Category Archives: Breaking Away

We had a wonderful sunny day to wrap up our visit to this isolated village on Virginia’s Eastern Shore.

We began with breakfast at Bill’s Seafood Restaraunt, a bustling, no-nonsense favorite of many locals. Afterwards, we bought freshly made sandwiches for our trip to Assateague at the Grubstake Deli, which also features wines, cheeses and Haagen Daaz ice cream.

We took time to admire the many little groups of ducklings bustling around the streets of Chincoteague, each led by a gently quacking adult female duck. Since the Chincoteague waterfront is also the home of dozens of semi-feral cats, I expected to see carnage, but invariably the ducklings would be paraded safely in front of one group of cats after another. I am still not sure why the cats observed the fuzzy little happy meals with boredom. We saw few dogs and they seemed to ignore the ducks also.

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We had hoped to see the elusive wild ponies of Chincoteague and it turned out that there are lots of them to see. They are not shy at all. We have not gotten over to the Wildlife Refuge on Assateague Island yet, but there are recently obtained ponies in corrals all over Chincoteague island.

We stopped at the Refuge Inn and a mare and her colt foal came right over to greet us. Here is Gretchen getting up close and personal with the mare.

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It’s 3:30 am and I am writing this from a vantage point on the second floor of a waterfront hotel along the Chincoteague Bay. It is a beautiful night and a cool breeze is blowing up the bay. I can hear the crews of nearby commercial fishing boats preparing for the day’s work.

Gretchen and I are staying at the Hampton Inn, which is one of the newer hotels along the Chincoteague waterfront. It is within walking distance of shops and restaurants in the historic downtown area of Chincoteague Island and a short drive from the National Wildlife Refuge and beach on Assateague Island where the famous Chincoteague Ponies roam free.

We have come to celebrate Gretchen’s birthday and the beginning of another phase in our lives. It was a leisurely five hour drive through the rolling hills of Virginia to bustling Norfolk and then up the eastern coast of Virginia to our final destination. We chose secondary roads wherever possible as we have learned that our journeys are much more relaxing when we travel the byways. Our speeds are moderate but the trip takes less time subjectively, because there is so much to see.

We dined a few hours ago on flounder, crab, scallops, and oysters at the Landmark Crabhouse on the Chincoteague waterfront. The seafood was fresh and we ate at a table overlooking the bay. The setting sun and the soaring seabirds made it an idyllic scene for our private celebration.

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One of the benefits of semi-retirement is that I get occasional moments when I can stop and take a look at the roses instead of careening by. On the other hand, one of the downsides of working for yourself, as I do, is that you are doing things you love and don’t want to take time off.

It seems that I am either going full-tilt from early in the morning until well past midnight, or I am temporarily becalmed. I am in the midst of a busy spurt at the moment, so my blogging is somewhat sporadic. I have been thinking of you all in the past few days, because I see that other bloggers are going through much the same kind of frenzy. It must be that time of year. There is a remedy for these hectic days of our lives.

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