Visiting Assateague

We got there and back.  Cussed at Toyota GPS much of the time.  I just assumed we would go to Ocean City and cross into the park.  Not so at all.  While the resort sits adjacent to the island, the bridge does not connect the two popular barrier islands of Ocean City and Assateague.  Instead, access is only from the mainland, which explains why the formal address locates it in Berlin MD.  We made it.  Functional visitors center with helpful agent.  Then some more driving.  Assateague is divided into three parts:

1. State Park
2. National Seashore
3. Virginia Park 

On crossing the bridge, a branch point enabled entry to the Maryland State Park or the National Park Service Seashore.  Slow vehicular line, but they accepted my National Park Senior Pass with identity confirmed by Driver's License.  It did not take long to encounter the wild horses along the road, with a few photographic traffic stoppages along the way.  There is only one main road with a beach access at each end, camping in the middle, and some historical sightseeing at another branch point.  To get our bearings, I drove to the end.  Distal beach must be the more popular, as there were no more parking spaces this day, maybe some people getting a head start on their Independence Day Weekend.  We drove back to the near beach.  Ample parking there.  Changing rooms were private but very few.  Not a real long walk to the shore along a wooden pathway that the horses seem to prefer to the sand as their latrine.  Very clean, not very crowded.  Cool surf, explaining why virtually nobody took advantage of the waves of modest intensity.  

I had chosen this day because the weather forecast for Ocean City indicated no rain.  About a half hour before my intended departure from the beach, a downpour commenced.  Back to the car, admired and photographed some more horses, checked the internet for the nearest winery which was something of a schlep but along the route home.

Windmill Creek Vineyard's Tasting Room sits in a converted farmhouse of minor historical recognition, furnished with era pieces, including a treadle sewing machine like my grandmother used.  Vineyards to the left, small cornfield to the right, in case they wanted to expand into bourbon.  Two food trucks outside.  Reform Synagogue, Temple Bat Yam, unexpected for that area though by website description slightly more members than my current congregation and unlike my congregation, with its own building, made a suitable next door neighbor.  The winery offered a choice of Sweet or Dry Flights, each with 5 two ounce samples in plastic cups.  A little pricey, but my wife and I shared a Dry selection.  We were directed to a table, though I much prefer to banter with the staff about their winery and their vintages.  Not this time.  I had a sip and swish of each, no threat to my fitness to drive home.  Did not particularly like any of them.

Since the winery sits just off the main north-south highway that brings us home, once I got there I no longer needed a GPS.  Arrived home a little tired, glad I got a day away, and chilled the rest of the evening, a fitting close to the half-year of current projects, which included three trips to Maryland.