3. Chocolate, Candy and Wild Horses

The boys inside Hershey’s Chocolate World.

Less than twenty-four hours into our trip and I wasn’t so sure that we were going to finish.  When a stomach bug hits you on the road, it’s hard to find a happy place.  With Sam, despite the bug, the urge was strong to continue.  Why?  Because even when your stomach doesn’t feel its best, the idea of passing up a candy mecca seems downright ludicrous!

Hershey, PA is a quaint little town just outside Harrisburg, PA and is sometimes called “the sweetest place on earth.”  Outside of the obvious nod to the chocolate and candy being produced, its original purpose was to be pretty “sweet” for the employees of Hershey’s Chocolates.  Milton Hershey envisioned a place where people could work and live with their families, where all the amenities were right there.  No need to travel to another town for the doctor, as it was right there.    His contributions to the community were far reaching: medical facilities, parks, a zoo. A perfectly contained community.

Tips: Hershey’s Chocolate World was good for a quick visit.  The tour was free, but if you have kids over 8, I would move onto something else. We also saw the 4D Mystery movie.  Personally, I was pinching myself to stay awake, Sam was kinda into it, and Ben liked it.  Another aspect of Chocolate World that is best suited for the younger ones.  If we had to do it again, I would try to do the chocolate tasting instead of the 4D Mystery movie. 

Free tour at Hershey’s Chocolate World. Best suited for younger ones.

All in all, we spent about 1.5 hours there. Seeing the vast amounts of candy made it worth it.  The boys still bring up the giant candy bars and stacks and stacks of chocolate. Ben still wears his Hershey Bar shirt.  If you want to go to the fun park as well (Hersheypark, which I had visited as a child and thoroughly enjoyed), plan for sox or so hours and to be exhausted at the day’s end.  Otherwise, Chocolate World is great for a quick visit and opportunity to stretch your legs.

When we finished at Chocolate World, we went to Red Robin to eat lunch.  Sam was able to get a few things down.  Ben got his chicken tenders.  Red Robin is always a solid place when it comes to family eating.  Thank you Red Robin!

One last gas fill-up and we started making our way east to Delaware and then south towards Assateague Island National Seashore, our next stop.  Sam and Ben were  pumped about the trip and anxious to see the ponies.  Feeling a little better after a some food in his belly, Sam determination was clear.  It looked like the trip was going to continue as planned!

Maryland and the Delmarva peninsula.

The Delmarva peninsula sits between the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean.  When most people think of Maryland, they think of the skinny section of land between Virginia and Pennsylvania that also surrounds the Chesapeake Bay. What most people don’t think of is that the bottom portion of the peninsula is part of Virginia.  Both states are bordered on the Atlantic side by barrier islands.  The two most prominent are Assateague Island (MD) and Chincoteague Island (VA).

The islands may seem insignificant…just like any other barrier islands, but they are in fact unique in that they host wild ponies.  Ocracoke, an Outer Banks barrier island, also has ponies, but outside of these you aren’t likely to see wild ponies unless you head out west.

There are many stories for the origins of the ponies.  Some claim that they survived a shipwreck hundreds of years ago and have been able to thrive in isolation on the islands.  Another claim is that there was a land bridge connecting the islands to the mainland over which the horses gained access.  A great hurricane thrashed the shores and the ponies have been trapped ever since.  The more practical view is that nearby land owners brought the horses there to avoid taxes.  In any case, what is known for sure is that the horses have Spanish roots and that no one knows for sure how they got there.

Each year at the end of July, to maintain the herd sizes and ultimately keep the ecosystem in tact, a group of the ponies is swum from Assateaugue to Chincoteague where many of the young foals are auctioned off.  Following the auction, the remainder of the herd swims back.

As we neared Assateague, I knew that Sam was feeling much better because he saw an ad for crab legs at a restaurant we were passing by and he wanted to stop immediately.  Alas, we could not.  Time was ticking and we needed to get firewood (again) and to get to the campsite with enough time to pitch our tent in the light.  Luckily, there were firewood stands all along the way.  They were mostly on the honor system – which makes me feel warm and fuzzy to see.  We picked some up, drove just a bit more and finally we arrived at the National Park.

As we drove over the bridge to the island, we could spot groups of two to three ponies on either side.  It was so beautiful!  I’ve seen bunnies grazing, turkeys, deer, even a bear in my neighborhood, doing what they do – eating and surviving.  I’ve seen horses eating- but in a confined space. Roaming free and running wild….that was just majestic. And the boys thought so, too.

Ponies going through the camp. Maybe they needed to use the bathroom or take a shower?

We checked in and set up camp.  While we were moving things back and forth, a small group of ponies wandered through our camp.  They were right there!  They were big and beautiful.  It was so cool to see another animal- other than humans doing their “thing”.  It’s such a great check on where we sit in life!

Ben and Sam next to our tent with wild ponies in the background.

Our camp site was phenomenal.  The National Park Service is wonderful in providing diagrams, pictures and descriptions, but it is just something else when you get there. Our site sat just before a sand dune.  We set up our tent towards the top so we could see the ocean…yes – the ocean!  We were camped right on the ocean!

Our neighbors were awesome.  We were having trouble setting up our fire for dinner and they came over and offered us an extra starting kit.  We ended up all sitting around the fire, telling stories and eating s’mores. Everyone was exhausted, so we hit the “hay” a little early.

Rainbow as seen from our tent…didn’t show up in the picture very well:-/

Boys playing by the surf first thing in the morning.

The next morning, Ben woke me up shouting “mom come out here!”  When I peeked my head out I saw off in the distance a rainbow.  The sun was rising, you could hear the sound of the ocean crashing against the shore and there was a rainbow off to the side.  It was amazing.

The boys had a couple of Nutrigrain bars and elected to go play in the sand.  I was able to sit and watch them as the sun came up and take in the surroundings.  Such a wonderful way to start the day!

We packed up the car with the exception of a clean set of clothes and our shower kit.   We got cleaned up in the decently appointed showers at the camp (very nice showers for a camp site).  Then it was back in the car and in search of coffee!  Post coffee, we set off towards the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel and Norfolk.

Tips:  If you were to go to Assateague Island make sure you have  sand stakes for your tent. We had them, but given the wind had we not had them we would have been in big trouble. Also, even though the location of our tent was perfect for viewing the ocean, we should have set up at the base of the dune. The wind, in addition to being strong enough to carry the tent away, (or at least it seemed that way), was very loud.  It would have been just as easy to move the chairs up the dune to watch the ocean, and that way we would have had a better night sleep. In addition, it being a wild pony sanctuary, look out for the horse scat which is everywhere.  Lastly, if you aren’t near the wind or a breeze, you will be eaten alive by mosquitos.  We had a midnight run to the bathroom (outhouse) and paid for it.  Bring spray.

Next up: Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, Norfolk, VA and the USS Wisconsin.