Moblogging – Chincoteague, day 2

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.

UPDATE: In my unfamiliarity with horses, I had failed to remember that a foal is less than a year old, a colt is a young male horse, and a filly is a young female.

The foal was a deep chestnut color, almost copper, with black patches masking each eye. I’ve never had much affinity for horses since one wiped me off its back with a pine tree, but when I saw this foal, I could easily understand how someone could empty his bank account to own and maintain one.

She had a personality and an appearance that really appealed to me. She was for sale, but I regained my senses, gave her a good scratch, and drove off without her.

One of the pleasures of visiting the shore is the possibility of discovering sources of excellent seafood. Today we have only been batting .500.

We stopped at Don’s Seafood for lunch and I had the best scallops I have had in ten years. They were fresh and sweet and unbelievably good. Gretchen had steamed shrimp in Old Bay seasoning and she was ecstatic. Don’s is one of those seafood places where the decor is plain boring and there is no view. They concentrate on delivering excellent food.

This evening, we went to the highly touted Chincoteague Inn with its pleasant decor and a splendid view of the sun setting over Chincoteague Bay. Bad mistake. Gretchen’s scallops were inedible and my shrimp scampi was not much better.

We still have several seafood restaurants to check out before we leave. We are going to start with the plain-looking places frequented by the locals. There seems to be an inverse relationship between quality of seafood and elegance of decor.