Maryland’s Eastern Shore Trip-Day 8

Yesterday was my last full day in Ocean City, Maryland and I was determined to make the most of it. It was also one of the few days that had no rain in the forecast and it was sunny and hot all day long. That morning I finally was able to do the one thing that I couldn’t do earlier either because of my back problems or the weather or both—go for an early morning stroll along the beach. Aside from a few early-morning swimmers and angler fisherman, the beach was mostly clear, as you can see in this photo below.

After my brief stroll, I returned to the condo for some breakfast. After that my husband, sister-in-law, and I decided to make a last visit to The Bookend Cafe where we had some drinks, browsed the gifts and books sold there, and did some web surfing using the cafe’s free wi-fi. On the way back from the cafe, we stopped off at the same Fenwick Island lighthouse that I took a nighttime photo of just a few days ago. Here is what the lighthouse looks like in daylight.

After lunch we spent some time in the afternoon at the beach where we took a few last dips in the ocean then did some final book reading on the beach. Then we changed out of our swimsuits and headed to the Boardwalk for one final time. Unlike the last time I went to the Boardwalk, the day was much brighter and I was able to do some more walking than I was before since I didn’t have to worry about raindrops. Here’s a photo I took of the landmark Esskay Clock. When I used to go to Ocean City as a child with my extended family (including my cousins), we kids used to be instructed to wait by that clock if we somehow became separated. I remembered when I did just that one crowded night when I got separated by my family and they were all happy that when they found me at the clock.

Next to the Esskay Clock is a newer Boardwalk landmark. This is the Firefighters Memorial and it was erected to honor the firefighters who perished in the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001.

Here’s a different kind of landmark. For many years a sculptor and minister Randy Hofman has been creating these gigantic sand sculptures based on events in the Bible. They are really a sight to behold.

If you want to see more of Randy Hofman’s work, check out his website right here.

The Boardwalk have long been home to would-be artists and musicians who try to ply their trade among the vacation-goers. Sometimes you’ll see someone who is both an artist and a musician, like the guy in the photo below.

After walking around on the Boardwalk, we headed to the Angler restaurant to take advantage of its dinner and sunset cruise. We ate a wonderful dinner in the restaurant then we went out on the dock in the back of the restaurant where we boarded a boat. I took a whole bunch of sunset photos. Here’s one of the sunset over the Route 50 bridge that leads into Ocean City.

Here’s another sunset photo, this one over Assateague Island.

And here’s sunset over West Ocean City, Maryland.

And here are a few sunset photos of the Boardwalk, where you can see the bright lights from far away.

In this photo, you can see the kites that are located right outside The Kite Loft. The kites are flown day and night during the summer.

Towards the end of the boat trip, things took a really dramatic turn. Our boat got word of another boat that had literally run aground and the boat I was on decided to go over to see if it could offer some help. By the time we arrived, the Coast Guard had already arrived to offer aid to the boat. I managed to take a few photos of that ship that ran aground but it was really dark and my camera had a hard time picking up the image so the next two photos are blurry. Here is the white boat that’s stuck among the rocks.

The blue lights in this photo are the ones from the Coast Guard boat.

Maryland’s Eastern Shore Trip-Day 4

The weather has been acting weird. It started off with showers this morning then it was cloudy and cooler than usual. Then it alternated between being cloudy and sunny and some of the clouds looked like they could produce some more raindrops (but it didn’t). By the late afternoon the sun came out and everything seemed like a normal sunny day. By that point, we weren’t in the mood to change into our swimsuits.

My husband and sister-in-law spent the day talking about their childhoods (which I couldn’t get into because I didn’t meet either one of them until after I turned 20) and they talked so much that they ate breakfast then lunch way later than usual. As for me, I ate on time. 🙂

Then they really got into spending huge amounts of time chopping up fresh produce and stuff. It’s a far cry when I was a kid and my parents used to share a condo with my grandmother, aunt, uncle, and four cousins. We basically ate either cereal or donuts or Pop Tarts for breakfast, sandwiches for lunch, and either frozen dinners or something that could be done quick (like dunking chicken in barbeque sauce or pouring McCormick’s Season All on a slice of steak). None of the adults were into chopping up vegetables or cooking up anything that was too complex (even making scrambled eggs was considered too much work <LOL!>), or making exacting schedules on which meals would be eaten on which day and when they would be eaten. As far as they were concerned, they were on vacation too and they didn’t want to do as much cooking as they usually did at home. (Don’t worry, we kids survived extremely well, we were still well-fed, and none of us were angry or bitter about the adults’ decision to not cook as much as usual.)

I spent time trying to get rid of this excessive ear wax that’s been clogging up my right ear for the past two days now. (I purchased some ear wax removal and I’m making some progress but I’m going to work on it some more.)

I managed to get away from the condo to purchase some caramel popcorn from the Fisher’s Popcorn that’s located just one block over the Delaware state line. While I was still in the town of Fenwick Island, Delaware, I checked out this shopping center that has a new cafe that’s also offers free wi-fi plus sells used books called The Bookend Cafe. It’s a charming place and, in fact, I’m typing this entry from there.

At one point in the late afternoon I took a brief walk along the beach. I cut it short because I saw this elderly couple sitting in low-slung beach chairs and I became upset. That’s because this couple is a few decades older than me yet they were able to sit in normal beach chairs with seats slung close to the sand. As you may have read yesterday, I have a hard time with sitting in beach chairs with seats that touch the sand because of my back. It’s so unfair that I’m younger than that elderly couple and I can’t enjoy the beach like I usually do because of my back. (That’s right I have excessive ear wax in my right ear that’s clogging up my hearing—it’s like having an ear plug lodged in my ear—AND I have back problems.) I got so upset that I left the beach after only a few minutes because I just couldn’t take it.

I brought my camera with me during my brief foray to the beach and took a few photos. Here are a few American flags and other patriotic-themed decorations among the sand dunes in anticipation for tomorrow’s Fourth of July holiday.

The Good Humor ice cream truck makes its periodic stops along the beaches of Ocean City, Maryland while playing "Turkey in the Straw" over and over.

One classic feature of the beaches in Ocean City is the frequent appearance of planes hauling advertising banners for the beachgoers to watch as they fly by. These planes have been flying as far back as when I was a child.

I’ll admit that this entry is melancholy. Part of it is because of my health issues and part of it is because we’re pretty limited as to where we can go to avoid the excessive crowds that are here only for the Fourth of July holiday. After tomorrow most of the Fourth of July revellers will be gone and the area will be less crowded so we can go to places like the Boardwalk and not have to wait in long lines to get a cup of soda or worrying about bumping into people because the area is so packed.. For the time being we’re limiting our expeditions to walking to the beach or going into neighboring Delaware to check out some of the upscale shops and the sales tax-free shopping.