9/8/2012 Saturday. We first attended the wedding of Mike and Jenn at the Forsgate Country Club in Monroe, NJ. We didn't stay for the reception and dinner, and instead drove to Hanover, MD (by BWI airport) for the night.
I didn't know about the lower-cost chain Element run by Westin. The hotel is new so things all look fine. The room is quite spacious.
Hotel: Element by Westin, Hanover, MD.
9/9/2012 Sunday. We walked around the Annapolis waterfront in the morning. It was actually quite a pleasant place, I do wonder if the traffic will be unbearable during the summer busy tourist season. Also joined a 40-minute cruise of the harbor. We ended up talking with one of the crew, a gentleman about my age. He speaks pretty good Chinese, and visits China every summer. The downside is I didn't learn anything about the area. Still a nice way to spend a nice day.
Annapolis harborfront.
Cruising the Chesapeake Bay.
After lunch at a local restaurant, we drove to Chincoteague Island, VA.
Dinner at Don's Seafood. We would learn the following day that the restaurant owner also owns a local clam and oyster farm, and serves fresh local seafood.
Hotel: Comfort Suites Chincoteague.
9/10/2012 Monday. After inquiring several outfits, we ended up on a 10 am 2-hour cruise of the waters around the area. The cruise was on a small pontoon boat, besides us there was a couple from Lancaster, PA. We did start out seeing many dolphins, some would swim very close to the boat - they seem to enjoy doing that. There were not many birds, but the guide did point out some juvenile gulls and arctic terns. I barely keep up with what the adults are called, and would never have recognized the young versions. The main attraction in the area are the wild ponies that reside on Assateague Island, their number kept to around 150. On some days they supposedly graze very close to the water, but not today. We manage to see quite a few of them through our binoculars.
Many dolphins observed during our cruise on Chincoteague.
Cormorant with a fish.
American Oyster Catcher.
Wild horses of Assateague.
Many shorebirds inhabit the area.
After lunch at Bill's, we drove back to Assateague Island which is a national wildlife refuge. We didn't do too much walking because there were many many bugs (in addition to mosquitoes that bite.) Both Anne and I got bitten quite a bit. We did manage to see a couple of bald eagles at a distance - Anne has a knack for finding them.
We found out they were going to have an additional ferry from Lewes to Cape May at 6:15 pm, so we decided to try ot make it. We did - despite being delayed by a burnt-out truck on Route 113. The ferry had fewer than 20 cars on it.
By the time we got back to NJ (and we did stop along the way to grab something to eat) it was about 10:30 pm.
Even though we didn't fill our days with many events, we still enjoyed the 600-mile journey. Anne says we should visit the area next spring to see the migrating birds.
