Assateague Island: Part Three Odd(ities) and Ends

 I am a sucker for weird sightseeing adventures. Tell me you have the world's largest prairie dog in the middle of nowhere, and I will stop to see it. (Note: world's largest prairie dog is in fact, the world's largest and most abstract pile of concrete "prairie dog"

 When I was planning our trip, I googled 'Roadside Oddities' in Delaware. Turns out it holds the distinction of have the largest steampunk treehouse made of metal, or something like that.

This thing is really cool! It is in a small little town, nothing flashy, just a giant metal treehouse in the middle of hometown America.

 I don't know if they give tours, and they were closed the day we went. It is in part of the headquarters for the Dogfish Head Brewery. It seems like a really cool company, because a) hello! giant tree house! and b) their signage was humorous which is always good. They also had two huge bocce courts in front of the brewing tanks.

 The pigeons also think the treehouse is pretty nifty, and we scared up a dozen or so from under the treehouse.

 Here are the brewing tanks, complete with funky outdoor lighting, which hangs over the bocce courts.

 Here is the door of the tree house. Oh, to have the key that opens the door!

 Alas, we were left to wonder if the inside was as cool as the outside.

 And because I stink at transitions, here's a picture of the bay side of the island! The bay side is marshy and filled with white cranes (egrets? herons?)

This little guy was so cute. A little colt out grazing by itself. I wanted to load it up and take it home, except for the whole 'wild' part. Just a small holdup!

The morning we were to leave, the sky was very dark. I figured it was going to rain so I got the fire going and started to make breakfast. I was desperate for some tea because I got a wicked cold while we were there and I wanted tea in the worst way. James also wanted toast, so I was making him toast over the fire with my fire-cooking ninja skills. It began to sprinkle and I decided it was in my best interest to take down the tent before it started to pour. About 49 seconds later, it commenced to doing just that. I packed up the whole camp in the rain while the kids sat in the car watching Little House on the Prairie like true pioneers. Everything went into the car wet and covered in sand. James' second piece of toast went from toasty to soggy but my tea was salvageable. As I was finishing the final preparations to leave camp (leaving 'no trace' when you have three kids in tow is easier said than done) all of a sudden 5 ponies came wandering in. They stood right where our tent had been, then walked right past me and over to a neighboring campsite. Those people had left food on their table and watched from a distance as the horses devoured their food.

 

 

 It was a pretty amazing end to our stay, and this was all before 8:15 in the morning. I had planned on taking them to Ocean City, Maryland on the way out but it was very early and the clouds were dark and foreboding. I decided to go for it, but driving over the bridge into Ocean City it was so dark and cloudy i was hard to see. We came over the bridge, parked and the clouds literally disappeared. It went from dark and menacing to bright and sunny in a matter of minutes. It was perfect! We walked the boardwalk, which was remarkably uncrowded since it was early. I might get flack for saying this, but the boardwalk blows anything in Jersey out of the water. The boardwalk is nice and wide, very clean and full of fun attractions. And! I didn't spot anyone walking around with the words 'Jerzy Gurl' emblazoned on their butt which is a win in my book!

 One of the big attractions on the boardwalk is the Ripley's Believe It or Not! museum. This giant tire was sitting in front. It was from some sort of mining vehicle and cost $20,000. It was so huge that both Katie and James could comfortably stand together inside the tire wall. Crazy!

The best part of our time on the boardwalk, aside from taffy and Fisher's popcorn, was when this little chicky did a cartwheel on the boardwalk. It was accompanied by a cacophonous clatter you wouldn't ordinarily associate with cartwheels. We all paused, including a couple who was walking behind us, then busted out laughing. Turns out she had stuffed all her pockets with seashells, and they all came tumbling out mid-cartwheel! She had a sheepish grin as we picked them all back up and stuffed them back in her pockets. She's a peach!