Chapter One: This Way to Assateague Island

On Friday night, my mom and dad realized that for the first time in years, they didn't have any work plans for the weekend.  So, they decided to take an impromptu day trip on Saturday. 

I wanted to know where this "trip" would take us, but my mom said, "We can't tell you.  It would ruin the surprise!"

I'm so excited!  But I'm a little nervous about the "surprise" part. The last time there was a "surprise" trip, we ended up getting lost, and our 1 hour trip turned into a 3 hour trip. 

I was trying to read the road signs to figure out where we were headed.

Berlin?  Are we going to Germany?

 Nope.  I was wrong.  We were going to Assateague Island!

This is a picture of the marshes as we were driving onto the island.  Such a pretty place full of birdies.  Anywhere that has wildlife gets an A+ in my book!

Further along the road, we came across this sign:

 Haha... I think someone forgot their Starbucks on the morning that they made that sign.  Horses aren't wildlife! 

Whoa, whoa, whoa...

Did I really see what I thought I saw?

I can't believe that I just saw wild horses hanging out on the side of the road!?!

There were more horses in the parking lot!  Wow!  Ok, maybe the sign was a "little bit" right.

I'm having a really weird case of deja vu.  Here I was dreaming of wild horses, and then we visit a place with wild horses.  Mom, are you sure we're in the right place?

Apparently, about 300 wild ponies wander the beaches, inland pine forest, and salt marshes of Assateague Island National Seashore.  The land and water boundaries of Assateague Island total over 48,000 acres in Maryland and Virginia.