We made the drive to Assateague on Friday. It's supposed to take 3 1/2 hr, but of course it took 4 1/2. And with no air conditioner. The car decided this was the day for that to go out. But we did enjoy some Bay breezes on the way.
We got to the campsite and set everything up. Of course it was windy. Why would it not be. I forget every time that beach camping is not the same as camping in the woods.
But it is the beach, and we were going to have fun no matter what!
Did you know that a tent in the wind sounds like someone rustling a potato chip bag? All night? And the little zipper handles jingle when the tent is rustling like a potato chip bag? Yup. And I grabbed the wrong air mattress, the one that doesn't hold air (why do we have this?!), so I was on the ground all night. The upside? Sand is softer than dirt.
Again, we were determined to have fun - and we did! Thankfully we had the propane cooker, so there was no need to battle a campfire in the wind. So we enjoyed a nice hot breakfast wind or no.
And then the sun came out! What a beautiful warm day to be at the beach!
I think someone was nervous to be in a one-person kayak on her own.
But someone else got to ride in the two-seater with me.
Our groovy kayak guide led us well though. We battled upwind to get to a place where we could pull out and look for marine life. The girls caught fish and periwinkles and clams. They found all kinds of shells and evidence of other animals. And the ride back as with the wind at our backs, so smooth going.
Then back to the beach!
The girls found a lot of cool shells and animals at the beach too.
No trip to Assateague is complete without a horse coming to raid your stash though.
She had her fill of cheetos and lettuce before people could sneakily get the food away, all the while trying to stay the mandatory 10 ft. away from her.
She was pretty though.
One last beach walk before we had to leave.
We went to the Nature Center to finish up some badge work before we left. We got to meet this sweet Terrapin up close.
And everyone got to watch the fish and crabs being fed.
None of us had ever seen a horseshoe crab's underneath. We even got to watch it eat - their mouths are in the middle of the body and they have little legs that grab and push food into it. It's creepy, but awesome.
The girls finished up the Junior Ranger program too while we were there.
It was a great Girl Scout campout. There was a good balance between the structure and time you had to choose your own activities. Really the only thing on the schedule was one meal. Other than that, we all camped in the same place, and had two badges we could work on, went on the organized kayak tour, but otherwise we did what we wanted. Which was great. This was a campout I would definitely do again, wind or not. :)
