Five on Friday

Friday once more - it's been a short week for me - just four work days; however, Thursday was a doozy and so I'm looking forward to the weekend (and hopefully a less taxing Friday)...

I had big plans to blog about the rest of my weekend in Ocean City on Thursday but life kind of got in the way of that and I'll be finishing that up with today's Five on Friday post! So - photo dump? You betcha!

​One. Assateague Island National Seashore - Talk about a place that I never knew was on my bucket list...but that definitely didn't disappoint. Listen; I'm allergic to horses but once we entered the park, I was hoping with every turn of the corner that I'd spy a horse. We finally parked the car and set out over a sand dune...and when we crested the hill and started toward the shoreline...

  

  

The wild horses on Assateague travel in herds that range from 2 - 8 and while we were on the beach, we saw three different herds moving along the waves. The horses are wild; so of course, you are encouraged not to approach them...but there are also park employees who are in charge of watching the herds. I was amazed by how close we were able to get...and how these horses just spend their days wandering from seashore to the open marsh of the bay...living wild.

 

After spending about thirty minutes on the beach watching the horses, we drove toward the bay and spotted three more horses eating the scrubby grass growing in a parking lot! We also spied (from afar) two horses in the marshy bay area as we entered and exited the park; I wasn't able to get a picture of those horses. I would have never said this would be a stop on my bucket list but it was easily my favorite part of the whole weekend and I'd go back in a heartbeat! Definitely add it to your bucket list!

 

  

 

Two. Beach Bum Life - I can say with 100% certainty that I was born into a family that prefer the mountains over the beach any day of the week...and while I'm by and large a huge fan of the mountains; I also love the beach. I love going down to the beach, lying on a towel and soaking up the sun - which is something the rest of my family doesn't particularly enjoy...

  

 

I can honestly say that when I expressed an interest in spending Sunday afternoon just doing nothing at the beach, I was floored when my parents agreed. And I was thrilled to find a lounge chair on the big front deck, to lie in the sun and sip a Pina Colada and even spend some time on my towel watching the waves roll right up to my feet. It was a splendidly perfect way to pass the afternoon!

Three. Golf, Good Food & Guard Towers - When at the beach...one usually eats seafood, right? Well, if there is one thing about time at the beach that I'm not as interested in, it's eating seafood. I don't do it, ha-ha! However, we still had some really delicious eats over the weekend and my parents indulged in plenty of seafood. We had donuts from The Fractured Prune and discovered a make your own whoopie pie shop in Rehoboth Beach!

 

 

We had dinner on the bay on Sunday night and followed it up with a game of goofy golf... somehow I got three holes in one and still had the highest score; how in the world does that happen?

Before we left on Monday morning, we stopped at a local lighthouse...that was once originally on the shore but is now surrounded by homes. We also stopped to snap a couple pictures of some WWII era coastal guard tower that dot the shores of Delaware. Definitely very cool to see something like that and it appears they are trying to restore the tower, which would definitely be fascinating!

Four. Rehoboth Beach, DE - We may have spent a majority of our time in Ocean City, but for the few hours we were in Rehoboth Beach, I absolutely enjoyed it! The little oceanside town is filled with unique shops and restaurants...all schooched especially close to the crashing waves. We had lunch at a delicious deli that was hidden down a side street and ended our visit with ice cream from a shop that had flavors like Better Than Sex, Sharkenstein and Booger...

  

 

I picked up a Christmas ornament, a really cute t-shirt and an adorable baby outfit for a friend who was due any day (she had the sweet babe yesterday!) I had some Better Than Sex ice cream and sampled the specially flavored eclipse ice cream - black chocolate ice cream with chocolate pieces and a raspberry ribbon. I'd love to go back to Rehoboth Beach and spend some more time in the future!

Five. Total Eclipse of the... - Well, not the heart...but you get the idea! Monday was the solar eclipse and while we weren't in the path of totality, we did get to see the eclipse at 87% completion. My parents had grabbed eclipse glasses weeks ago and so on the drive back to Virginia we stopped at a marina in Maryland to take in the eclipse...

  

I took the middle picture when the eclipse was at it's peak - so even at 87% it didn't change the bright sunlight too much. I tried my hardest to use my solar eclipse glasses with my cell phone camera to snap a picture but I never got much worth posting... I did discover later in the day that the two selfies I'd snapped during the eclipse had convenient reflections of the eclipse...and so while the pictures aren't earth shattering in their composition, I thought they were still pretty cool!

 

And that's all I've got for this week's Five on Friday - I hope everyone has a lovely weekend; I certainly plan to. A little Friday night baseball, some time relaxing and some time with a friend on Saturday and the Game of Thrones season seven finale on Sunday!