Eastern Shore Railway Museum – Wikipedia is in the City of Parksley in Virginia. We happened to drive past and stopped to make a few pictures.
I included an old ruin of a house not far from the museum.
For Dan’s Thursday Doors: Doors for Sale – No Facilities
This is the second time I booked a boat tour with Chincoteague Island Adventures with Captain Randy Birch. His family has lived on Chincoteague for many generations. The stories he tells and the places we get to see are marvelous. We were the only two on the boat and it was so nice to get a private tour like that. He knows the local fishermen like the ones who showed us their catch of minnows.
This year is the 100th Annual Chincoteague Pony Roundup, Swim & Auction.
I love the little Chincoteague Island Library on Main Street. There was an display about children’s book Misty of Chincoteague (novel) – Wikipedia. And a sculpture of Misty nearby. See The Misty of Chincoteague Foundation | Misty the Pony.
I fell in love with the huge very well done new mural by Michael Rosato. Later during our stay we attended a lovely history tour by Cindy Faith. Cindy invited the artist. She also started the fund for it (CHINCOTEAGUE: Funding sought for three-story downtown mural – Eastern Shore Post). Besides forays to see the local wildlife I enjoy learning the local history and meeting some of the local people.
We took a morning hike in the National Wildlife Preserve. we moved fast to try to outrun the mosquitoes. The photographs of the buntings (male and female) needed rescuing in Topaz Photo AI. There were hundreds of toads. Many baby ones were the size of my little finger nail. There were very few butterflies. I saw a couple of monarchs, cabbage whites, and one least skipper.
In the afternoon we went to have a rest at Assateague Beach. It was nice and peaceful there under our beach umbrella.
There were hundreds of trucks driving out to the island to dump sand for the new beach parking lot. They created a lot of noise. Here is an article about it: In Chincoteague, A Stampede Against Beach Changes – Times Leader. The town’s residents are not happy about it.
Burtons Shore Beach – Google Maps was a serendipitous find. We were the only people there. It was lovely. For lunch I found the best restaurant for crab cakes, the Island House Restaurant & Marina in Wachapreague, Virginia. The restaurants we tried in Chincoteague are touristy, expensive, and not too good. The exception is the Island Creamery. Their homemade ice cream is the best I have ever eaten.
After lunch on the way back to Chincoteague, we briefly stopped at North End Point. It is near Robin Hood Bay and Saxis in Hallwood, Virginia. It is a stop on the Kayak the Shore: Explore Eastern Shore Water Trails.
We saw a cute cottontail rabbit sniffing the rabbitfoot clover back at Chincotegue.
At dawn we went to the bridge leading to Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge. We were reward with a sighting of a Clapper Rail. After breakfast we drove to the refuge and saw lots of wildlife. There are many deer and ticks. I got 4 tick bites during the trip. I spotted one on our car window trying to get in! And there are mosquitoes in multitudes. We saw Chincoteague ponies known as the Assateague horses. Delmarva fox squirrels are only found in that area.
We drove through a small part of North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, and up through part of Pennsylvania back to New York. There was fog early in the mornings. We spread the trip out over three days and stayed overnight at two places. The drive from Gatlinburg is 710 miles and if we drove straight would take over 11 hours. I took these with a Samsung Galaxy S22.
The Sinks: Just East of the Townsend GSM Entrance on Little River Rd. (pigeonforge.com) A lovely waterfall.
The Sinks is an unnatural waterfall on the Little River. It’s situated along Little River Road, which is a scenic drive in the park. The waterfall plunges into a deep gorge and then suddenly slows, forming large pools.
The Sinks was created when the Little River was used for logging access. At one point, logs jammed the river, leading to a dilemma for the loggers. Their solution? Dynamite! They blasted the bend, creating a new route of access and forming The Sinks.
Crystal-clear water, natural pools, and a waterfall make this spot picturesque. Visitors can see Mother Nature at her finest here. However, swimming and jumping are strongly discouraged due to the dangerous undertow and currents. At least 60 deaths have occurred here since the 1930s.
