We drove down on Sunday morning, and on the way there, checked off a bucket list item for me: eating at Sonic. I always see the commercials, and it looks so good but there aren't any nearby. So, this was a must-do on the drive. I'm not sure it lived up to my expectations, but the shake was delicious.
After that, we arrived on Chincoteague, and checked into our hotel--the Comfort Suites. It was a really nice hotel (although the front desk staff left something to be desired) with a good sized room for the 5 of us, looking right out on the water and the pool.
We rested for a bit and then went on a boat tour with Captain Barry's Backbay Cruises. This was a private eco-tour of the bay, and it was incredible. Captain Barry is awesome--he takes you all over in his boat, stopping at various islands and sandbars where you get out, scramble through the water, and he points out the local flora and fauna, giving you a chance to touch jellyfish, dig up crabs, taste oysters right from the sea, etc.
The best part of the tour is that Captain Barry is just amazing with the kids, making them do everything themselves, and really experience nature. We all just had the best time, and I highly recommend it. We left the boat tour happy, but hungry, so we went straight to dinner at Steamers, which had great seafood, and was extremely kid friendly. Two thumbs up from all of us. We were all exhausted after dinner, so we just made a quick stop at the local grocery store for more sunscreen and drinks and then headed back to the hotel and crashed. (Okay, Eric and I crashed while the kids had trouble falling asleep all in the same room with us. It was a bit of an adventure not having a suite).
On Monday, we ate breakfast at the hotel, and then drove to the beach on Assateague, only about 10 minutes away. It's a gorgeous beach, and getting there at 9am, we were among the first to arrive. The waves were just big enough fo the kids to play, but not scary big. It was lots of fun.
We spent about 3 hours there, and then Piper turned into a pumpkin. She was tired, hungry, cranky, and melting down. We followed the advice that Captain Barry gave us the day before and headed to Island Creamery--so we could beat the crowds that line up around the building in the evenings for the yummy ice cream.
From there, we drove back to Assateague to check out the educational visitor center. It was interesting for about 45 minutes. We then drove back to the hotel and swam for a few hours in the outdoor pool.
Between the sun, sand, and swimming, we had two starving kids and one exhausted kid when dinner rolled around. The end result was two big kids who polished off this entire tray of pizza themselves, and a little kid who fell asleep at dinner and slept in the booth the entire time.
That night, we just went right to bed, and Tuesday morning, it was time to hit the road. We took the scenic route home, stopping in Ocean City on the way.
Spent about two hours there, and that's about all I ever need to see of OC. I definitely preferred the more remote Chincoteague. Got home that night around 4pm, and all of us were so thankful for our wonderful time together. It was the perfect vacation to get our fill of the beach, get out of town, and get some quality time together. Can't wait to do it again in a few weeks on our road trip at the end of August.
