My husband and I like dives and joints, and we weren't going to Chincoteague for the food, so after a very mediocre meal at the place everyone recommended (probably because it is the only restaurant open year round), Bill's (pretentious décor, badly cooked food, frozen vegetables of the day, and Sysco fried clams), we decided to strike out on our own.

            We were given suggestions by Tom at Flying Fish (a gift store with some of his own stained glass and interesting jewelry) and Jonathan at Sundial Books, a cute little book store on Main Street, and so we ate very very good barbecue at Woody's, a tiny little shack by the side of the road, sandwiches at another tiny place where you have to sit and eat at outdoor tables or takeaway, seafood at Etta's, and decent if uninspired Vietnamese cuisine at Saigon (with a great "floorshow" put on my the owner and her visiting nine year old grandson).

We also happily discovered the best gift shops on the island, The Main Street Shop and Coffee House and Island Arts, oases of beauty in the middle of a lot of tee shirts and chotchkes..  And we stumbled upon high tea at the Channel Bass Inn, where we will stay next time, and where Dave and Barbara (who is English) served up the most amazing array of tea sandwiches, fabulous scones (the best I have had since the year I lived in Oxford), and an assortment of desserts, including a chocolate trifle, which she made for my husband because he asked if she had it.

            We also lucked in to the Pelican Bar, a true dive that looks as if the next strong wind might blow it away.  It sits right on the water and the breezes waft in and mix with the clientele which includes mothers cajoling their children into eating just one more bite of their hamburgers and fried fish, a group of locals, and some truly inebriated, but not offensive, men.  A man in his fifties with a long grey ponytail and some miles on him was playing Jimmy Buffet numbers on the guitar and, of course, even played House of the Rising Sun.  We went back twice for cheap margaritas and vodka tonics, skilled bar persons, and the kind of beach atmosphere you want when you go on vacation.

            We headed to Assateague several times for glorious beach walks, a nature walk to see the sort of wild ponies, and just relaxing by the ocean.  Michael surf-fished and I sat under our very bargain beach umbrella, until the wind collapsed it and the black flies became unbearable (they seemed to have a particular affection for Michael).

            On a whim, we took a side trip to Annapolis,  two and a half hours away, because I had never been and Michael thought I would like it (and I did!!) which was a chance to head over the other side of the Bay Bridge.  All was well until our return trip where we spent over an hour locked in a traffic jam, the origin of which we never discovered.  We were very happy to head back over the small bridge to sleepy Chincoteague.

            The weather was perfectly glorious and everyone we met was friendly and easy going.

            On the way back, reluctant to end our vacation too soon, we traveled the Eastern Shore slowly along Route 12 and stopped at Cape Charles, right before the bridge, another tiny beach town which is absolutely beautiful and has a long and lovely fishing pier out into the sea.  A mother whose children were successfully crabbing recommended The Stingray, a restaurant attached to an Exxon station down the road, and which the locals fondly call Chez Exxon.  This teeming and bustling place has an efficient and pleasant counter where you can order fresh crab cakes, among other things, and a large candy display where you can get whatever you want, placed in old-fashioned paper sacks.  There is also an impressive wine list!  Apparently this dive had been discovered by Southern Living some years ago but it had still retained his charm and eccentricity.  We headed home, very reluctantly..