We're back!

Sweaty, sandy, and sunburned (oh, so sunburned), but we're back. As promised, here are some pictures of Assateague Island:

We left DC around 8 in the morning and got to Assateague before noon. We enjoyed the lovely, scenic drive (and the opportunity to drive over 55 for a change!) and decided that anybody who lives in DC and claims "we don't live near any good beaches" needs to move to either Iowa or Wisconsin to get a perspective on what it's like not to live near any good beaches. When you can leave after breakfast and get there before lunch, it's near enough for us!

From there, we checked in at the ranger station and hiked down the beach to our campsite. That's a three-hour hike. In the sand. And the sun. Anybody who's never walked on sand for three hours is missing out on a real treat. I can't complain, because Matt carried the tent and all the other gear (though he let me try it on for several yards when we hiked back today) while I just carried a backpack stuffed with clothes. He did his best to pretend that this was a fair division of labor, but I told him it was like when my family went to Disneyworld when I was two and my mom gave my brother and me our own "suitcases" to carry. They were lunchboxes.

The ocean was beautiful and the perfect temperature, and we saw plenty of wild horses within the first hour. We hit just one real sticking point, which was that the park literature had specified that there was a fire ring at our campsite and so we had brought onions and potatoes along for dinner, but when we got there--no fire ring. The idea of eating raw onions and potatoes wasn't especially appealing, so we did what anybody else would do: talked to strangers. We (okay, Matt) struck up a conversation with a very friendly native Marylander who invited us to share his family's campfire and also entertained us by catching a baby sand shark. AND I saw my very first shooting star, something I've waited ages for. I told Matt, just when I thought our lives were as perfect as they could get, we go to the fricking seashore for the weekend and see shooting stars and wild horses! I've never actually sat down and made a list of things I want to do before I die, but if I have, those are two things that would have been on it--in addition to seeing King Tut and a live performance of the Counting Crows. I feel like a lucky, lucky girl.

Other than that, we got up this morning and hiked back (which seemed to go much more quickly) and stopped and had breakfast/lunch at a local place near the island. The breakfast was so-so but the cream of crab soup was AMAZING. And, because a post wouldn't be a post unless I showed you what we had for supper, here it is: Stir-Fried Vegetables with Coconut Curry Sauce.
The semifreddo is in the freezer at present, but I'm a little worried about it because the recipe only specified "heavy cream," so I bought what the label called "table cream," but I think now that Matt was right and I should have bought "whipping cream," because I was unable to form the requisite soft peaks while beating. We'll see.

And lastly, in case you all have emulated our example and have been using homemade rags, but wonder "How do they keep those old shreds of underwear smelling April-fresh all the time?" --here's your answer.