Our itinerary (June 22 - June 25, 2012)
Friday, June 22
Today consisted of the drive there, a quick orientation of the place, and a dreadful dinner, but I'll get to that later.
I didn't know much about Chincoteague before we arrived. I did my research in terms of booking us a lovely B&B but I didn't know much else. Some things we learned quickly - the beach is not within walking distance. There's also no way to see the beach without leaving Chincoteague Island and crossing over to Assateague Island, MD. You can drive there or you can bike there but it would be a looong walk, more like a trek. We also learned that it costs $8 a day per vehicle to enter the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge, which is the only way to get to the beach. We ended up buying a $15 weekly pass since we went on and off Assateague multiple times a day. There's nothing there except the beach and wildlife refuge so you either need to bring food with you or return to Chincoteague for sustenance. What else did we learn? Oh yeah. The islands are buzzing with mosquitos and other bugs. I got eaten alive when I got out of the car for the first time to take a picture.
What makes the area special is the abundant wildlife. There are so many kinds of waterfowl - blue herons, cranes, egrets, pelicans, seagulls, ducks, Canada geese, etc. And of course, there are the wild ponies, which have been made famous by the popular children's book series - Misty of Chincoteague. With the exception of the animals there's not much to write home about, so to speak.
We stayed at the Island Manor Inn, which is connected to Miss Molly's Inn. They're right across the street from one another and within walking distance to the heart of the town, which has some cute artsy shops and restaurants. Island Manor Inn is a beautiful building dating back to 1848. It's immaculately clean and decorated beautifully. We stayed in the Joseph Kenny room, which was lovely even if the bathroom was a bit of a squeeze. The breakfasts were amazing as were the afternoon snacks, more specifically, the chocolate chip cookies. We also really enjoyed the hospitality of the Inn's host, Ben. Oh! And a mama duck and her six female offspring have made the Island Manor Inn their home. They're not always around but we saw them quite a bit during our stay.
Unfortunately for us, we sidestepped Ben's recommendation to eat at the best restaurant in town our first night there. There was a 40 minute wait so we made a reservation for the following night and went somewhere else. As fate would have it, I'd venture to say we picked the worst possible alternative for dinner - Chincoteague Inn Restaurant. I don't want to go on and on about it but suffice it to say, I feared food poisoning. Fortunately, it was a fear that was never realized. I do have one huge complaint, though. As we were checking out the manager noticed our not so well-concealed emotions about our meal and asked for our honesty. When I told her what I was unhappy about - that my shrimp in my shrimp cocktail looked like they hadn't been "de-pooped" - she said it wasn't actually poop but that whatever it was shouldn't have been there. So now I'm thinking, for someone who doesn't like to make a fuss and would've been glad to just not go back there, my honesty is going to pay off. You'd think she would've comped the shrimp cocktail, right? Wrong. That's BAD business people. BAD.
Saturday, June 23
Despite a wonderful breakfast, our day didn't start out well much like our first evening hadn't ended well. We borrowed some beach chairs and what we thought was an umbrella for the beach but when we got there to set up the umbrella, realized it was another beach chair. OK, fine. So, we headed back to the B&B to pick up an actual umbrella. Our B&B was out so we walked over to Miss Molly's to see what they had. Evan finally managed to scrounge something up and we set out for the beach again. And again, we had a problem. This time we had the right equipment but the equipment was faulty. Basically, the umbrella was crap. It was broken and incapable of withstanding the slightest breeze. I'm extremely fair, unlike my husband, so I can't do the beach without some serious cover. We kind of gave up at this point and headed back to town.
We stopped at the Main Street Shop Coffeehouse to take a little break and re-group. After we did we went back to Miss Molly's to return the defunct umbrella and ran into one of the owners, Sam. He very kindly gave us some money and told us to go ahead and get another umbrella. We did and what do you know? Third time was the charm! We finally made it to the beach WITH a working umbrella.
Evan got in some sunbathing and I got my book on. After a couple of hours we headed back into town for dinner at Bill's Seafood Restaurant. Evan had some awesome crab cakes and I got one of the night's specials - pecan-crusted salmon. Afterward, we walked along Main Street and popped in some of the stores. I also managed to stumble upon a cat rescue group and played with some kittens.
Sunday, June 24
After another great breakfast, we set out bright and early for the beach where we proceeded to repeat our routine from the day before. I even finished my book!
Afterward we had lunch at Maria's Family Restaurant. We split a medium-sized cheese pizza and it almost wasn't enough! It was sooo good. It's hard to believe you can find an authentic Italian-style pizza in Chincoteague, VA but I'm here to tell you it's true! There's some secret recipe with the dough.
We spent the afternoon walking around and driving down the side streets. We had a very early dinner at Don's Seafood Restaurant. It wasn't anything special but our waitress was a gem and she worked with me to turn their tuna salad sandwich into a tuna melt.
We were bums and headed back to the B&B fairly early to watch Signs on the communal TV.
Our visit had a rough start but by the time we left on Monday morning, I was feeling nostalgic. There's A LOT to do - boat, fish, mini-golf, hike, etc. but the bugs were a real deterrent for us. I'm also sunburn-prone so that minimizes a lot of outdoor activity. I can't imagine staying in the area for more than two days, which is what we did. Any longer and we would have been B-O-R-E-D. I wouldn't necessarily race back to Chincoteague but I'd consider a return. It's a really awesome place for naturalists/bird enthusiasts and I'd definitely stay at the Island Manor Inn again.
And now, without further ado, some of the photographic highlights:
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