I thought camping at Maryland's Assateague Island National Seashore would be fun during spring break. The temps were cold enough that mosquitoes would not be a problem and the beach would not be crowded during the off season. I was right about the beach not being crowded and the lack of mosquitoes but oh, what a mistake I made going camping at Assateague in March!
From the park employees I met at check in, I learned that March is the windiest month at Assateague Island. Not that they needed to tell me about the wind. I experienced this first hand.
I was really glad I bought sand anchors for the tent. Metal tent stakes, even long ones, would have come out in the 30 mph winds. The sand anchors held fast, though. Sand anchors are a great product. I dug the sand anchors up to my elbows before I buried them. I dug with one of the plastic sand toys we brought to play in the sand. The 40 degree temps and the 30 mph wind froze my facial muscles and make talking difficult. I didn't want to wear my gloves because they would get wet and sandy.
We lasted one or two nights in the windy tent. Two, I think, before I tore the tent down to move to the bay side with less wind. Unfortunately, once I had the tent down I couldn't put it back up. The wind was too strong. My oldest child wasn't feeling well so I left our bikes, our cooler full of food (with bungees on it to keep the horses out), and our fire extinguisher on the site while we went to a hotel for the night with plans to return the next morning. That night my oldest developed a fever and I knew we needed to head home the next day. In the morning, we left the hotel and returned to our camp site to find that the bikes, cooler, and fire extinguisher had been stolen overnight! The law enforcement ranger said there were opportunistic locals who liked to cruise through the camps looking for unattended items to steal. What a bummer! My older was diagnosed with strep throat later that day and she took her first dose of amoxicillin before bed that night.
The trip was a disaster but the ponies roaming around was cool:
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