Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Assateague

I am trying to catch up with myself. I suppose that this means that I should post more.

Assateague is a barrier island on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, just a few miles south of the ever-crowded-and-commercial Ocean City. We visited just before school let out, and it was very, very lovely (and sparse enough to be fun).


Yes, it's true that it's just a beach; but it is also true that this was my first true view of the Atlantic Ocean, and it was QUITE exciting to me.


All three of my pictures are from rather late in the day. I guess that this could be explained by the fact that we didn't get out the door until ten or so, and didn't get there until after noon, and didn't actually get to the beach until around five. That is, indeed, Papa; neither he nor Mom went swimming that day, but I had a nice dip in the Atlantic, and did a bit of shell collecting to boot. Papa just collected pictures with his camera (there were dolphins! If only one of us had had a telephoto lens and a tripod...) and Mom collected the sun's rays and chapters from the book she was reading.


While we were driving, Mom mentioned that they usually go to a beach in Delaware. I said that it was fine with me if we went to Delaware; I just wanted to go to the ocean. But she kept driving towards Assateague. Finally, she explained that she wanted to see the horses on Assateague. Ah-hah! And we saw some, literally as we were driving away. I got two shots (Mom asked me to); I chose to post the one I thought was more interesting.


One Friday morning a couple of months ago, my mother knocked on my bedroom door and said, "How would you like to go to Assateague today?" I promptly agreed. We had planned-- sort-of planned-- to go to Assateague a month before that but were waylaid by medical problems on Mom's part. I have to say that this experience is the only time in my entire life that I remember my mother spontaneously deciding to take a trip. (No vacation with Mom would be a vacation with Mom without her spontaneously deciding to change plans mid-stream; but actually deciding to go and then leaving the same morning is unheard-of, in my experience with her.)

2 comments:

Julie Q. said...

These photos are gorgeous (especially against the blue background of your blog).

I wanted to reply to your comment on my blog. I loved your story about the roommate with the Christmas tree. What a lovely cross-cultural kind of gesture. I've searched for a Muslim student association at BYU (and I know there has been one in the past) but everything I find says they haven't renewed their status and are no longer recognized. I plan to be brave and start calling around until I track them down.

SAC said...

Thank you! (Especially coming from the woman who sparked my previously-unknown-desire to learn about Art and Art History, such a compliment is well received in this quarter.)

I might suggest calling the Arabic house, if they have one this year. Though it has been a few years, and though the program has grown exponentially since I lived there, it was then and may still be frequently the center of Arabic-culture-related celebrations at BYU.

Also: I'm honestly not sure if I am nit-picking at your words or if this would be of genuine use to you, but the Arabic Club was the organization which put on the Eid last I went; I don't think I've ever been to anything associated with the Muslim Student Association.