What to do for spring break?
Spring break was coming, and we had no plans. The weather forecast in Western New York State was warmer, as in 50 something degree temps, but with high odds for rain most days. Where could I go, along with my one remaining school-age son, that was within a day’s drive, but with better weather?
A horse-crazy kid's childhood dream
As a horse-crazy child, I always dreamed of visiting Assateague and Chincoteague Islands in Maryland and Virginia after reading the series Misty of Chincoteague, by Marguerite Henry. The stories are about the wild ponies that live on Assateague Island. Every year the ponies are rounded up, swam across the channel to Chincoteague Island, checked over, and the youngest horses are sold at auction to keep the herd from over-populating the island. After the auction, the remaining wild horses are returned to Assateague Island for another year.
How to travel without spending a lot?
I had an IHG free night, plus around 32,000 IHG points. Booked two nights using points and cash ($66 to get needed points). Third night free using Chase IHG card free night. Used filter to find IHG hotels with free breakfast.
Total cost for 3 hotel nights: $115.00 (annual membership fee($49) plus $66 to buy points.) Included breakfast buffet.
Day one: Drive from Western New York to Ocean City, Maryland area. Distance was about 500 miles, so it took us most of the day to get there. It's the off season, so it wasn't difficult to find hotel space and the rates were lower than summer high season. We ate food we brought for dinner.
Day two: Breakfast: included hotel breakfast buffet. First, visit the Ocean City boardwalk area. Pretty chilly, temps in the 50's. We're not shopping / junk food fans, so this was just meh. I brought some fruits, vegetables, salad and hummus with us in a cooler, so we went back to the hotel for lunch and a break. Later, we had dinner at a local pizza restaurant. Pizza and drinks for son and myself, $30.
After dinner, we went to Assateague Island around 6:30 pm. It was a great time to go! We saw ponies within the first 15 minutes of our visit, including this family with a new foal! Bonus of arriving later in the afternoon: NO Entrance charge! We drove around a little more and returned to hotel.
Day three: Breakfast at hotel buffet. Grabbed sandwiches at Subway ($15) to take with us to eat while we were out exploring Assateague Island. (I had a cooler.) We stopped at the visitor center and learned about the history of the island.
Getting the most from my National Parks Pass
I used my National Parks Pass purchased a year ago to get free admission to the park! Savings: $25. I bought this pass in April of 2022 to visit Shenandoah National Park, and we visited Acadia National Park in July of 2022. If you know you will be visiting more than one National Park within a year, I highly recommend buying the year-long pass for $80! We got our money's worth by using it!
We explored as much as we could drive on of the island, but only saw one lone pony near a campsite. Pretty disappointing. I have no idea where the ponies were hanging out that day. Maybe we were more likely to see them in the evening? It was in the 50's and very windy. There were several people camping, even in the chilly temps. About ten degrees warmer would have been much more enjoyable!
We got take out dinner from a nearby Ruby Tuesday restaurant. ($30)
Day four: Breakfast at hotel. Packed up and returned home to Western New York. Snacked on what we had brought with us along the way.
Cost summary:
Gas for trip: About $140.
Hotel: $115.
Food: About $75.
Total: $330
The drive was about 8 hours, so definitely one of the longer drives I have done without having someone to share the driving. Getting to see the wild ponies on Assateague Island? Priceless!
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