Labor Day Break Away...

 We took advantage of the three day weekend by heading to the beach, or at least close to the beach. A great thing about where we live is that in three hours, I can be in the mountains of Western Maryland. I can also be at the beach in the same amount of time. Camping at the beach is not always easy however. The campgrounds are often booked a year in advance, the State Parks there, offer very little privacy, and you often have to deal with the ponies that love to come crap in your site, push you around and leave clouds of flies when they leave. Have you noticed I am not a big fan of the ponies of Assategue? A great alternative is Pocomoke River State Park. It is 20 minutes from Ocean City and the campsites are huge and fairly private.

 The forest in this State Park is fairly spectacular. It is a typical Eastern coastal blend of loblolly pine, sweat gum, swamp oak, and cypress. The canopy is dense and offers a lot of beauty. We have camped at Pocomoke River State Park a few times. This time around, we were in the Shad Landing area. We have camped many times on the other side of the river in the Milburn Landing area. This park makes a great launching off for day trips.

We headed out for the day to go to Crisfield. I took all back roads and made many unexpected rights and a number of lefts. I like getting somewhat lost and truly enjoy finding the unexpected. An unexpected find was Rehobath Presbyterian Church on the way to Shelltown. Never heard of either? Me too. That was the point...

This church was built very early in the Colony. It burnt to the ground a number of times, was rebuilt, to burn down again. 

Not a bad place to spend eternity, here lyeth the body...

The sacred body...

The 65th annual Hard Crab Derby was going on when we got to Chrisfield. Our timing was great, because as we pulled into town the parade was just beginning. There was a fairly large crowd for such a small town. Crisfield was or still is known as the seafood capital of Maryland. If you want crabs, this is the place to go. If you want the best soft shell crabs you will be coming to Crisfield for sure.

 

I love small town parades. There are always a group of girls shaking things they shouldn't as a group

There is always a military band. The Air Force showed up in this case.

The local High School band does their thing. In this case, their thing was a Lady Gaga song...

Of course, there was a fire brigade with an antique pumper of some sort. In the Crisfield parade, there were two. The fire department was pressed into service when their first truck ripped down the phone lines with the ladder truck, bringing the entire parade to a halt for a good 20 minutes.

My favorite float was done by the prisoners at the local jail. You know the song Godzilla? Well, it was blaring, but instead of Godzilla, it was Crabzilla.

The National Guard was trying to fight Crabzilla...

Crabzilla seemed to be winning...

They had some very tall clowns throwing candy to the kids in the crowd. I am a kid too and have no shame in pushing a nine year old out of the way so I could get a wild cherry Dumb
Dumb.

After the parade, we headed down to the Marina to witness something lost to time. At one time thousands of these little skiffs worked the shallows of the Chesapeake Bay. Many of the guys would race each other for bragging rights. Today, there are but a few dozen of these skiffs left. A few still get together for a friendly race.

19 feet long with a 30" beam. A 18- 22hp inboard motor and absolutely zero comfort. These boats were built to work the shallows for soft crabs and then rush them to the buy boat at a very high rate of speed.

I am not going to lie, I am somewhat smitten and am very seriously considering building one of these boats this winter. I would love to be a part of the race next year. 

The man in the white shirt built that boat in 2000. He spent his life building work boats for the waterman working the Bay. She won the last race of the day.

On Sunday we managed to go to Ocean City for the day. We went to 13th Street where Beth's Grandmother resided ever summer from 1948 until she passed on in 1999. I am bored out of my mind sitting on the beach, but the girls love it, so I make the best of it.

Something I am always amazed by is how much I enjoy dinner in the trailer. We usually eat out on the picnic table, as it offers more room to spread out, but the weather was very humid and rather hot too. The AC felt very good!

The real amazement is how incredibly good the food tastes. We made hobo pockets(throw match stick potatoes, carrots, onions, butter, salt and pepper into a foil pouch and cook till done, about 40 minutes flipping often) and flank steak on the grill. A salad with Mr Moyer's BBQ sauce on it by mistake(a dash of vinegar added and tossed to fix the mistake) was mind boggling. Not one single bite of left overs remained.

What a great weekend in our second home....