Chincoteague Island

Assategaue Beach

 

Last weekend I drove down to Chincoteague Island, Virgina with some friends.  We had a great time. 

Chinoteague is about a 3 1/2 hour drive from Washington DC.  From the capitol, you head east towards Annapolis MD and stay on Highway 50 until you hit Highway 13.  I think it’s about 170 miles away but once you pass the Chesapeake Bay Bridge it gets pretty congested. 

 

 The weather was cool with intermittent sun and showers; perfect beach weather!  We all headed to the Asseteague National Park on Saturday morning. 

Back Bay in the Park

First stop was trying to find the famous Chincoteague Ponies that they round up every July.  We found them within 3 miles of the park entrance about half a mile from the main road.  They were placidly munching away on grass.  Around us you could see a variety of birds such as the great egrets, snowy egrets, and herons.  We also saw some snapper turtles, a tiny herd of marsh deer that were swimming across a back bay to graze.  Terns, seagulls and these amazing diving birds were also everywhere.

The beaches were almost deserted since the wind was gusting and it was really cold by the water.  But walking along the water, hearing the waves roll and crash settles you somewhere deep down inside. 

 

I wanted to get away from things and just relax and get re-grounded again and spending an afternoon there really helped.

 If you go down there, recommend the Hampton Inn it was a great place to stay, the people were nice and it was quite close to some great places to eat.  Make sure you hit Bill’s and definitely try the chowder it was wonderful!

I probably should say that the top two photos were mine, I shot them.  This one was taken by a friend with my iPhone.

 

Smithsonian Craft Show

The Smithsonian Craft Show opens this weekend (April 10 – 13) at the Smithsonian Building Museum.  This will be the third show I am attending and I am psyched as usual.  I’d considered going to the preshow on Wednesday evening.  But the admission to the gala is $175 per person (I know but at least there is a free valet!).  I finally realized as much fun as that would be, I could spend it on thursday (and the profit goes to the event which is worthwile) or I could directly support the artist by buying their lovely things.  I decided buying art and fine crafts would be the better option for me.

Admission is $15 for adults, $12 for seniors/military/Smithsonian Associates and employees. 

The hours of the show are:

Thursday 10:00- 8:00PM

Friday – Saturday 10:00 – 6:00PM

Sunday  11:00-5:00PM

There is a small sandwich shop on the first floor that has some great food that is fairly cheap, they sell decent coffee too.

How to get there:

If you are on the Metro, take the RED LINE to Judicary Square.  The national Building Museum is located on 401 F Street NW, Washington, DC 20001 if you are driving there are parking garages nearby but I am a metro gal so check the show link for that information.

For those of you who are out of town and can not attend, you can still participate!  The Smithsonian Craft Show hosts and online auction as well!  The auction opened on 6 April and continues until 15 April.

 

 

Anatomy Class

I am in Robert Liberace’s anatomy workshop from today until Sunday.

My brain is spining from terms like superior, inferior, medial, anterior… well you get the idea. I brought prepped paper but it’s not that kind fo class, so I ended up drawing inmy moleskinne for the class.  Adam is out model for the entire class.  I always find his build interesting but distrubing since he has so little body fat.

Most of today was the chest/ab and back and learning were a muscle started, terminated and what its intended purpose is.  The drawings I made at The Bodies exhibit last fall actually helped a lot to try and make sense of what Rob was saying.

I will down load the photos at the end of the course so you can see what he covered.