Atlantic Sunrise

We had set an alarm to get us up before the sun, but the phone got put away in a drawer. Luckily, I woke up on my own and we made a cup of tea, collected our chairs and our dogs and were out on the beach before the sun. Beautiful morning and an amazing sunrise. Maryland, who would have thought? Sometimes, I have to stop and think about where I am and what I am doing. Never would I have planned a trip that would have me anywhere near Maryland, let alone watching a sunrise on an unspoiled stretch of soft, white sand. Quietly watching the sun make its daily appearance, I am filled with gratitude for all of the opportunities that open up to me one day at a time. 

Every day, a new plan is formed and a new destination is selected. We look at the map and search for a body of water, nature reserve or interesting turn of geography that is within a two or three hour drive then start googling for camping or things of interest near there. This time, the drive was only a short hour from the last camp, but the idea of wild horses moved it up the list and it has not disappointed. Where next? We’ll find out tomorrow, south is the only prerequisite at this point. 

Once the sun was up, we took a long walk down the beach to the south. No other people at this time of day. Only the lonely carapaces of long dead horseshoe crabs and shells of all types and sizes. 

The rest of the day was easy going, relaxing and reading. Sometimes out in the lawn chairs and other times inside the RV. I bought a Washington Post yesterday and we read it front to back and did the puzzles besides. Never a dull moment with the current political shenanigans. Stretched, napped, showered – all the important responsibilities of our lives.

After lunch, we took another long beach walk. This time to the north. We can see Ocean City way in the distance. The dogs had a blast chasing birds and each other. Sun was shining and the breeze kept the temperature just right.

In the late afternoon, we went in search of wild horses. I had seen a small deer on the trail to the bathrooms earlier, so we decided to try hiking over in that direction. We walked about a mile and just as we were congratulating ourselves on having avoided the famous Assateague mosquitos, we were set upon by a swarm of the evil blood suckers. The return hike was decidedly faster than the walk out. It’s funny, yesterday we were all ready with our mosquito proof shirts and not a bug, so today we were cocky and got worked.

Just as we re-entering the camp from the trail, we spotted three ponies over in the empty area of the camp just south of our camping area. It looks like the same group from yesterday. This must be their home range. They were lazily grazing in between all of the empty camp sites and were oblivious to my paparazzi routine. I took a few pictures then the mosquitos drove us into the motorhome for the night. pJ set us up with some platters of cheese, crackers and fruit and we enjoyed our peaceful evening.