Assateague Island National Seashore has Wild Ponies!

When we were in the Florida Keys a cool couple - Glen and Kathy - told us about the wild ponies on Assateague Island (both MD and VA) and that we simply had to see them for ourselves. As you may have read in a recent post, we had an opportunity to stay a mere 4 miles outside the park recently (in Ocean City, MD) and got to have a great visit on the barrier island.

The first stop we made was at the Barrier Island Visitor Center where we learned that we could park our vehicle in the next lot up and bike the island...and that they don't guarantee pony sightings but would be shocked if we came back unhappy.

We parked, unloaded the bikes and took off on a 4 mile (each way) ride - 1 mile to the State Park entrance, 2 miles to the National Seashore entrance and 1 more mile through the park.

There are specific paths - off the roadway - for bicycles and they were smooth going (watch out for the pony scat, tho - they do get around!). The first portion of the path is over the Verrazano Bridge Bikeway...what a view.

As we rode the path we came across several ponies just grazing away. They were close by and in the estuary. Beautiful...



The National Seashore park entrance fee is $15 per vehicle or free if you are bicycling or hiking. You can walk atop the dunes and gaze at the seashore, enjoy an exposed old shipwreck, head to the ferry landing to clam or crab, and more. You can also dry camp in either the state or national park campgrounds.

Visitors can also enter the park in Virginia at Chincoteague and enjoy hiking, swimming and of course, ponies. The last Wednesday and Thursday of July the Chincoteague herd is rounded up for the annual "Pony Swim and Auction".

If you are in the Assateague Island area do stop, take a bike ride and check out the wild ponies!

Evanne
RVCookingShow

Campground Review: Frontier Town, Ocean City, MD

Upon the prompting of one of my excellent YouTube RV Cooking Show viewers - DanielLamore (who, btw, has a great collection of RVing videos on his YouTube channel) - I've decided to give you an inside look at why I chose a particular campground and how it turned out.

I've had a wonderful, albeit active, RV summer - staying in one location for no more than a few days at a time. Lots of amazing food, fun and friends. But after nearly 5 months I needed someplace to "land" for at least a week.

I took a good look at my needs (full hookups, wi-fi at my site, near Annapolis, MD (to film an RV Cooking Show episode), and in my price range) and wants (near the water, outside of a larger town, free wi-fi). After reviewing options in my Trailer Life Campground Directory and RVParkReviews.com I chose Frontier Town Western Theme Park and Campground in Ocean City, MD.

Okay, stop laughing. Two full-timers with no kids at Frontier Town (take a look at their website and you'll see what I mean)? Well, they made the grade on my needs and wants - their spring and fall discounted camping fees are very attractive - so...I expected it to be a bit, well, hokey, accepted it and made reservations.

As you enter the park you first come across the waterslide and theme parks (closed after Labor Day). We entered the campground registration building and were assisted by a very helpful gal. She got us all checked in and directed us to our site.


















It was a bit tricky getting the RV Cooking Show Tango Travel Trailer into the site but my husband is an expert backer-upper and took care of it in short order.

Once we were settled in we took a look around and wow, what a wonderful surprise!!


The park is on Sinepuxent Bay - right on the bay and estuary - with plenty of birds and beauty. We didn't expect such a naturesque setting in Frontier Town but that's exactly what we got. Yippee!!!




The park is clean, well maintained, large enough to take a decent bike ride or walk, has a well-stocked campstore, offers free mini-golf in the off season, has excellent wi-fi at my site, and is just an overall pleasure.


















The moral of the story I suppose is...try it...you just might like it! We did and in fact, extended our stay 3 days. They even extended our weekly rate for those days - bonus!!

Frontier Town...we'll be back!!


Evanne
RVCookingShow

PS -Assateague Island (home of the wild ponies) is just 4 miles away...more on that later...

Campfire Pinecone Recipe

With Labor Day weekend around the corner and a full season of beautiful, crisp fall camping (and toasty campfires) on the horizon I wanted to share with you a "campfire pinecone recipe" I got from a friend's blog (that she got from another friend's blog). Her blog is called "Life on Penobscot Bay - The world of Searsport Shores Ocean Campground" and it is full of interesting and informative reads. If you love Maine like I do check it out...but caution...it make might make you want to pack up the RV and go camping there immediately!!

Water-based Pinecone Firestarters

These firestarters make colored flames when you burn them in the fireplace or campfire and make a great party trick. They also look cute in a basket until it’s time to do the burning.

Shopping List:

Pinecones
A big bucket
Tongs
A chemical (see below)

Choosing the Chemical:

Each of these chemicals make a different colored flame and different chemicals cost more than others. You should only make one color of cone at one time and should never burn different colors together, so there’s no need to buy every chemical.

Table salt – yellow flame – the grocery store - you can use the same stuff you fill your salt shaker with

Borax (sodium tetraborate) – yellow-green flame – 20 mule team borax in the laundry aisle - 5$ for much more than 1 cup

Salt substitute (potassium) – violet flame – the grocery store

Epsom salts (magnesium sulphate) – white flame – a pharmacy

Bright green flame – allum (thallium) – try the pharmacy - it’s for food processing (mostly pickle making) but natural food stores charge a ton for it - 5$ for 8oz/1 cup

Bright red flame – strontium chloride – used in aquarium keeping somehow so check a specialty aquarium store - 10$ for 8oz/1 cup

Boric acid – deep red flame – try the pharmacy - I think it’s used in soap making - 5$ for 8oz/1 cup

Fill the bucket with half of a gallon of hot water. Add a cup of your chemical of choice (ONE chemical ONLY). Soak your pinecones for about 8 hours then fish them out with the tongs and set them aside to dry (some of these chemicals will lightly stain a countertop so be sure to use lots of newspaper). The pinecones need to dry for at least 3 days before they can be burned and will need to dry for at least 1 day before you can stick them in a basket or wrap them.

Enjoy these nifty, colorful pinecones in your campfire as you enjoy one of our delicious RVCookingShow.com recipes (May I suggest a decadent hot fudge sundae. Learn how to make this amazing hot fudge - it's a snap - and pack it along on your camping trip. You won't be sorry - I guarantee it!!)

Happy fall camping,

Evanne
RVCookingShow.com

Stringless Sugar Snap Peas - Wow!!

Do you love sugar snap peas as much as I do? What I (and probably you, too) don’t love is dealing with the “strings” – I can never seem to get them pulled 100% (is it just me??) and so don’t eat them as often as I’d like to. Turns out some clever scientist came up with a way to grow “stringless” sugar snap peas and they are available in stores right now under the Mann’s brand.


These little green jewels are sweet, crisp and fantastic right out of the bag or gently steamed and eaten as a side veggie or mixed in the RV Cooking Show’s Sesame Pasta recipe (good enough to write home about!!). Look for them in your grocer’s fresh vegetable section and start asking for them at your local farmers market. Talk about a revolution!!

Evanne
RVCookingShow.com

Camping Package Auction Ends August 10

Just a reminder...

If you love to camp and can project where you'd like to stay for a few days sometime before the end of summer of 2009 you can get some fantastic camping bargains at the ARVC Foundation Camping Package Auction. (For more details read an earlier blog posting about the auction.)

There are, at current count, 43 camping vacations available and the deals can't be beat. For example:

• 3 night stay at Anaheim RV Village, Anaheim, CA - 6/10 of a mile from Disneyland, valued at $480 has an opening bid of $160
• 3 nights of camping at any one of 21 Best Parks in America affiliated RV resorts from California to New Hampshire valued at $120 with an opening bid of $40
• 4 nights at Compton Ridge Campground in Branson, MO valued at $195 with a leading bid of only $65!!

Don't wait too long, the auction ends on August 10th - 4 days from now. Serious savings on some camping getaways...what's not to like?!?!

Evanne

RVCookingShow