{"id":5301,"date":"2019-06-03T08:13:54","date_gmt":"2019-06-03T12:13:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/?p=5301"},"modified":"2019-06-03T17:25:18","modified_gmt":"2019-06-03T21:25:18","slug":"2019-summer-road-trip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/2019\/06\/03\/2019-summer-road-trip\/","title":{"rendered":"2019 Summer Road Trip"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

So, this past Memorial Day weekend my wife and I embarked on one of the longest road trips we’ve ever done – driving down the east coast to Cape May, NJ, and then along the shore to the Chesapeake Bay, over the bay and back up north via Richmond VA, Washington DC, Baltimore MD, and of course a large portion of the NJ Turnpike.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The idea for this road trip stretches back years and years – when my wife first heard of the “Chesapeake Bay Bridge & Tunnel” and decided she’d like to see it someday. So back in January of this year we decided that it was time to finally make this trip, and we started planning and booking hotels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eventually we settled on the long weekend of Memorial Day, plus an extra day for traveling (Friday – Monday). We’d drive down to Cape May NJ and explore the town a bit before catching the ferry over to Delaware, where we’d spent the night in Ocean City in Maryland before heading down a bit further to Chincoteauge in Virginia, and then finally onwards to the bridge\/tunnel – with a final overnight in Richmond, Virginia, before the long drive back home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The trip started a little bit late on Friday morning, mainly due to the fact that my wife had been in Ottowa, Canada, during the week and due to severe thunderstorms had been delayed there overnight Thursday – meaning I was picking her up at the airport very early that Friday morning, instead of early the prior Thursday evening as originally planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, we got on the road and made good time down the Garden State Parkway to Cape May, where we stopped at a brewery (Cape May Brewing) for lunch & some very nice beer (with a suitable wait before heading out again).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Cape
A beautiful day for a ferry ride<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Then it was the roughly 90 minute journey across the Delaware Bay via the Cape May ferry to, uh, well, Delaware! But we didn’t dwell long in Delaware, setting our sights on Ocean City Maryland, where our hotel awaited us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ocean City was a bit of a shock for the both of us – we’d never been anywhere like this, and we’re not used to this sort of tourist-focused area. “It’s like another world,” we kept saying to each other as we drove down the main road, past hotels, mini-golf courses, and other curiosities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nevertheless, we had a good nights sleep there and set out again the next morning to explore the barrier islands via the parks on Assateauge Island: Assateauge State Park and the Chincoteauge National Wildlife Refuge. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These islands were beautiful to explore – though I wish there weren’t so many people there (and that I’d had the right equipment on hand to qualify for driving on the beach) and we had a few very nice walks (and one not-so-nice walk that took us through the woods that were filled with mosquitoes after we’d mistakenly decided to forego bug spray). We even saw the famous wild horses (or ponies) of the island – though I didn’t stop to take their photos, as there were too many other people around.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Sunset
Sunset over the bay<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

One stop we did make along the way was at Wallops Island – because I, as a huge space nerd, couldn’t help but stop at the NASA installations on Wallops Island.<\/p>\n\n\n\n