Paddling the Pokamoke, and more

Been on vacation . . . and I have the laundry to prove it. I have kayaked and driven the eastern shore of the Chesapeake, bits and pieces of Maryland and Virginia on the way to and from. The boat is back in the garage, the unpacking is mostly done and I have sand in my shoes.

The highest of the highlights, as promised -

Best paddle:
The Pokamoke River, a twisty-turny waterway through the country's northern-most cypress swamp, from Snow Hill (yes) to Pokamoke City. The water is extremely tannic - looks like cafeteria coffee - which means mosquito larvae can't live in it. NO MOSQUITOS! Bald eagle, other birds, turtles, and lots of tree knees. Cool.

Best road surprise:
Driving up the skinny finger of VA that isn't attached to anything but the MD border, from Cape Charles to Chincoteague in the company of 370 motorcyclists. (There really is only one road - US 13.) I started out before they did, they passed me, I passed them, etc. Kind of a day-long do-si-do on wheels. It was an annual rally, a fundraiser for some Christmas-gifts-for-kids project.

Best off-road surprise:
An installation by sculptor Patrick Dougherty at the Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens in Richmond. A collection of hidey holes, a walk-through labyrinth of playrooms crafted of saplings. Titled "Meadowmorphosis." A little punny but I like the piece. See it on the front page of http://www.stickwork.net/

Best dinner:
Bill's, one door from the corner of Main Street and Cleveland (yes) in Chincoteague. Eight broiled, couldn't-be-fresher, cooked-just-right, plump and velvety sea scallops; red skin potatoes cooked with ham hocks and mashed with smoked cheddar; and Granny Smith apple cole slaw. No need for dessert.

Best motel:
Rittenhouse Motor Lodge. Tucked in the piney woods off Rt. 13 near Cape Charles. Big room, clean-to-a-fault old tile bathroom, two chairs in front of every door. Classical music, stacks of books and antiques in the office and an utterly charming 83-yr-old host. Well, and coffee, of course.

Best campsite:
not this time

Best sign seen:
50% off fudge jewelry (for lack of a comma, blessed amusement.) Hoping the 50% they took off was the sticky part. (Says my friend Karen, "Everybody knows you don't wear fudge after Labor Day.")

Best wildlife encounter:
a red fox on a sand bar in the marsh near Jane's Island State Park (MD). OK, I was amazed by the up-close-and-almost-too-personal fox sighting but it's a sand bar - where were the daiquiris??

Best beach:
a tie  - Assateague National Seashore for the breakers and one amazing sand castle; the Atlantic side of the NASA site onWallop's Island because it's not open to the public so nobody else was there except me and the 10 people I was with. And I found a perfect moon snail shell.

Totally unclassifiable:
the giant signboard (somewhere in Maryland, I think) on Perdue Stadium - Chickenstock LIVE. What? Are they racing chickens? Is this avian NASCAR? Or are they making soup? Out of LIVE chickens?? I wonder if the PETA folks know about this . . .