Wendy's trip log: Ocean City Maryland-Assateague Island National Seashore

Ocean City MD

September 2021

Having my 1st trip with Tulip Travel a success, they had invited me to travel with them on their trip to Ocean City MD. September is perhaps not the time most people would visit the beach, and we never did take a dip in the ocean, but it was warm enough to still wear shorts and dip our toes in the water. I wasn't disappointed.

We all met at the main office and drove the 5 hours or so south through PA and into Maryland.

Traveling with individuals with disabilities (and a larger group) generally takes much more time then your typical day of travel. I am learning quickly that patience is key to my own happiness when traveling with this group. Generally there is 1 full day of travel to a place and 1 full day of travel to return. Getting 20+ people and 4-5 chaperons to bathrooms and meals on the road has proven to make any travel day LONG. I am surrendering to this fact and making the days play out rather then attempt to create any structure to the trips. (This has been my biggest struggle as I continue to travel with this population. My family as travelers are the lets get it done kind of people, I have definitely had to slow myself down on these trips.) LOVE them anyways.

I have been to Ocean City a few times over the years both times were girls only trips and our time was spent on the boardwalk, the beach and the bars. This trip would certainly be a little different.

When we arrived at the hotel, it was raining HARD, so we all just wanted to get into our rooms and take a breather. Our hotel was located right on the beach and as the evening hours approached, the rain disappeared. I took in a stroll down by the water to get myself a look.

We had pizza and wings in the room for dinner. Yummy and we were all ready for a good night sleep.

The following morning, I went down to the beach area early to catch the sunrise. Still a little overcast, but the sun is peaking out. Breakfast was included in the hotel, but due to COVID, there was no seating in the office area. We needed to assist 21 people with 21 different breakfast items and get them back to the room. This became a daily juggle but we became pretty efficient with the task as the days went on. There were some big plans scheduled for the day, but as I waited for things to get started, I escorted several of the travelers for a stroll along the boardwalk. Most shops and restaurants were closed along the walk. Im not sure if this was due to COVID or if this was an end of season closure. We did however, get to enjoy the beach and the beautiful weather.

The weather was perfect for kite flying. Sadly I have never flown a kite. I've had a kite and I have attempted to fly it, but I never had one get up in the skies. They were absolutely beautiful.

We loaded everyone up in the 2 vans and headed to Assateague National Seashore. I was so excited. I have wanted to come to this National Park for some time, this is where the wild horses live. There are 10 National Seashores in the National Parks Units. This will make #2 this year. I was so excited to see this place.

I saw most of the roads from the back seat of the van, but I did see some birds as we drove in.

It looks like an amazing landscape.

Beautiful, but no horses. I looked deep in the brush for a glimpse of a wild horse. I did see some tell true signs of their existence.....yep, we saw lots of horse poop, but no horses.

But.....just as I was about to give up, we found some, right at the State Park entrance to the beach area. (There is also a state park that borders the National Seashore). We all got out in hopes to enjoy the gift store, stroll the beach and take a much needed bathroom break. Of course we needed to get a few pictures with these lovelies that seemed to be waiting for us.

You are not allowed to get to close to these guys, they are wild animals and you will get fined if you do. We stayed a good distance away and I got pictures of all the travelers with the horses in the background. It was awesome.

Below is Annette, my new traveling friend and my roommate on this trip. She and I will become better friends as the traveling has continued.

Great fun to see these guys.

There is no real explanation as to where these horses came from, but it is assumed that they arrived in the late 1700's by mainland owners in an attempt to avoid fencing and taxation of livestock. There are two main heards of these guys. 1 group resides in Maryland and the other in Virginia. (I got to see the Virginia horses last year on my trip to the Virgina Beach area.)

After the horses we took a walk down to the beach. It was a beautiful day.

Certainly not warm enough to swim, but it was lovely.

The travelers collected seashells, while Annette and I played tag with the waves. After the beach we said goodbye to the horses and headed towards the visitors center at the National Park. (PS- Note to self, there was what looked like an amazing campground directly adjacent to this parking area...possible future place to park my casita.)

I got my Assateague Island National Seashore passport stamp and we explored the visitors education center before everyone got souvenirs.

This was a great treat. I was so glad that we got to see the horses. I think everyone enjoyed themselves. We headed out and went back towards Ocean City and had lunch at Dairy Queen. I haven't been to Dairy Queen in a while. Our group then headed back to the Boardwalk where we went to The Ocean City Life Saving Station museum. Admission was free today due to the "Harvest Festival". We didn't see anything else about or regarding this Festival, but we welcomed the free admission and enjoyed all of the artifacts.

Some shell art and a doll that may have been won at one of the boardwalk games.

Here are more possible prizes for games.

There was a room noting all of the life saving techniques and methods.

There was also some aquatic animals.

I also got a video of a carnival ride laughing women. (I have since deleted her) but her laugh was erie... There were some additional theme park ride pieces like a barking dog and a moving ghost.

After the museum, we enjoyed a stroll along the boardwalk, did some shopping and listened to some musicians that were playing.

Views from the beach

To end the day we went to the local Casino. Each traveler was given a $5- play. Some actually made some money. I also played with $5- and won $70-. I cant complain. We had hoped to find dinner at the Casino, but none of the eateries were open. We had a difficult time finding a place to eat with such a big group and most places did not have open dining rooms. We eventually ordered Chick Filet and ate in our rooms. Later that evening I took a dip in the hotel pool.

The next morning we enjoyed some lazy time in and around the hotel before having a big brunch at IHOP.

We were scheduled to go to the Shipwreck Museum, however it was closed.

Instead we found a lighthouse and walked around the grounds.

A little more shopping at one of the local souvenir shops and we went back to the boardwalk for Ripley's Believe it or Not!

If you have ever been to one of these attractions then you know it is full of weird stuff collected over the years. Below, we are looking at hereity traits. Only so many people can actually roll their tounge.

I happen to be one who can. There was a piece of the Berlin wall. In 1989 the wall dividing East and west Berlin came down. I remember when this happened and David Hasselhoff sang standing on a piece of the wall. Of all the people why he was picked I will never understand.

Some of the bulletins that lined the walls. I took this one about sign language as my daughter is currently in school for sign language interruption.

Holographs.

The Chinese lady slipper. Womens feet were bound at birth to preserve small feet.

Some stuffed critters.

This cool tunnel walkthrough that could cause vertigo. It was a little nauseating.

Odd animals, like this alligator with two additional hind legs.

Actual shrunkin heads.

Some Mid-evil torture.

A Voodoo curse box. Wonder if there are any enemies I could use this on. (Unlikly)

I'm in the stockade, for impure thoughts.

A good old vampire hunters kit.

Some more oddities.

Thats one BIG hand.

Some pretty cool art.

I think we all had fun in this place. I took a ton of pictures of the guys standing next to things that were fun. The staff was so wonderful at this place as well. Very friendly and helpful.

We tried some more shopping along the Boardwalk and realized that there was some serious scams going on. Several of the places had signs that read things like $5.99 for shirts etc. but once we went in and examined these deals, there were all kinds of mark ups. We saw this with some other stores in the area as well with jewelry items. It's sad that these places would attempt to take advantage of this population or any population for that matter. We decided to try some of the stores off the boardwalk and people were much happier with the prices.

Later we went to a place called Secrets. Apparently Chris had been there in the past and it is really a fun place for things like bachelorette parties or girls night, but they do have some unique bars and fun themes throughout the place, so we decided to do dinner there.

It was one of the few places that could handle our group size and it was open. The place was right on the beach so we were able to get to see the sunset over the water while eating fresh fish and Cajun chicken. There were also live bands that played and we all have a wonderful evening.