October Log

October 1 - Friday
Sandra and the kids did some shopping and errands. The kids behaved so well while Sandra was having her hair trimmed that a man on his way out handed Laura a dollar in recognition of their good behavior! They then went to the Sturgeon's house for a pizza dinner. The girls had another sleepover at Sarah's house. Sandra and Alex held down the fort at the RV. Alex was a little bewildered. Last night it was "Where's daddy?". Tonight it was joined by "Where's the 'guys'?" Sandra hopes he's not worried that she might disappear next!

Bill and Gordon hiked up Mount Katahdin today starting from Roaring Brook, going up the Saddle trail to Baxter Peak, across the 1.1 mile long Knife Edge trail to Pamola Peak and down the Helon Taylor trail back to Roaring Brook. Gordon had climbed Katahdin several times but never from Chimney Pond and had never done Knife Edge. They hiked in to Sandy Stream Pond at dusk where the moose watching is generally good but there were no moose there today. Later, on the way to tonight's campground, there was a moose in the road. They headed back to the Katahdin Ironworks/Jo-Mary Forest where they hiked yesterday to camp since that is close to Gulf Hagas, where they hope to hike tomorrow.

October 2 - Saturday
The Wade girls actually did sleep at their sleepover this time. Later that morning all the 'girls' plus Alex went to a Pumpkin festival at a nearby elementary school in Lynnfield. The kids had a fun just using the playground equipment but also enjoyed exploring many of the available activities. Laura and Becca had great fun decorating pumpkins. After the festivities, the troop set out to tackle the laundry. The girls were rewarded in their Alex sitting duties with a stop at Ryer's store, a small market in North Reading with a temptingly large candy selection. Then it was back to the campground for more playground fun before dinner.

Bill and Gordon hiked Gulf Hagas today. The National Park Service purchased Gulf Hagas several years ago. It is a beautiful canyon with a river running through it. The trail running along the rim has overlooks to many waterfalls. On the way to Gulf Hagas is an area called the Hermitage which was purchased by the Nature Conservancy. The Hermitage is an old growth stand of pine trees, one of the few remaining in Maine. The foliage in northern Maine seemed to be late this year. In places, it was near peak but other places were still mostly green. According to the AMC guide, Gulf Hagas is a 7.5 hour hike but we finished it in 6 hours and got an early start home.

October 3 - Sunday
Today we went back to Lori and Phil's house in Lexington so our kids could meet and play with their 4 boys who are almost the same age as Laura, Becca, and Alex. The kids had a great time playing together. Plus, Alex was in boy toy heaven! Later, we moved to RV to a state park in Hingham, which is south of Boston, and will be our base for exploring that area for a few days.

October 4 - Monday
We all got a refresher course in American history today with a visit to Plymouth. We went to the replica ship the Mayflower II, renamed by Alex the "flower boat", and the nearby Plymouth Rock. Listening to the reactions of those who see the rock with 1620 carved on it can be entertaining! We then headed over to Plimouth Plantation and spent the afternoon wandering around the replica of the 1627 village of Plymouth. Talking to the "1627 residents" there was very educational. The interpreters take on the persona of actual residents of the village of that time and strive to be authentic in language and views. They have changed some things since 30 years ago. They now have added an Indian village to show both of the 17th century cultures of eastern Massachusetts. Historically that is also very accurate since the Wampanaoag Native American leader, Massasoit, had one of his messengers live close by the colony to keep a watch on the settlers. They have also put a lot of effort into making their livestock more closely match what was there in 1627 while also helping support conservation efforts of rare breeds like San Clemente goats. 30 years ago they had Jersey cows and Rhode Island Red chickens. We finished our visit with a walk through of an exhibit on Thanksgiving facts and myths. The 'first' Thanksgiving after the first harvest was a three day celebration with feasts and recreation and included the surviving colonists (almost half of the original 102 passengers died the first winter) and 90 of Massasoit's men.

October 5 - Tuesday
We went to Boston today. The first stop after finding parking was to visit the bronze statues of the mother duck and ducklings depicting the characters from Robert McCloskey's children's book "Make Way for Ducklings". Next we lunched at Quincy Market. After lunch, Sandra and Alex jumped on the Orange Line to meet Sarah in Melrose while Bill and the girls walked the Freedom Trail to Paul Revere's house and the Old North Church in the North End. We then continued on the Freedom Trail across the Charlestown Bridge to the USS Constitution (Old Ironsides) docked at the Charlestown Navy Yard. We went back to Boston to meet up with Sandra, Sarah, and Alex and headed for Fred and Stella's in South Boston for dinner. Fred was a college friend of Bill's. Fred was an Economics major who, like Bill, took a lot of computer courses and ended up with a career in computers. Fred and Bill also worked together at the same company after college. On the way into the campground that night, the kids enjoyed spotting two raccoons that ran up a tree and a skunk.

October 6 - Wednesday
The girls had another sleepover with Sarah, this time in the RV. In the morning they had a tea party. We returned to Boston today but rather than fight Boston traffic we decided to park in Quincy and take the subway in. Alex, like most 3 year olds, loves trains so it is an extra treat for him and the girls enjoyed it too. We had lunch again at Quincy Market after taking the kids by the bank building where Sandra worked when we lived in Boston. Sandra's brother Jim met us after lunch and gave us a ride to the Bunker Hill Monument where the girls attended the ranger led program that they needed to complete their junior ranger badges for the Boston Historical National Park. We then drove to Needham to meet up with 2 of Jim's kids for dinner at a tasty establishment called Not Your Average Joes.

October 7 - Thursday
We went back to Boston to turn in the girls junior ranger paperwork and get their badges. The girls went to Harvard. That is, we drove to Harvard and had them glimpse at the yard. We then drove to Boston College to show then where Dad went to grad school. From BC we drove down the "heartbreak hill" part of the Boston Marathon route.

Since this is our last week in Boston, we are trying to see as many people as possible. Tonight we had dinner with Eleanor and Michael who are both former co-workers of Bill's from Oxbow. The company was originally based in Dedham, Massachusetts before relocating to Florida in 1989 so there were many New Englanders working there.

October 8 - Friday
We moved the RV back to Essex on the North Shore. In the afternoon, we visited Charlie and Donna in Carlisle. Bill worked for Charlie in his first job after college. In the evening we sent to Lynnfield to have dinner with Gordon, Ellyn, and Sarah and eat lots of Ellyn's yummy carrot cake. We brought some 'grapenuts' ice cream picked up from Kimball's Ice Cream in Carlisle. We're not sure if this unusual flavor is available in other parts of the country. The girls were thrilled to see Sarah one last time before we leave the area.

October 9 - Saturday
Today was Homecoming at Gordon College. This was one of the few dates on the calendar that we had penciled in from the very beginning. Since we were planning to be in the Boston area in the fall and it was Bill's 20th reunion it made sense to include homecoming in the trip plan (most of the trip hasn't been planned, but rather made up along the way). Bill saw 2 old roommates and several dorm mates as well as many friends and professors. The "class of '84" luncheon was not quite as sparse as 5 years ago, the last time we made it to homecoming. Sandra saw her friend Cathy, who we had visited in New Hampshire, and some other friends from her 2 years at Gordon. The kids enjoyed being "flying squirrels", where lines are strung between large pine trees and kids are hoisted up into the air via a harness and pulley line. This Gordon homecoming tradition is hosted by La Vida, an outdoor experience group, and is always a big hit with the kids. They also spent a lot of time at the science fair exploring biology, physics, and computers. We chatted with Dr. Stine, an English professor who was also the minister who married us. Dr. Stine and his family have traveled extensively in the US, to many of the places we have been, and he gave us a strong endorsement of the long term benefit the kids would get from our trip.

There are many new buildings on campus and the place looks very different. Gordon's enrollment is about 50% higher than it was 20 years ago. It was a pleasant fall afternoon and we wandered around the soccer game, another homecoming tradition, to see people. We enjoyed a chat with Dr. Webb, one of Bill and Sandra's Economics professors.

Sandra was lamenting that we were leaving the Boston area tomorrow and had not yet had steamers (steamed clams) so Bill got takeout from Woodmans for dinner.

Before going to bed, we had 'elections night'. The girls decided to run for different offices (president, VP, treasurer, and secretary) and had spent a couple of days 'campaigning'. They made up campaign slogans, gave speeches, and Becca even had a two songs (one set to a dance) to drum up votes. In the end the results were: Rebecca as President, Bill as Vice President, and Laura as both Treasurer and Secretary. Other than the fact that Bill will attend many parties as VP, which is why he wanted the role since that's what they mainly do, we're not quite sure what this new government will do.

October 10 - Sunday
With Homecoming behind us, we left the Boston area today and headed for Bill's brother Dan's house in Bozrah, CT. The foliage along route 128, the Mass turnpike, and route 395 was stunning with brilliant red, orange, and yellow leaves. The weather when we got to CT was warm so Bill and Dan went Harley riding again. The kids played with their cousins Gene and Sam who they camped with in Maine a few weeks ago.

October 11 - Monday
Today was Columbus Day so Dan's boys had the day off from school. We relaxed at Dan's house and let the kids play together. We had been going at a fairly busy pace in the Boston area trying to see everything and everyone so it was nice to mostly hang out for a day. Alex got a ride on Uncle Dan's tractor. We took walks down to the lake and the kids enjoyed wading on a fine autumn day.

October 12 - Tuesday
Today was "wash day". We washed the RV. We washed the laundry. We washed our children. Bill got his blood test done finally. After bragging to his nurse sister-in-law that he knew his blood was fine, he got a call from his doctor telling him to lower his dosage of Coumadin because his blood was too thin. Sandra worked on filing her Dad's old papers and had fun doing an 'experiment night' dinner (aka trying new recipes). We sent a bunch of emails and unsuccessfully poked around the internet looking for campgrounds.

October 13 - Wednesday
We had considered going to Hartford today for an oil change fro the RV but we ended up deferring that for one more day and stayed at Dan and Portia's. Good choice because it was a gorgeous, warm, sunny, autumn day. Bill and Dan built a platform for his Harley garage. The kids did school in the morning and played in the lake after lunch until Gene and Sam got home. Then they rode bikes and played video games and thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

October 14 -Thursday
The RV was due for an oil change. We left Dan's for East Hartford this morning to have the oil change and lube job. Sandra and the kids explored Hartford on a rainy morning while Bill waited at the garage. They took in some sites, like the state house, and rode the Bushnell Park Carousel (CT's best bargain at fifty cents) The kids also enjoyed the playground next to it.

After lunch we headed for Waterbury where we found a campground that was still open. Most are closed for the season. Sandra then called her cousin Alan in Norwalk, whose wife Chris told us to come there instead and park the RV in their driveway. We drove to Norwalk, parked the RV, had dinner with Chris and Alan, and talked until it was time to put the kids to bed.

October 15 - Friday
Bill has some friends who work in Westport which is the next town over from Norwalk. He called Anna and Lip this morning to see if they were in town today and if the might be available for lunch. Luckily, they were both in town so Bill met up with them for lunch in Westport while Sandra treated the kids to Burger King with a play place.

After lunch, we drove around Trumbull, where Sandra grew up. We saw Sandra's old house, the neighborhood around Canoe Brook Lake and some of the schools she attended. We went to Silverman's apple orchard and got fresh Honey Crisp apples and pie. Becca proclaimed "This is the best apple I've ever eaten!"

Alan cooked up some gourmet mac and cheese for dinner so Becca's quota of tasty treats was well satisfied today.

October 16 - Saturday
The day dawned sunny after two days of clouds and rain. We left Connecticut, drove through New York over the George Washington Bridge, and parked the RV at Sandra's brother Dave's house in New Jersey. We visited with Dave, Rhea, Nicole, and Tessa in the afternoon. The kids enjoyed their cousins, the pets (a hamster and a cat), and having a playground set right outside their door!

In the evening, Nicole watched our 3 kids while we enjoyed watching Rhea perform in Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night" at St. George's Episcopal Church's dinner theater. An Elizabethan theme was used throughout the program from the decor and the dinner menu to the music. It was a wonderful time. We enjoyed the tastes of our medieval dinner that included items such as venison and brie tart and which was served sans fork in keeping with the times. We were treated to a pre-play concert of music that would have been familiar to Shakespeare. The actors then gave a very entertaining and enjoyable performance. Bravo!

October 17 - Sunday
We spent a true day of rest. Bill and Alex even managed to achieve a 'zero mile' day. We were treated to eggs, bacon, and bagels for breakfast. We got to read the Sunday New York Times. We enjoyed a leisurely morning visiting.

Later that afternoon, Sandra took the girls Halloween costume shopping. Sandra couldn't find a cow costume for Alex (per his request) so she bought a cowboy hat that matched his vest from Mexico as an option. Laura started off wanting to be a woodland fairy but couldn't find the right items to make it like she wanted so she choose to be a cowgirl instead. Becca wanted to be a bat and managed to find a really cool pair of bat wings.

October 18 - Monday
Today we played tourist in NYC (aka the Big Apple, the city that never sleeps). It is supposed to be the only clear weather between several days of light rain. We managed to make the 9:45 ferry to the Statue of Liberty . The boat stopped at Ellis Island before arriving at Liberty Island. The security is very tight. You need to go through metal detectors before boarding the ferry and then through another set of detectors as well as a special machine that puffs you with air which we assumed must be to detect explosives. The lockers that you had to use to store any bags, backpacks, etc. use a scan of your finger print for accessing a locker. The ranger gave us an informative tour through the museum where we saw items such the original torch and proposed models of the statue and base and learned fun facts such as the copper skin of the statue is about two pennies thick and it would take about 30 million pennies to build her. We then rode elevators to the observation deck. Climbing inside the statue has been closed since 9/11 and the tours of the base have only resumed in the last ten weeks. From our highest point we could see up instead the statue to the lights coming in from the crown. Outside, on the pedestal we were treated to wonderful views all around and slowly worked our way down the various levels.

After returning to the ferry terminal in NJ we headed through the Holland tunnel into the city. Good thing Bill gassed up the car as we spent awhile in traffic. We parked near the Empire State Building. We saw a sign indicating a 90 minute wait for the observation level so we nearly walked away except an employee mentioned that we wouldn't have to wait since Laura was in a wheelchair. The staff quickly escorted us to the front of all the lines including those for tickets. From the 86th floor, we enjoyed crystal clear views across the city.

Next we strolled up 5th Avenue to take in familiar sites like the New York Public Library, St. Patrick's Cathedral and Rockefeller Center with the ice rink and NBC studios. Near Rockefeller Center, we spotted an American Girl Place (doll and accessory store). We had been to the original in Chicago when Bill ran a marathon there and didn't know they had snuck one into NY also! Since we missed our goal of heading out before rush hour, we decided to linger until after 6 and let the girls browse. Of course, browsing turned into souvenir purchases. We walked back along the Avenue of the Americas before ransoming the car from the garage.

We took a quick car tour of the city and enjoyed the sights of Broadway, Times Square, Central Park, and Museum Mile before heading back out through the Holland Tunnel. Bill claims he's more tired than when he ran the NYC marathon a year ago!

For dinner we had some take out Chinese with Dave and the girls before cleaning up and heading off to dreamland.

October 19 - Tuesday
After a very slow start to the morning (why rush getting out of jammies when it's cold and rainy out?), we completed housekeeping and home schooling tasks. Finally around 2 p.m. we headed for Binghamton, NY. Although the weather was gray and rainy, we still had glimpses of some lovely foliage. Bill was excited to spot part of the Appalachian Trail off the highway. We also stopped to fill up on diesel and propane. As the nights get chillier, these wimpy south Floridians don't want to run out of the propane that fuels our toasty heaters! We pulled into a site at Chenango Valley State Park as the dusk faded into night. We will stay here for 2 or 3 days to visit Sandra's cousins and to rendezvous with Pete and Michelle Perez who are on their way here in their own RV with their daughters. Avid journal readers may recall them as the family we met in the parking lot of National RV back in May.

October 20 - Wednesday
It was another rainy, drizzly, overcast day. The park office was closed when we arrived yesterday so we needed to register this morning. When there was a knock on the door, Bill assumed it was a ranger reminding us that we hadn't registered or paid yet. It was actually Sandra's cousin John and his wife, Linda stopping by for a visit. Sandra was still lazing about in her jammies so had to do a quick scramble to get presentable! Unfortunately the kids were in full hyper mode (no chance to run around outside and burn off energy for 2 days) which made socializing a tad challenging so after their visit, Bill took Alex and Becca for the mile long walk (with raincoats and umbrellas) to the ranger station while Sandra and Laura spent some quiet time together. While they were gone, Sandra's cousin Susan arrived bearing cider and donuts. Laura got to meet her first and enjoyed telling Susan all about American Girl dolls. After the rest of gang returned, Susan got previews of all of the kid's Halloween costumes. She and Sandra went out to lunch downtown at Zazou's. She also stopped by to see the Sue's place which is very appropriated dubbed 'Teacup Cottage.' Bill and the kids did lunch and school in the RV. Later in the day a neighboring camper stopped by the tell us that the kids could find three white tailed deer just down the way.

We didn't know what time the Perez family might arrive, so Bill stayed at the RV while Sandra and Becca ran to Walmart for some supplies. She picked up some Spiedie marinade, a local Binghamton area taste treat.

That night, Bill and Sandra stayed up past midnight and listened to the entire 7th game battle between the Red Sox and the Yankees. We may have broken the quiet hour rule with our cheers when the Red Sox won the game 9-3 and are finally headed to the World Series!!!

October 21 - Thursday
We woke up and found that the Perez family had arrived safely during night. We never heard them when theyh pulled in around 1 a.m. Bill declared it a 'ZMD' or a zero mile day. Only Sandra and Alex left the park to pick up some supplies. We had dinner together in our RV and a movie after dinner in the Perez's RV. The girls paired off with their friends and had great fun going back and forth between the RVs despite the rain. They also got to have a sleepover with Savannah and Laura in our RV and Becca and Miranda in the Perez's.

October 22 - Friday
Bill got up early and did laundry and gassed up the car. Sandra drove 2 hours to Albany to visit her Aunt Helen and the cemetery where her parents are buried. The girls don't want to leave their friends so they stayed at the campground with Bill to do homeschool and play. The Perez girls were homeschooled even before their RV trip so they have the advantage of a long standing routine. The sun finally came out this afternoon so once they finished school work the girls rode bikes and played outdoors until dark.

October 23 - Saturday
Brrrrrr! There was ice on the bike seat this morning. It must be time to head south. Today we left the Perez family (for now) and headed for Pennsylvania. Not very far south, but south nonetheless. We will stay in the Harrisburg, PA area for several days and day trip to Gettysburg.

We surprised the kids by taking them to Hershey, PA. We visited Hershey and the Hershey Park amusement park 2 summers ago. The girls loved the roller coasters. Tonight we just went for a couple of hours to check out Hershey Park in the Dark. We actually achieved the impossible. We took the kids to a theme park and did not spend a penny. They even came home loaded with candy. They went down the Trick or Treat Trail and received different types of Hershey candy. Then at the ride in Chocolate World, Laura was given a whole bag of chocolate to share with Becca and Alex. Tomorrow, weather permitting, we will come back in costume and do the rides.

October 24 - Sunday
We went to Fishburn Methodist Church in Hershey this morning where we were warmly greeted. We are camped at Hershey Highmeadows Campground. We camped here before in the Pareti's popup camper. The campground is nice but right next to a very active railroad line. The shuttles to the park are convenient and the drivers are exceptionally nice (they twice waited for us all to get to the stop and we even got dropped off at the road to our site).

The day dawned red but then it rained through the morning. After lunch it was still very overcast. We put on the Halloween costumes, packed the rain ponchos and umbrellas, and headed for Hershey Park again. Sandra has long considered a place that has both roller coasters and chocolate as ideal. Laura and Becca are both happy to carry on the tradition. Combine a Sunday afternoon, overcast skies, cool weather, no waiting in lines, and unlimited rides tickets and you get two very happy girls who got to go on about a million rides. Sandra and Bill took turns taking the girls on roller coaster after roller coaster. They didn't mind getting stuck on the Rolling Thunder coaster for several minutes (the park employees handed out coupons for a free drink for the inconvenience). They ended the evening with six back to back rides on the Wild Mouse and a grand finale of a double ride on the Comet. If they hadn't turned off the roller coasters, the girls would be there still.

October 25 - Monday
We slept in to recover from Hershey Park. Late in the morning, we headed for Harrisburg. Our friend from college, Dave, works in the Pennsylvania State House. We met Dave for lunch and a tour around the beautiful Capitol Building. The House Chamber Room is one of the most ornate we have ever seen. According to Dave, the PA Capitol Building is ranked as the most beautiful in the country. The girls also enjoyed reviewing all the hands on exhibits in the visitors' center on how a bill becomes a law. They even got to 'vote' (against) a bill extending the school year.

After Harrisburg, we headed to Gettysburg to get a history lesson. We could have spent a lot more time there, but we squeezed in as much as we could in the short time. After watching the Electric Map presentation that gave an overview of the battle, we drove Little Round Top where the 20th Maine Volunteers led by Chamberlain held off the Confederate troops from Alabama. Had the Maine troops lost their position at the southern end of the hill and the Union Army been driven from the hill and the battle may have had a different outcome. Walking around the part of the hill where the Maine troops fought, you can see why the high ground and large rocks gave the Maine troops an advantage even though they were outnumbered. Due to Chamberlain's leadership, they even held this position despite running out of ammunition and when Chamberlain ordered a sweeping charge with bayonets, the Confederate forces retreated. The 20th Maine monument is small, just a few feet high with the names of the dead and wounded inscribed on the sides, especially compared to the New York monument just up the hill which is a tower with steps to climb to the top. Chamberlain was later elected governor of Maine.

We drove by many of the monuments erected to honor various troops and regiments that fought on this ground where over 50,000 men lost their lives.

October 26 - Tuesday
We said good bye to Pennsylvania and headed for Maryland after lunch today. We drove past Baltimore and Annapolis and crossed the Bay Bridge to get to the Eastern Shore of Maryland and our friends Chip and Tina in Hurlock. We met Chip and Tina in Florida but they returned to their Maryland roots several years ago. We camped with them last summer in North Carolina, so the six kids already know each other. Their girls are about the same ages as ours but they had Austin (now 12) first and we had Alex last.

October 27 - Wednesday
While our friends were at school and work, we did home school and errands.

In the evening, Chip's neighbor Ronnie took a look at our generator which had stopped working. Within minutes, he found a circuit breaker that had tripped and had it running again. Then, Ronnie spent 2 more hours trying to find the problem with one of our 12 volt circuits. This one was harder but we eventually isolated the problem to the wire feeding power to that area of the RV.

A little after 9:00 we all starting watching the total Lunar eclipse. The night was cloudless and occasional meteors would flash across the sky. We watched until the moon was completely shadowed by the earth and glowed a Halloween pumpkin orange.

October 28 - Thursday
The day was primarily spent doing errands and school work. The girls spent some time discussing the Underground Railroad and retracing the escape to Canada that Harriet Tubman, who was born nearby in Bucktown, MD, may have led others to freedom on one of her 19 journeys. Bill spent more time discovering new fuses and tracing wiring issues in the RV. He fixed all the electrical problems including one with an outlet above the microwave as well as a pesky outage with a section of 12 volt.

October 29 - Friday
Sandra awoke with a head cold and so she took zinc and cold medicine in an effort to minimize it. The kids enjoyed playing together while the adults prepared for our joint trip down to Chincoteague, Virginia. The day was drizzly so we weren't in a huge rush to get down there although we are looking forward to seeing the wild ponies. A visit to Chincoteague is a resumption of our visits to "little girl literature" sites since this is where Marguerite Henry's classic children's book "Misty of Chincoteague" is set. Those who have read the book or seen the movie "Misty" may be familiar with the annual roundup and auction that the Chincoteague Fire Department does with the Virginia herd of wild horses.
We had a large pot of chicken soup for dinner which seems to have alleviated Sandra's cold. We also had a campfire and had our favorite dessert, s'mores!

October 30 - Saturday
Our campground is right next to the bridge leading to Assateague so we rode our bikes over to the island. We stopped at the first visitor center, which is run by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The kids picked up junior ranger booklets and began to work on them and learn about the different species in this national wildlife refuge. We watched a movie about the wildlife and ponies on the island. We then rode over to the lighthouse. It used to be on the ocean but the sand has built up around the island over the decades creating the illusion that the lighthouse has 'moved inland'. We continued our trek down the island and spotted some non-native Sika elk. We also saw a group of wild horses grazing on marsh grasses. Formations of geese flew overhead. We stopped again at the Tom Cove visitor center which is run by the National Park Service. The kids enjoyed the touch tank as well as walking on the board walk. There are many nice touches at both centers such as rocking chairs and free telescopes set up for wildlife viewing. We then cycled back from the beach to the campground non stop to have a late lunch. We then relaxed at the campground where the gaggle of pyromaniacs enjoyed getting a roaring fire going that settled down to perfect coals for roasting our dinner of hot dogs.

October 31 - Sunday
The weather cleared and grew balmy. It actually touched 80 degrees by late afternoon. The warm, sunny weather brought out bright, lovely sulfur and buckeye butterflies. We enjoyed another bike ride to Assateague where we saw hundreds of snow geese along the Black Duck Trail. We then rode to the Woodland Marsh trail where we saw more ponies as well as the endangered Delmarva (an amalgam of Delaware, Maryland, Virginia) Fox Squirrel. We also encountered a large, algae covered snapping turtle crossing the road. We trekked back to the visitor center where the girls received their Jr. Wildlife Manager patches. After we broke our camps, we then drove up to the northern portion of Assateague which is in Maryland. We drove into the state park where Chip and Tina where married and then cruised through the national seashore area. We saw several wild ponies and sika elk. We enjoyed a brilliant sunset on the beach. As we left the park at dusk, we saw more ponies and elk and even a fox. We stopped for dinner at Fuddruckers in Salisbury before heading back to the Basel's home (aka Baselope lair).