go places.: seeking seashells by the seashore.

For the next day of Fourth of July weekend, Jason and I were reunited with the beach in Ocean City, Maryland. It’s been almost a year that’s come and gone without tanning on the sand or walking through the surf. It was good to be back. There was a bizarre, thick fog hanging over the water so we decided to hit the boardwalk first. We walked through the Jolly Roger, a small carnival like area, with games to win stuffed animals and a Ferris wheel. We didn’t really know where to start and wandered in and out of shops as we continued along the boardwalk.

The Pepsi Ferris wheel

Ocean City's pier

We bought soft served ice cream from the Kohr Brothers and ignored a vendor who tried to sell us a hermit crab. Further down the boardwalk we encountered Pastor Hoffman’s sand sculptures of Christ on the cross, Moses and the 10 Commandments, and the Last Supper. We admired the incredible detail along with everyone else and kept on walking.

Jason knows the way to my heart: ice cream

Danie's got the directions

I guess we didn't need to buy a postcard, but we did anyway

Handpainted hermit crab shells

Jason called this The Last Sandper, get it?

In the distance, Jason thought he saw tons of flags waving in the air for a sale. As we got closer, we realized that they were a mass of kites. I’ve never seen so many different kites floating on there own and so high up in the sky. It was definitely worthy of a picture.

Let's go fly a kite

I've never seen so many kites

As Jason and I were walking along the boardwalk, we were looking for a place to lay our beach towels on the sand, but we thought it was odd that even though the beach was swarming with people, nobody was swimming in the ocean. Jason usually would have rolled his eyes at my mention of a ‘shark’, but this time he believed me. We went down to the water to check it out for ourselves and it turned out that the water was just freezing. This certainly did not stop Jason from getting in the water to search for sand crabs and shells. I put my sunglasses on and basked in the sun from a distance. When Jason got too cold, we packed up our things and made our way back to the boardwalk. We actually walked the entire 2.4-mile boardwalk and ended up taking a tram back to where we started and headed back to our hotel in Salisbury.

Even dipping my toes in the water was too much!

Jason's on the search for shells

The next afternoon we met up with one of my good friends, Betsy, her husband, Steve, and their two adorable girls. It was so awesome to see her and catch up over Mexican food at Plaza Tapatia. After enjoying a great lunch, we parted ways and Jason and I headed to Assateague State Park. This state park is supposedly known for having wild horses run along the beach. Total let down. We saw just two horses as we were paying for parking, which honestly made us think wow—the first 2 of many! Unfortunately, these were the only horses we saw and of course, we didn’t take a picture.

It's weird to think horses can be wild

While walking along the beach waiting for the rest of the horses to show up, we went shell hunting—Jason in the freezing water and me on the sandy shore. This beach had handfuls of the most colorful and different seashells that Jason and I have ever seen. Along with seashells, I found a tiny crab's claw that I had fun playing around with.

Assateague Beach was filled with seashells

I found a crab claw

We walked for a couple hours collecting shells and spotting the sideways walking crabs peek in and out of their holes. Jason even found the shell of a horseshoe crab. I told him he would get a disease if he picked it up, but he just had to pick it up. Overall, it was fun walking the secluded beach with Jason and taking a decent haul of seashells

I'd be more creeped out if I saw a live one of these

Our own private beach

Mr. Crab, you can't hide in that hole forever!

Just one of the many seashells we took home with us

Before I left, Jason showed me the University of Maryland campus and where he walks to his internship. We both agree that the Terrapin is the most awesome mascot. Visiting Jason was so much fun, even if it was for a few days. I don’t know how people do this long distance/being alone thing on a regular basis. Even though I’m proud of everything he’s accomplishing in his internship, I can’t wait until Jason comes home for good and my life goes back to normal.