Thanksgiving Week Vacation Day 3
Today (November 23rd) is day 3 of our Thanksgiving week vacation.
It was raining at 5:30 am this morning. I saw lightning and heard a roll of thunder (just one). It was 61 degrees outside. The temperature would drop throughout the day.
By 7:15 am we both had showered and gotten dressed. Bob made a cheese omelet for breakfast. I made instant oatmeal. We both had hot beverages, coffee for Bob and tea for me, and orange juice.
After breakfast, we went for a short drive. Our first destination was the nearby Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge on Assateague Island. We followed the Beach Access Road to the Toms Cove Visitor Center, where we turned around. We saw a few egrets and great blue herons, as well as ducks. We saw horses too, way way off in the distance. I didn’t take any pictures, as the dim lighting wasn’t conducive to good quality photography.
Our second destination was the Veterans Memorial Park back on Chincoteague Island. The park has a good view of the Assateague Lighthouse. Again the lighting was poor for photography, although I did get a decent picture of the boardwalk and gazebo. Bob captured a nice picture of me inside one of the gazebos.
Veteran’s Memorial Park Boardwalk and Gazebo
Veteran’s Memorial Park. If you look closely, you can see Assateague Lighthouse in the background.
We returned to Tranquil Shores, our rental airbnb, from the park to await the sunny skies expected at 3:00 pm this afternoon.
My most enjoyable activity, during our downtime, was sitting on the screened-in porch preparing draft blog posts.
My work station
I must admit it wasn’t easy to keep my attention on my blog, when I had such a beautiful view of the marsh to look at.
Today’s lunch was leftover Sloppy Joes, coleslaw and cottage cheese.
After lunch we drove to the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge on Assateague Island. We followed the Beach Access Road to Assateague Island National Seashore, stopping for photo ops.
Snowy Egret
Great Egret
Do you see the difference between these two egrets? The Snowy Egret has yellow feet and a black beak. The Great Egret has black feet and a yellow beak.
Cormorant – Pose 1
Cormorant – Pose 2
Cormorant – Pose 3
We made it to the Atlantic Ocean.
Leaving the beach we made our way back up Beach Access Road. We stopped at the parking lot for the Wildlife Loop. We went for a walk on the Marsh Trail. The trailhead is close to the parking lot. The trail is .6 miles one way. There are no side trails or confusing intersections, so there is no way to get lost.
The Wildlife Loop Marsh Trail is flat and an easy walk.
The highlight of our walk was seeing a wild pony at the trail’s overlook platform.
a Chincoteague Wild Pony
The Wildlife Loop Marsh Trail Overlook Platform is in the background. The wild pony was behind the overlook platform on the right side.
We made a loop out of the trail by walking along Wildlife Loop back to the parking lot.
From the refuge we drove to downtown Chincoteague and stopped at the Robert Reed Waterfront Park. The park is decorated for Christmas, complete with a huge Christmas tree.
The statue of Misty the horse greeted us, as we approach the Robert Reed Waterfront Park.
“Christmas by the Sea” at Robert Reed Waterfront Park
The lights are on the Christmas tree and, I believe, the lights were turned on November 16th. We will try to return to the park at nighttime to check out the lit Christmas tree.
Bob photographed me sitting on one of the “Love” chairs.
These four Adirondack chairs are 10 feet tall and weigh more than 500 pounds. The chairs arrived in Chincoteague in the summer of 2014 and promote the state’s “Virginia is for Lovers” tourism slogan.
It was a lot easier getting into that chair than getting out of it!
Late in the afternoon we returned to the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge and drove around the Wildlife Loop. The Wildlife Loop is open to vehicular traffic between the hours of 3:00 pm and 6:00 pm. Earlier I transferred images from my camera to my iPad and had forgotten to return the memory card to my camera. I am glad that we didn’t see anything remarkable during our drive; otherwise I would have been upset that I didn’t have a memory card!
Tonight’s dinner was take-out fish, onion rings and hush puppies from Captain Zach’s Seafood.
My dinner from Captain Zach’s Seafood
Dinner was delicious. Even the pickle tasted really good.
The Beauty Around Us 
2 Responses to “Thanksgiving Week Vacation Day 3”
I’ll bet you didn’t forget your memory card any more on this trip. Unfortunately I have done the same thing.
Looks like you picked the perfect place for your vacation. Everything looks great inlcuding your AirBnB. I think we’ve all been there regarding the memory card situation. It’s frustrating I know.