Just finishing up a loop trip down around the southern end of the Bay.
First stop was Luray Caverns. I hadn’t been since I was a kid, and had forgotten how really spectacular they are. Then we did the mandatory Williamsburg visit. Last time we did our second day at Jamestown, so this trip we concentrated on Yorktown. The Museum of the American Revolution is excellent. In addition to the exhibits themselves, we attended a great lecture by a historian about the Revolutionary War. We also caught a musket firing demo, and more exciting, a cannon firing. That thing was LOUD and echoed across the landscape for several seconds afterwards. Quite impressive.
From there we headed to the Norfolk area, and spent the day at Fort Monroe, visiting the museum there and taking the guided tour by a NPS ranger. It’s a very large, very impressive fort. It was decommissioned in 2011 as part of the BRAC closings. One of the most unusual features was a pet cemetery winding along the top of the ramparts. A whole line of little headstones with the pet’s name, birth and death years, and usually a brief description (“Beloved Dachshund”, “Best Friend”, “A Great Dog”, etc.). It was mostly dogs, but there were a few markers for cats and even a rabbit or two. Quite touching.
Then it was across the Bay Bridge-Tunnel and up the VA Eastern Shore to Chincoteague. Visited the small but informative Chincoteague Museum. You may have read “Misty of Chincoteague” as a kid about one of the wild Assateague ponies. Well, the museum has the taxidermied remains of Misty on display, as well as one of her offspring, Stormy, on display. Maybe a tad creepy?? Anyway, we did see several wild ponies when we visited the VA section of Assateague. I liked Chincoteague very much. It was lovely, and very low key.
The next day, we headed north to the MD part of Assateague. The Visitor Center had a good film about the ponies, the impact they have on the environment as a non-native species, and contrasting the different approaches taken by MD and VA to control their respective pony populations. And, of course we again saw several wild ponies in the Park. They are such a lovely sight.
Spending a few days in Rehoboth, then will visit a friend in Rock Hall before heading home.
It was a nice trip exploring places close to home.