west ocean city and assateague island

Just got back from another vacation to Ocean City, Maryland. This visit was completely different from the kid-oriented trip we took earlier in the season. We stayed in a condo in a wooded area west of ocean city, a 30 minute drive to the National Seashore on Assateague Island.

I took a sightseeing jaunt by myself early one morning because I was so intrigued with all the tumble-down old houses in the area. They look extra mysterious in the morning mist.

This is what it looks like 10 minutes west of all the hubbub on the main drag of Ocean City.

Country charm.

Spooky graveyard.

Not so successful business.

A stones throw from large, newly constructed homes are these modest 1930's & 40's homes. There is a certain beauty in the simplicity of them, mixed with decay. I like to imagine them in their heyday with fresh paint, gingham curtains, roses by the porch, and a well-tended vegetable garden out back. Most look unoccupied, then a sign of life... a face at the screen...

Oh, to be able to fix up one of these! The owners of this one gave up and put up a vinyl-sided modular home right next to it. The farms are limping along, gradually being bought up by developers.

The marshy bay side of Assateague Island. A world away from Ocean City proper.

Nothing more kid-friendly than a day collecting shells on the beach.

Fawns along the access road. The wildlife is used to cars and tourists. The kids were going berserk in the back seat at being so close to the deer and the famous wild ponies of Assateague.

Many times, we've seen the the ponies come down to the beach here, oblivious to the beach-goers, but this week they stayed hidden until we were driving out on the last day. My daughter & I have been working our way though Marguerite Henry's books about the ponies of Chincoteague and Assateague and it would have been quite the disappointment not to catch a glimpse. I recommend the books, by the way, for a 9 year-old audience. Written in the 1940's, they are somewhat dated now, but I get to do a rural Maryland accent.

Now back to work in the studio...