Babymooning in Chincoteague Island!!
June 16, 2019 8:34 PM Subscribe
I just booked a babymoon for the first week of July in Chincoteague Island!! Fwiw I'll be 29 weeks pregnant. What should I do there!? I am sooo excited! Food, nature, kayaking, beach, horses, walking around town all sounds delightful. I'm ok for slow physical exertion but do have weak spells so will skip anything rough.
Best answer: We go every year with young kids, so we've tried everything.
Go to the visitor's center on Assateague and grab a schedule - they do guided bird watching tours, night walks, kayaking, all kinds of stuff. If you can swing it a boat tour is always fun. There is also a trolley tour that gives some history of the island, but your experience may vary on the tour guide that day (they're all volunteers, and each ride has been different for us). For food we love Captain Zack's, Woody's, Pico Taqueria and Bill's as mentioned above. Slightly outside of Chincoteague: you can stop in the NASA visitor's center. There are occasional rocket launches from Wallops Island that you can see from the bay side of Chincoteague, you can follow them on Facebook for announcements. There's a great seafood shanty type restaurant called Crusty Crab Seafood Shack in Greenbackville, VA. In Pocomoke City, MD there's the Delmarva Discovery Center & Museum, where you can watch otters being fed if that's your jam (it's totally my jam).
posted by jennypower at 6:37 AM on June 17, 2019
Go to the visitor's center on Assateague and grab a schedule - they do guided bird watching tours, night walks, kayaking, all kinds of stuff. If you can swing it a boat tour is always fun. There is also a trolley tour that gives some history of the island, but your experience may vary on the tour guide that day (they're all volunteers, and each ride has been different for us). For food we love Captain Zack's, Woody's, Pico Taqueria and Bill's as mentioned above. Slightly outside of Chincoteague: you can stop in the NASA visitor's center. There are occasional rocket launches from Wallops Island that you can see from the bay side of Chincoteague, you can follow them on Facebook for announcements. There's a great seafood shanty type restaurant called Crusty Crab Seafood Shack in Greenbackville, VA. In Pocomoke City, MD there's the Delmarva Discovery Center & Museum, where you can watch otters being fed if that's your jam (it's totally my jam).
posted by jennypower at 6:37 AM on June 17, 2019
If I remember correctly from my many childhood re-readings of Misty, doesn’t Pony Penning Day take place in July?
posted by elphaba at 6:54 AM on June 17, 2019
posted by elphaba at 6:54 AM on June 17, 2019
Best answer: You are there shortly after the pony auction, so it will be crowded but not crazy. I've been going there almost annually for a long time. I recommend 1) rent a bike for the week (I don't start my car all week except on beach days) and bike out to the National Seashore, 2) pack your towels and head to the beach (get an annual pass so you don't have to pay every day) 3) take Capt. Dan's Island tour on his boat. He's a local and knows every pony by name. 4) walk main street 5) have an ice cream at Island Creamery 6) bike all over the island until .
you've seen it all 7) go to Pico Taqueria for their amazing fresh tacos 8) visit the nature center/museum just before the beach 8) go to the carnival and eat a clamcake and a funnel cake.
It's a very chill and small town. Very easy to pass a week there and a lot of people fall in love with it. If there is no breeze you will be dealing with bugs (deerflies, horseflies, greenhead flies, mosquitoes, no-see-ums) at various levels just about everywhere so be prepared. They are rarely bad but also rarely absent.
posted by Patapsco Mike at 9:18 AM on June 17, 2019
you've seen it all 7) go to Pico Taqueria for their amazing fresh tacos 8) visit the nature center/museum just before the beach 8) go to the carnival and eat a clamcake and a funnel cake.
It's a very chill and small town. Very easy to pass a week there and a lot of people fall in love with it. If there is no breeze you will be dealing with bugs (deerflies, horseflies, greenhead flies, mosquitoes, no-see-ums) at various levels just about everywhere so be prepared. They are rarely bad but also rarely absent.
posted by Patapsco Mike at 9:18 AM on June 17, 2019
Response by poster: Pony penning/the run/the auction are a few weeks later in late July.
Love the suggestions- thank you! Particularly the NASA center, a bit off the track so wouldn't have come up with it myself, but the hubs will love it.
posted by cacao at 11:36 AM on June 17, 2019
Love the suggestions- thank you! Particularly the NASA center, a bit off the track so wouldn't have come up with it myself, but the hubs will love it.
posted by cacao at 11:36 AM on June 17, 2019
Best answer: So, first week in July, Chincoteague will be pretty crowded (for Chincoteague) because of 4th of July, so there might be some longer lines for food, and the like.
Sundial Books is a good new/used bookstore. Check out local artists on Main St.
Wallops Visitor Center is a good idea.
Island Creamery ice cream is delicious and there are tons of flavors, but it can get really long lines in the evening during the season, so maybe head there mid-afternoon.
The hiking trails are nice BUTBUTBUT you can't really put on enough bug spray to keep absolute swarms off you when you get into the forest. Ask me how I know. ;) The walk to the lighthouse is much better as far as mosquitoes, though.
The ponies are fenced away from people on Chincoteague, so a boat tour is your best bet to good a good look.
If you want to see wild ponies close up you will need to drive north to Assateague National Park in MD (about an hour, mostly rural). You can see them on the side of the road, in the wetlands, sometimes on the beach/in the campsites. There's also a state park, which is a separate entrance fee, and is mostly beach. The best times to see them are early morning and before dusk, since they tend to seek shade during the afternoon, but you never know when you'll see one. The Assateague NP visitor's center is worth a stop.
The Island Theater (one screen) on Chincoteague shows new movies. There's also the Mar-Va Theater in Pocomoke (roughly across from the Discovery Center), which is a restored old movie house, that offers current or seasonal movies, theater and other events. Movies are Fridays and Saturdays, and only cost $5.
If you like garden centers, Thomas Gardens, on Rt 13 just above Rt 175 is worth a visit. It's huge and has some unusual varieties, and if you don't want to buy any plants its still a nice, low key way to spend some time.
n.b. The Food Lion at Rt. 13/175 has a pretty good selection if you ever cook for yourself or need beach lunches etc.
posted by Archipelago at 3:12 PM on June 17, 2019 [1 favorite]
Sundial Books is a good new/used bookstore. Check out local artists on Main St.
Wallops Visitor Center is a good idea.
Island Creamery ice cream is delicious and there are tons of flavors, but it can get really long lines in the evening during the season, so maybe head there mid-afternoon.
The hiking trails are nice BUTBUTBUT you can't really put on enough bug spray to keep absolute swarms off you when you get into the forest. Ask me how I know. ;) The walk to the lighthouse is much better as far as mosquitoes, though.
The ponies are fenced away from people on Chincoteague, so a boat tour is your best bet to good a good look.
If you want to see wild ponies close up you will need to drive north to Assateague National Park in MD (about an hour, mostly rural). You can see them on the side of the road, in the wetlands, sometimes on the beach/in the campsites. There's also a state park, which is a separate entrance fee, and is mostly beach. The best times to see them are early morning and before dusk, since they tend to seek shade during the afternoon, but you never know when you'll see one. The Assateague NP visitor's center is worth a stop.
The Island Theater (one screen) on Chincoteague shows new movies. There's also the Mar-Va Theater in Pocomoke (roughly across from the Discovery Center), which is a restored old movie house, that offers current or seasonal movies, theater and other events. Movies are Fridays and Saturdays, and only cost $5.
If you like garden centers, Thomas Gardens, on Rt 13 just above Rt 175 is worth a visit. It's huge and has some unusual varieties, and if you don't want to buy any plants its still a nice, low key way to spend some time.
n.b. The Food Lion at Rt. 13/175 has a pretty good selection if you ever cook for yourself or need beach lunches etc.
posted by Archipelago at 3:12 PM on June 17, 2019 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Sooo we're back. For the sake of future metafilter reference, here were our favorites:
Restaurants: Pico taqueria and Zack's Seafood won our food prizes. Super delicious and simple fare, tasted amazing and much better than restaurants we paid 4x more in (we didn't try Bill's, so this is not a reference to them). Pico taqueria is particularly nice when you get tired of the heavy food they seem to serve in most places around there. Island Creamery was legitimately delicious icecream with a fun selection of flavors.
The beach on Assateague was delightful, and the hiking trails were gorgeous too. Mosquito repellent is your friend.
The whole place had a kind of old timey feel...lots of antiques. Would come here again for a super laid back trip with lots of nature possibilities. I wasn't strong enough to enjoy those fully this time around. If you are more of a Miami Beach person, you might enjoy another place more.
Capt. Dan's tours were awesome - he really does know the name of all the horses. We saw four groups of horses in our afternoon pony tour! Was definitely not expecting that.
posted by cacao at 1:16 PM on July 8, 2019 [3 favorites]
Restaurants: Pico taqueria and Zack's Seafood won our food prizes. Super delicious and simple fare, tasted amazing and much better than restaurants we paid 4x more in (we didn't try Bill's, so this is not a reference to them). Pico taqueria is particularly nice when you get tired of the heavy food they seem to serve in most places around there. Island Creamery was legitimately delicious icecream with a fun selection of flavors.
The beach on Assateague was delightful, and the hiking trails were gorgeous too. Mosquito repellent is your friend.
The whole place had a kind of old timey feel...lots of antiques. Would come here again for a super laid back trip with lots of nature possibilities. I wasn't strong enough to enjoy those fully this time around. If you are more of a Miami Beach person, you might enjoy another place more.
Capt. Dan's tours were awesome - he really does know the name of all the horses. We saw four groups of horses in our afternoon pony tour! Was definitely not expecting that.
posted by cacao at 1:16 PM on July 8, 2019 [3 favorites]
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We spent an hour in a small shop called Hollyhocks on Main. It was a delightful little store filled with funky housewares with a global touch. The owner was friendly and we enjoyed our chat with her.
Other than wandering around town and poking around shops, we spent the afternoon driving around Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge and walking on the beach which was enjoyable.
posted by IndigoOnTheGo at 5:26 AM on June 17, 2019 [1 favorite]