For Cahlean’s next to last day in Maryland, we planned a big day of exploring. First up, though I knew it would still be closed because of the government shut-down, was Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge. Even if the refuge were closed, the areas surrounding it were beautiful and we might luck out with some bird photography (the refuge has the greatest density of breeding bald eagles on the east coast, north of Florida). We didn’t have any luck with bald eagles, but we did see plenty of cormorants, gulls and ducks.
We also met a small snapping turtle. I love these things…they’re like little dinosaurs.
And a baby red-eared slider.
We then headed for Assateague Island. Again, knowing that the National Seashore would be closed, but hoping there was enough to see to make it worthwhile. As we were nearing the Island, we started to race a storm, thinking how awesome it might be if we could get there as it rolled in. We arrived just as the skies were overtaking the island…
Though we could only access a very small part of the Island, we still got to see some of the wild ponies. Several were near the bridge, grazing by the road…
The storm arrived fully and began pelting us with rain, so we moved on, heading back towards my house. During the drive, the clouds broke enough to provide for some really interesting lighting. We weren’t in the best scenery for photography, but we stopped anyways.
So not a bad day’s worth of explorations and photography, despite the change in plans and government shutdown!