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Published: December 2nd 2007
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Obfuscator writes: We got a bit of a late start in leaving from J's in Norfolk. That was alright though, because we probably dodged a lot of traffic that would have otherwise been unpleasant, and we were able to use the wonders of the intarweb to check the weather where we were headed. That was valuable, since the predictions for almost the entirety of the east coast seemed to be calling for rain in the night.
We set off for downtown Norfolk to see the Nauticus Museum. This was high on our agenda, because they are home to the Battleship Wisconsin, which would have been a lot of fun. More importantly, they are also home to a full scale replica of the Civil War ironclad, Monitor. Needless to say, we were somewhat disappointed to find that the museum was closed on Sundays and Mondays. Both vessels were so close, but remained just outside of our grasp.
From there, we turned north. Somehow, in our Northeastern wanderings, we had managed to almost completely miss Delaware. Sure, we had passed by Wilmington on our way to New Jersey from Maryland, but we hadn't really seen any of Delaware. Though we had
been told that this wasn't a big loss, we felt that it was no way to treat the first state to ratify the Constitution. We gave Rhode Island a day, and it's only about half the size of Delaware! This could not stand, and so we set off to see what it had to offer.
Oddly, with that goal in mind, we didn't reach Delaware that day at all. Virginia and Maryland turned out to be larger than we had anticipated. We passed over the Chesapeake Bridge-Tunnel (which has a $12 toll), and drove up along the little bit of Virginia that is on the northern side of the Chesapeake Bay. The Bridge-Tunnel is shockingly worth the price, at least once. It's staggeringly long, with three sections of bridge alternating with two tunnels. The weather was less than ideal for viewing from the Bridge, but it was still pretty nifty. The peninsula was very lovely all along the drive as well, with sort of a coastal wetland thing. You'd see all sorts of marshy areas and trees, and the ocean just a few yards away. On one side, much of the time, you can see the Atlantic, and on
the other side, the Chesapeake.
Just before you get to Maryland, you pass near Chincoteague, which is on Assateague Island. Chincoteague is apparently known for having wild ponies. Onaxthiel, who has secretly wanted to be a pretty pretty princess (Onaxthiel adds: Not a pretty pretty princess. A pretty pretty pony princess. Or possibly a pretty pretty unicorn princess. I'm not an uncompromising monster, after all.) for a long time, couldn't pass up the opportunity to see a real, wild pony in person. Assateague is also home to a massive Wildlife Refuge, where rare squirrels hobnob and chitter away the days with cranes and other migratory birds, secure in the knowledge that the laws of man protect them from the laws of nature. (Laws of Nature dictate that the cuter the animal, the tastier the meat, and let me tell you, these rare squirrels looked SO cute.)
Near Chincoteague, we discovered that NASA has a top secret launch facility called Wallop. From Wallop, they launch all sorts of rockets, balloons, and conduct research with the Department of Defense. They also have a small visitor's center cleverly concealed amongst signs and rockets, just off a major highway. We infiltrated this
secure facility, and guided ourselves through some cunning displays “geared towards school children.” Sort of like our experience at the laboratory at the bottom of Soudan Mine, we felt a bit like chimps with computers. “Oh! The files are IN the computer!” Needless to say, science isn't always our strong suite. They did sell Astronaut Ice Cream in their top secret gift shop though, so we were pleased to find a treat from our childhood.
After all this, we got into Maryland. We were cruising along toward a Shipwreck Museum that was just over the border into Delaware, and we realized that even if we got there, we wouldn't have time to see it. Instead, we turned off toward a sign for Nassawango Iron Furnace, near Snow Hill, MD. We tried to find it for a while, and failed. Eventually we decided that even if we found it, we wouldn't have time to check it out, so we scrapped that plan, and moved on. We stopped in the pretty looking downtown of Snow Hill to take pictures, and look for a place to eat. We followed signs that boldly proclaimed restaurants, and after a few blocks the street terminated,
with nary a restaurant to be found. We decided that even if we found one, we had no desire to patronize this evil, and misleading town, and moved along.
Eventually we stopped in Ocean City, Maryland. This place was reminiscent of Atlantic City, except with no casinos, more beaches, cleaner and less seedy looking, but with less business. It was a strange combination. Apparently Ocean City is a great place to visit in the warmer months though. We found a pretty good Mexican restaurant for dinner, and settled into a pretty sweet hotel for the night, which was surprisingly cheap. Sometimes, visiting things in the off-season has its advantages.
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