. We all agree that they may be repeats, but it was nice to have a send-off all the same.

 Here's the horse we saw coming in, looking at campsites.

 There's me, walking along the top of a sand dune.

 Our campsite, with Elliot.

 A lawnchair at the top of a dune.

 One of the rainy days, walking on a nature trail.

 Our send off horses

A little bird, we don't know what kind he/she is.

 Daddy read his book from that lawn chair on the beach.

Delaware! (And a Bit of Maryland)

We left Aunt Nancy's yesterday morning, and now we're at a boondocker's place in Delaware.  We got here mid-afternoon yesterday, and it was still early and warm enough to take a bike ride!  The roads around here are great, really smooth.  There aren't too many cars out, especially if you go at the right time of day, which is great.  I went for a bike ride all the way over to Maryland (just 2 miles) this morning, and I got some nice pictures.

Really nice and smooth roads around here!

Here's Maryland!

The roads just keep going, and going, and going...

The roads in real life weren't the same as on Google Maps, and I ended up going a little too far west, onto this road right along the highway that must be a dedicated bike road!  :) 

A small panorama of the bike road and the highway

And here's a random picture of Tinycat that was on the SD card!

Naked and Starving at Valley Forge

Well, we were not really as bad off as the Continental Army setting up camp....    See those 2x4's under the wheels, we had to drag those out of the back of the truck all the way to the wheels.  And that electric jack on the front of the trailer, I had to hold the button on that for almost 10 seconds to level up our house.

After staying at the farm near Allentown, we showed up at my cousin's house a little further south.  It was a short drive so we had time to get set up and relax in the driveway and work on my cousin Eddie impression.  Elliot and I were killing ourselves laughing as the beer cans rolled around in the wind.  Nancy had a sort of polite wave when she drove in, I think she was laughing...

  There goes the neighborhood...

We had a nice time visiting, relaxing and hanging out.  Elliot & I took a monster long bike ride Saturday morning through a local park and around a reservoir lake.  Alice especially had a nice time connecting with her 2nd cousin Audrey the whole weekend.  Audrey was our first dinner guest in the camper Saturday night; she was very polite to bring her own fork (we only have 4) and she didn't seem claustrophobic at all!

For all you western NY Wegmans fans:  We also made two stops at Wegmans, the area is being taken over.  Nancy liked a local closer smaller store, but it closed when Wegmans opened, and there may be a new larger one there in the future.   See the sign of the W over Philly?

 On Sunday, Aunt Eleanor drove up and we all went to Valley Forge.  We walked from the Memorial Arch to the visitor's center and back, and drove around the loop to see some of the other monuments and buildings.  It is hard to imagine the differences in life back then, especially during war.  We need to remember and appreciate the sacrifice of soldiers and families in the past.  They secured and built our freedom with great effort.

There were period dressed rangers explaining about the winter encampment:  A soldier with a flintlock, bayonet, axe and shovel,   And a woman dressed as a nurse or soldier's wife.    It would have been a hard winter out in the cold with few supplies and hoping not to get sick, but by springtime the army was stronger and well trained.   The approximately 2000 log huts or 60-80 trees each, were built by 12 man teams who would live in each hut.  Along the row of huts, a 6-8 foot deep trench was dug for defense, and cannon redoubts were built in strategic locations.

   After all the digging in and constructing, the soldiers trained and drilled.  There was no shortage of lead or powder, and by spring they were able to load and fire their flintlock muskets within 15-20 seconds.

 

And here we are, 235 years later, walking around Valley Forge.  We were actually getting hungry, since we had only eaten breakfast.  We talked about making firecakes.  Maybe next time we have a campfire.  Nancy had a really good beef stew crockpot going at home though!

 At 14 and up to 50 or 60, Elliot and I would have been signed up and fighting.   (and Calley's boyfriend Gavin too).

See you later Pennsylvania,  thanks for the great visit Nancy & Aunt Eleanor!

Pennsylvania - Flint Hill Farm

We arrived at the farm we were staying at in the late afternoon, around four, and as we pulled up, saw horses disappearing into their barn, knowing exactly where to go. We parked alongside the driveway and got out to say hello. After talking to a farm hand, our host came in from the fields, with her four Jersey cows. She was very kind, and told us where to park, and when to be up and ready in the morning. After that, she left us to our own devices.

In the morning, we woke up, ate breakfast, and got ready for the day. I helped take the Belgians down, which are very large, beautiful draft horses. After that, I took the cows down. Then it was time to clean the stalls. And clean. And clean. It was mostly just heavy work, after you gave up trying to keep clean.

I suddenly heard shouting and some words that I'm not going to repeat. I ran outside just in time to see two sheep, one gray, the other black, race past me. Long story short, we had captured two sheep, the white one and the gray, and we lost the black one. Over all, we spent about an hour and a half with about eight or more people helping to chase them.

Things like that did not happen often, and the rest of the days went uneventfully, with my mom learning to make goat cheese, me doing a lot of egg and chicken work with Elliot, and my dad moving lots of Rvs into barns.

 Here I am, with the ponies, Rowdy, closest, and Harry Potter, farther.

 Here is Star, on the right, and Later, left.

 Star and Later, once again.

 There they are again, going towards me and Truit, behind me.

 Here he is again.

Here he is again, now getting a treat

 I'm with Sassy, after walking the cows down.

 The farm in the evening

 My mom, in the green, and me.

 The woods

 The barns

 The barns and some fields

 A nice view of the farm.

T-bird, sitting on my parent's bed.

Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania!

So we left Rhode Island this morning, and we're heading west to Pennsylvania.  It was a really cold morning, and there was frost on the ground -- we need to head south fast!  We stopped and walked around in Mystic, Connecticut, and checked out some boats.  

This is the Annie, see description below.

Then we went a little further west and emptied the tanks at a water treatment plant in New London.  We had some lunch at a truck stop, and got back on I-95.

We drove a bit more, and hit New York state, and took 95 all the way through NYC!  New York City was pretty cool, I wouldn't wanna live there though.  We went under a bunch of bridges, then we crossed into Manhattan!  We were only there for a minute or two, but every now and then you could see the Empire State Building.  Then we went over the George Washington Bridge, right over the Hudson, which had a really cool view, you could see most of downtown Manhattan, and a ways down the Hudson.  

And then we were in New Jersey!

We're still on the road, somewhere in New Jersey, which is very pretty.  There's a lot more leaves on the trees, some were even green!  It's pretty cool, we were just in the city, and now we're driving along a huge forest.  We have a little more driving to do, and soon we'll be in Pennsylvania!  (Our 5th state of the day!)