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Chincoteague Vacation – Day 2: Annapolis, MD to Chincoteague, VA

On Sunday, April 7th, at 7:10 am we departed the Best Western Annapolis and continued our drive to Chincoteague, VA.

We crossed over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge about 10 minutes later.

Our first stop at 9:00 am was at the Salisbury Zoological Park in Salisbury, MD. We arrived just as the zoo was opening.

Salisbury Zoo – East Gate Entrance

We spent a couple hours walking around this wonderful, free zoo. I created this slideshow to share with you some of the birds and animals that we saw, while at the zoo.

This was Bob’s first time at the Salisbury Zoo; it was my second visit. My first visit was more than 30 years ago in August 1982.

Our second stop was for lunch at Subway at the intersection of Routes 13 and175.

After lunch, we crossed Route 13 and took Route 175 to Chincoteague Island, VA.

Our third stop was at the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge, located on Assateague Island, VA.

Located on the East Coast along the Atlantic Ocean in Maryland and Virginia, Assateague Island is the largest, natural barrier island ecosystem in the Middle Atlantic states region that remains predominantly unaffected by human development. The Virginia portion of the island is designated as the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge and is managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, with the exception of 448 acres in the refuge’s Toms Cove area maintained by the National Park Service. These 448 acres are part of the Assateague Island National Seashore. The Assateague State Park and the Assateague Island National Seashore are located on Assateague Island, MD. This year marks our fifth visit to the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge and the Assateague Island National Seashore, located on Assateague Island, VA.

Admission to the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge is $20.00, which is good for multiple days. We didn’t have to pay the admission fee, as I purchased a National Park Service senior pass in February 2018, when I turned 62 years old.

We rode our bicycles on the Woodland Trail. The Woodland Trail, which takes you through a pine forest, is 1.6 miles round trip, paved and wheelchair accessible. The trail is open to both walkers and cyclists. A couple years ago many of the pine trees were damaged by a southern pine beetle infestation.

We went for a bicycle ride on the Woodland Trail. This boardwalk leads to an observation platform from which you may see wild ponies.

We looked for wild ponies from this observation platform. We didn’t see any ponies.

Leaving the Woodland Trail, we rode our bicycles on the Beach Access Road to the Assateague Island National Seashore and back to the Woodland Trail parking lot.

We saw two horses and riders at the beach.

Egrets are popular at the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge.

We watched one egret, as it was hunting, standing immobile or wading through wetlands, to when it suddenly took flight.

Great Egret Hunting

Great Egret, Lift Off

Great Egret in Flight

We watched another egret standing in a tree.

Great Egret in a Tree

We rode our bicycles a total of 4.16 miles on Woodland Trail and to and from the beach.

We arrived at Tranquil Shores, our Airbnb rental, at approximately 3:00 pm–1 hour before check-in time. Tranquil Shores is located on Chincoteague Island, VA. I telephoned our host shortly before we checked in to see if an early check in was possible (and it was). Tranquil Shores was our home away from home for 5 nights. I will publish a separate blog post pertaining to Tranquil Shores in the near future.

An hour later the car was unpacked. At 4:40 pm we left to pick up some groceries. We shopped at Food Lion at the intersection of Routes 13 and 175. We picked up dinner, breakfast foods, snacks and beer.

Tonight’s dinner was rotisserie chicken, macaroni and cheese, coleslaw and, for dessert, cheesecake. We purchased a sampler cheesecake platter, which lasted us through four dinners.

We watched a couple episodes of NYPD Blue and then went to bed. As a side note, we started watching NYPD Blue on Amazon Prime in early February this year. NYPD Blue is an American police drama set in New York City, exploring the struggles of the fictional 15th Precinct detective squad in Manhattan. The series was originally broadcast on the ABC network, debuted on September 21, 1993‚ and aired its final episode on March 1, 2005. Bob says this was one of his favorite TV shows. We both saw the series, when it aired. We may or may not have seen each episode, though. I certainly do not remember each episode’s story line. There are 12 seasons, 261 episodes. We watched Season 9 episodes, while on vacation.

Please check back soon for more blog posts about our Chincoteague vacation.

Presque Isle State Park Day Trip

We left home at 10:00 am on Saturday, January 26th, en route Erie. I did not like traveling on either Follett Run Road or Preston Road, both of which were snow covered and hilly. The road surface for the remainder of our drive to Erie was good. We drove to the following destinations, while in Erie: Presque Isle State Park. Cheddars Scratch Kitchen, Best Buy and Sam’s Club.

Arriving at Presque Isle State Park, we drove around the peninsula, making a few stops along the way.

Soon after entering the park, we noticed the trees were coated with white snow.

The snow-covered trees along Peninsula Drive were gorgeous!

We saw the new emergency intake tower, which often is mistaken for a lighthouse, at the Waterworks area. Bob and I have always referred to the tower as a lighthouse. I told Bob that the lighthouse was in a different spot, when we first saw it. Bob said no it wasn’t. I said yes it is. Well, I am right. I have photographic and written proof!

This was the old Waterworks Lighthouse.

The old Waterworks Lighthouse was removed in late 2017. It is believed that the emergency intake tower was installed in the early 1900s. The valve apparatus has not been operational for decades,

The newly restored and repainted lighthouse was installed in September 2018. It is located to the left of the original lighthouse and quite a bit forward of the sign seen in the photograph displayed above. It was installed on land, not on water. Donations helped to pay for the $80,000 project, with $50,000 coming from the Dan and Sallie Shipley Charitable Fund.

This is the new Waterworks Lighthouse.

Jayme, one of Bob’s coworkers, told Bob that he would be ice fishing on either Misery Bay or Horseshoe Pond. We planned to walk across the ice to where Jayme was fishing. As it turned out, Jayme didn’t go to Presque Isle to ice fish, as he had heard that the ice wasn’t good. There were some ice fishing huts both on Misery Bay and Horseshoe Pond.

Horseshoe Pond Houseboats and Ice Fishing Hut

This houseboat with a replica of the North Pier Lighthouse is my favorite of all the houseboats on Horseshoe Pond.

Panoramic Image of some of the houseboats on Horseshoe Pond and Ice Fishing Huts

Continuing around Presque Isle we stopped at the Waterworks area, located across Peninsula Drive from where we had stopped earlier to admire the new Waterworks Lighthouse. We were on the lake side of the peninsula.

Lake Erie

Today was Snow Day at Presque Isle State Park. At the event, organized by the Presque Isle Partnership, visitors could enjoy everything from dog sled and snow show demonstrations, to outdoor cooking and ice fishing. Our interest in stopping at this event was to see a dog sled demonstration, which we did.

Bob captured video of the dog sled demonstration, while I captured still images. Bob’s video is short, only a little over a minute. So please do click on the play button!

Dog Sled Demo at Presque Isle Snow Day event

Shortly before the dog sled demo we petted one of the Siberian Huskies, a beautiful girl named Meeka. She was really soft! Meeka was the lead dog in the dog sled demonstration that we watched.

From Presque Isle State Park we drove to Cheddars Scratch Kitchen, where we ate lunch. Bob ordered from the “Lighter Side”. The entree Bob chose was bourbon-glazed grilled salmon over seasoned rice, broccoli cheese casserole and a house salad. I ordered from “Comfort Food”. My entree was homemade chicken pot pie with a house salad. We enjoyed both of our meals.

From Cheddars we drove to Best Buy. In June 2017 I purchased a 10.5 in. 256 GB iPad Pro tablet. At the time I was in a quandary. Do I buy the 10.5 in. tablet or the bigger, more expensive 12.9 in. tablet. I chose the 10.5 in. tablet because I thought the larger tablet would be too big for me. In hindsight, I should have purchased the 12.9 in. tablet. Well, today, I purchased a new 12.9 in. 256 GB iPad Pro tablet, along with a Smart Keyboard case and Apple Pencil. The Smart Keyboard case was not in stock. I am expecting delivery of the Smart Keyboard case by Tuesday, Jan. 29th. The new Apple Pencil attaches magnetically to my iPad, a feature that I love. So, I am a happy owner of a new iPad Pro tablet! I plan to sell my 10.5 in. iPad Pro, along with its keyboard and pencil, as a package in the near future.

From Best Buy we drove to Sam’s Club, where we picked up a few groceries. We renewed our Sam’s Club membership in December last year, after allowing the membership to lapse a few months prior when Sam’s Club closed in Jamestown, NY. The Sam’s Club in Erie is farther for us to drive than it was for us to go to Sam’s Club in Jamestown. After several months without a membership, we decided that we go to Erie often enough that a Sam’s Club membership would be worthwhile. Besides I miss some of the foods and paper products that we would buy at Sam’s Club. The reason for driving to Erie on Saturday was to go to Sam’s Club.

From Sam’s Club we made our way back home. I didn’t believe snow was in Saturday’s forecast. Well, it snowed the whole way back home!

A Pocono Mountains Weekend Part 5

We spent the weekend of May 5 through May 8 in the Pocono Mountains. As I have much to share with you, I plan to upload several blog posts about our Pocono Mountains weekend getaway. This is the third blog post about our weekend. You may read the first four blog posts by clicking on the following links: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4.

We awakened at 5:45 am on Sunday, May 7. As we had done the previous morning, we ate breakfast at Triplets Family Diner. Bob had a feta cheese omelet with tomato slices and rye toast. I had French toast, one egg and bacon.

We enjoyed activities for half the day. It rained off and on all morning. Looking at the radar, the rain looked like fireworks — bursts of rain popping up all over and disappearing.

Our first activity of the day, after breakfast, was to visit Resica Falls in East Stroudsburg. This is a very pretty waterfall, located at a Boy Scout camp. The Boy Scout camp, Resica Falls Scout Reservation, takes its name from the waterfall. Resica Falls is on private property, but access is allowed by the Boy Scouts. Even though it seems like you shouldn’t enter at all, drive a little ways in and you’ll find parking for Resica Falls. The trail to Resica Falls was located a few steps from the parking area.

Resica Falls

Our second activity was shopping at The Crossings Premium Outlets Center in Tannersville PA. What a nice shopping center, nicely laid out and lots of shops!

We saw some outlet stores we had not seen before e.g. Beef Jerky Outlet, Toys ‘r Us Outlet, Chocolate Works and NEPA Crafters Outlet. We made a few purchases. We bought snacks at the Beef Jerky Outlet and birthday presents for our granddaughters at the Toys ‘r Us Outlet. We bought two pretzels, one covered with peanut butter chips and the other covered with chocolate chips, at Chocolate Works and a pair of skull ceramic coasters for my stepdaughter at the NEPA Crafters Outlet.

We returned to the hotel around 1:00 pm. We ate a picnic-style lunch in our room. While eating lunch, the electricity in our room went out. We called hotel management, and the problem was resolved expediently. The hotel manager brought us a new light bulb, too, as a bulb blew when the electricity went out.

Later in the afternoon Bob decided he wanted to go to Best Buy in Easton, PA. He had looked up on the Internet the availability of a charger for his Fitbit. Bob forgot to bring the charger on this trip and thought it would be a good idea to have a second charger to keep in the car. Bob ordered the charger online for pickup at the store. We drove to Easton and picked up Bob’s online order. Best Buy price matched Amazon’s online price. Bob paid $10.42, not the $21.19 charge at which the order was placed.

While in Easton, Bob checked GasBuddy, a smartphone app that helps drivers find the best gas prices nearby. GasBuddy indicated the best gas price was at a Mobil station in Phillipsburg, NJ. Fuel cost in Stroudsburg PA was $2.43/gallon. In Phillipsburg NJ the cost was $2.29/gallon. We had to cross a toll bridge from PA to NJ. There was no toll to cross into NJ from PA; however, there was a $1.00 toll to cross into PA from NJ. Bob avoided paying this toll by telling the GPS to avoid tolls on our route back to Stroudsburg.

Back in Stroudsburg we stopped at Jimmy’s Ice Cream & Creamery. We had our dessert before dinner. Back at the hotel I microwaved the leftover Chicken Parmesan from our previous day’s lunch. Bob and I made a meal of the leftovers.

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On Monday, May 8, we awakened at 4:30 am, which was understandable as we were in bed and probably asleep by 8:00 pm the night before! I read the Warren Times Observer online, while drinking tea. I took a shower and got dressed. We finished packing and loaded the car.

On Sunday, during breakfast at Triplets Family Diner, I asked our waitress what time the restaurant opens on Monday. I was told 5:00 am. After depositing our hotel key into the drop box, we drove to Triplets for breakfast. We arrived shortly before 5:30 am. The restaurant was not open. We left and began our drive home, stopping for breakfast at 6:30 am in Scranton at Denny’s Restaurant.

This concludes our weekend in the Pocono Mountains.

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I have several things to share with you from our drive back home.

So …

You guessed it! I will be uploading a few more blog posts… three more posts in fact.

First 2017 Road Trip

Early afternoon on New Year’s Day we left on our first road trip in 2017…a day trip to Erie for dinner, shopping and some sightseeing.

We ate a late lunch at Texas Roadhouse, using a gift card that we obtained via Discover Card reward points. Neither of us felt like eating steak. Bob ordered the pulled pork entree with a house salad and green beans. I ordered the smothered chicken entree with a house salad and loaded baked potato.

After lunch we went to Wegmans and purchased a few grocery items.

From Wegmans we went to Michaels, where I picked up five photo boxes and a picture frame for the 3-5×7 prints from our granddaughters’ back to school photo session. I used a gift card that Bob gave me for my purchases. The picture frame fits perfectly in the space above the thimble shadow box.

New picture frame

I think I will keep the middle picture displayed in this picture frame and change out the left and right pictures yearly.

From Michaels we drove to Holland Street. A new sculpture interpreting Erie’s industrial heritage was installed at the corner of East 13th and Holland streets late last month. The sculpture, which consists of a horse pulling the world, represents the Erie region’s transition from an agricultural society to a manufacturing one. The lighting wasn’t great, so I didn’t take a picture of the sculpture. Now that we know where the sculpture is located, though, we can check it out again on another trip to Erie.

Our last stop before beginning our drive back home was at the South Pier.

We took a walk on Erie’s South Pier.

We walked north, to the end of the South Pier.

Across the channel is the North Pier Lighthouse.

The North Pier Lighthouse is reachable either by car from Presque Isle State Park or by boat.

What a beautiful start to the new year. We enjoyed the abundant sunshine and temperatures above freezing. We were surprised to find very little snow close to the lake. Snow began to disappear a couple miles before the lake shore. We had at least 6 inches of snow on the ground in our hometown of Warren, which is located about an hour’s drive east of Erie, when we left on our day trip.

Late Winter Sunday Drive

Bob and I went for a Sunday drive late this morning to early afternoon. We were out and about for 3-4 hours. It was a beautiful day for a drive. The sun was out; the sky was blue to partly cloudy; and the temperature felt more like Spring than Winter.

Our first stop was at the Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft Store in Jamestown, NY. I purchased 2-32 oz. bags of Poly-Fil Poly-Pellets Stuffing Beads for use in a camera bean bag. I paid $11.86 for these beads, after coupons deducted $9.00 from the total cost. A little later in the day I ordered from Amazon a large-sized, black Grizzly Camera Bean Bag. The cost for this bean bag was $17.95, after using a $15.00 gift card that I earned from Bing Rewards. Bing Rewards lets you earn credits for searching on Bing or trying new features from Bing or other Microsoft products and services. Bing Rewards credits can be redeemed for a variety of gift cards and other rewards. I save my Bing Rewards credits for Amazon gift cards! My Camera Bean Bag is scheduled for delivery on Wednesday.

Our next destination was Allegany State Park, located near Salamanca NY, where we spent most of our time. We entered the park via the Quaker Run entrance. We made a few stops along Quaker Lake to take pictures of ice fisherman and Canadian Geese.

Ice Fisherman on Quaker Lake

Canadian Geese at Quaker Lake

We stopped at Science Lake and snagged a couple pictures.

Science Lake

Bob took this picture of me standing on top of the Science Lake Dam.

Somewhere along the way between Science Lake and Red House Lake, we stopped to photograph a beaver lodge.

Beaver Lodge

According to the Beaver Solutions website, there are two main types of beaver lodges — the conical lodge and the bank lodge. The most recognized type is the conical shaped dwelling surrounded by water. It is made from sticks, mud and rocks. One of the primary reasons beavers build dams is to surround their lodge with water for protection from predators. The second type of lodge is the bank lodge. It is typically excavated into the bank of a large stream, river, or lake where the water is too deep or fast moving to build the classic conical lodge. This is a conical beaver lodge.

Our last photo-taking stop at Allegany State Park was at Red House Lake, where we photographed Canadian Geese, and a crow posed for me to take a picture.

Canadian Geese on Red House Lake

A crow, looking out across Red House Lake

We departed Allegany State Park via the Red House entrance.

We returned home along the western side of the Allegheny Reservoir, making one stop at Webbs Ferry.

We discovered a fishing pier. The pier looked like it had been there for a while.

We have visited Webbs Ferry a few times over the years.
Neither of us remembered seeing this fishing pier.

Bob took this picture of me standing on the fishing pier.

Bob walked below the fishing pier.
When the Allegheny Reservoir is full, we think that these rocks
would be covered with water.

This week’s weather looks especially nice. I hope to spend some time outdoors, enjoying the sunshine!

UPS Delivery

UPS stopped at our house late this morning. The box that they left on our front porch was too bulky and heavy for me to take inside.

I unpacked the box outside on our porch.

I shared this photograph on Facebook shortly before 1:00 pm. As of 3:40 pm today, I had received two comments suggesting what might be in the unopened boxes. Tim wrote “New long distance lens?“. Richard asked “60#s of newspaper wrapping?”. I will end the suspense.

Photo obtained from babyology

We purchased two pink Radio Flyer tricycles for our granddaughters to use, while at our house. Aren’t they going to be surprised!

Vacation at Home

I feel like we were on vacation this past weekend, without going very far from home. I didn’t have to cook at all, Friday through Sunday. We went for a motorcycle ride on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. We attended the Roar on the Shore motorcycle event in Erie, spent time with a friend from Virginia who is visiting her family here in Pennsylvania, and we attended a water ski show in Bemus Point, NY. What a great weekend it was. I will share a few photographs from our weekend with you.

We rode to Erie on Friday, July 19th, to attend “Roar on the Shore”.

This year marks the seventh year that this event has been held in Erie. According to the “Roar on the Shore” website, this motorcycle rally was created to serve as a fund-raising event for a local charity. Proceeds from this year’s rally will benefit the Boys and Girls Club of Erie. “Roar on the Shore” is a 3-day event (Thursday-Saturday) and is held in downtown Erie, at Perry Square.

While in Erie we ate lunch at Molly Brannigan’s Irish Pub & Restaurant. This was the view, while we awaited our lunch. Bob ordered a Cobb Salad; I ordered a Pub Burger. Both meals were delicious. It was the first time either of us had eaten at this restaurant and would do so again.

This bar ice sculpture sat at the entrance to Molly Brannigans. It sat outside in 90+ degree weather!

Besides admiring motorcycles parked along State Street and eating lunch at Molly Brannigans, we checked out several vendor booths (didn’t purchase anything) and saw the last few minutes of a motorcycle stunt show. It was difficult to see the motorcycle stunt show, though, as a huge crowd had already gathered by the time we arrived. As we were leaving, live music was playing. The music sounded good; however, it was so hot in downtown Erie we opted not to stay.

On Saturday, July 20th, we went shopping in the morning at a garage sale in a town about 10 miles from our house.

We purchased a Radio Flyer wagon similar to the one shown in this photograph. The seat belts are worn out or broken. I ordered new seat belts yesterday. The wagon needs cleaned out, too, before we take our granddaughters for a ride. I am looking forward to taking the girls for a ride!

We ate lunch at a newly opened restaurant in our hometown, Christie’s Downtown Pub & Grille.

We each ordered steak subs. The steak is not shaved steak; it is a thick, tender cut of steak. The steak sub reminded Bob of a steak sub that was served in the 1970s at a restaurant called “Teddy’s” in downtown Warren. The steak sub was delicious!

Later that day we rode the motorcycle to Sheffield and crashed a picnic. Our friend, Denise, who is from Virginia is visiting her family here in Pennsylvania this week. We surprised Denise with a visit on Saturday afternoon. Bob and I got invited to dinner 🙂

By the way Bob and I were supposed to make a return trip to Roar on the Shore on Saturday to meet up with motorcycling friends from Pittsburgh. There was too high of a probability of rain for our friends to ride up from Pittsburgh, so Bob and I decided not to make a return trip.

On Sunday, July 21st, Bob and I went for a ride around Chautauqua Lake. The lake is located in New York about 30 miles from our home. We intended to stop at Bemus Point and Chautauqua Institution and perhaps in Salamanca at the casino. Our only stop was in Bemus Point. We stayed in Bemus Point longer than expected. We arrived in time to watch a 45-minute water ski show. After the water ski show, we ate lunch at the See-Zuhr House and took a walk along the lake shore.

Chautauqua Lake Water Ski Show
featuring the Chippewa Lake Water Ski Team from Medina, OH

I took this photograph at the conclusion of the water ski show. The photograph shows the perspective from which I took the photographs of the ski show. We could see very well to the left and right of the floating stage, but had to look through musical instruments and speakers to see the jump board that was right behind the stage. The water ski show was free. Other performances will be held on Saturday, August 17 at 1:00 pm and again at 3:00 pm.

After the water ski show, Bob and I ate lunch at the See-Zuhr House. We shared a beef on weck sandwich and chicken fingers, as well as a peanut butter ice cream pie.

This is the peanut butter ice cream pie that we shared.

The next few photographs are from our walk along the lake shore.

An artist at work at “A Stir of Artists” fine art show at Bemus Point Village Park

Lake shore dining at the Village Casino

The trash cans in Bemus Point are photo worthy!

the Floating Stage on Chautauqua Lake

If you are ever in the Bemus Point area in the summer, be sure to check out who is performing on the Floating Stage on Chautauqua Lake. The Bemus Bay Pops concert series is something you will not want to miss.

The Bob Seger Tribute band called “Hollywood Nights” was performing, as we were heading out of town.

When we returned to our motorcycle, we found another motorcycle sharing our spot.
The other motorcycle was a Kawasaki Nomad, same as ours.

Some of the best vacations are the ones that you have at home!