Travel Blog - Day 9: Wild Horses and Last Chances
Thursday was out last day to get in all the vacation we could. We started the morning off with a family caravan to Duck Donuts. The photographer who took our family picture recommended this donut shop and we decided to wait until our last day when no one cooks (the your-on-your-own day) to try it out. It is a tiny little place, but the words must be out on Duck Donuts because the line was out the door.
Wow! Amazing. They make your donuts to order right there in front of you and they are killer. Normally, I don't really like cake donuts, but these were hot, light, a tad crispy, not a bit greasy and totally wonderful. Surprisingly the maple frosting was my favorite, even though Amelia thinks maple is for old people. The chocolate frosting was also delicious, but when is chocolate bad?
From the donut shop Chad, the girls and I headed out to the jeep tour. We got there and one of the guides started talking about the best off road sand dune driving you'll ever experience. At one point, he swears, we'll go nearly straight up one of the dunes. Um...excuse me? straight up? what? Now, I'm really getting nervous. I look at Chad with my wide nervous eyes and in response he rolls his eyes and mouths "big talker." "Hope so," I mouth in response.
So we meet our 20 something sufer guide. He's a cute kid with so much enthusiasm and seems really laid back about the whole thing. He promises that even though the speed limit where we are going is 35 MPH, we aren't likely to get going faster than about 20 MPH. That seems ok to me, so when he's done giving a few instructions we load up the jeep and head off. As we are buzzing along toward the beach I think of all the things I've been really nervous for and then not enjoyed to their fullest because I wasted time being nervous. So I decide, I'm just going to enjoy the whole thing. I've been really looking forward to doin this. I've never done anything like it before and I don't want to waste the experience worrying about things that might never happen.
The night before while out walking I asked Chad what he though happened when you drove to the end of the island. Well, turns out that the road turns into beach. Highway 12 keeps going, but the pavement gives way to miles and miles of open beach. You follow the same basic rules of the road. There is a left lane, a right lane and a median. If you have to pull off the "road" or are there to enjoy the beach then you stop in the median, otherwise you stick to the area of the beach that makes up your 'lane'.
We headed along for a mile of so, skirting the edge of the waves and enjoying the cool, ocean breeze and then the guide signals and heads up this big sand dune. Chad guns it to follow him and about half way up, the jeep gets stuck in the sand. Turns out the jeep wasn't in 4WD yet - looked like it was, but hadn't kicked in for some reason. Ultimately, Chad hops out and the guide hops in. He revvs is and rocks it and sand is flying everywhere. The girls have their heads down and eyes closed, so they don't get sand in their eyes. He finally gets the jeep to kick into 4WD and the next thing I know we are blasting up the sand dune. Oh my gosh, it was fun!
The tour was great. We saw tons of horses and lots of babies, some 2 weeks old, some 2 days old. Wow, they were cute. A couple of times they got so close to the jeep I could have reached out and touched them. It was cool to see the little family groups and there's nothing quite like a momma horse staring you down. I got her message, if I didn't try to touch her babies, she wouldn't try to touch mine.
We toured through a preservation area and stopped at a lookout. You could see out over the entire sound. It was really beautiful.
On the way home we raced down the beach, bouncing around, and splashing in the waves. We were hot and pretty sandy, but it was such unique experience. We got a popsicle and some juice after the tour and a few minutes sitting in the shade helped Brynn's face to a normal color. (She gets really hot, really fast.) It was a great morning.
We spent our last afternoon at the beach and the pool hanging out with everyone. It was great weather and a great last day.
Once we got everyone in we made a little dinner and starting packing. Aunt Annie had helped the kids make pinatas earlier in the week and we let them whack them for our last night. It was pretty funny, each kid had their own pinata and it was fun to see how differently they approached them. The little kids were just happy when they connected with the pinata. Jake was a pretty good hit, but not enough power to break the thing open. John gave him a little help, tearing his bag a smidge. Brynn also needed a little tear to break hers, but she could connect no problem. Grace hit hers so hard it snapped off the string and she beat the living daylights out of it as it laid on the ground. Tanner and Parker were characteristically excellent at the pinata beating. I think Parker might have cracked him in one whack.
Once we got the kids to be Chad and I went to a late night dinner with B and Ameila. We cracked crab legs, talked LOST and laughed until we were sick. It was fun. I can't remember the last time we hung out with those guys.
A perfect last day.
Wow! Amazing. They make your donuts to order right there in front of you and they are killer. Normally, I don't really like cake donuts, but these were hot, light, a tad crispy, not a bit greasy and totally wonderful. Surprisingly the maple frosting was my favorite, even though Amelia thinks maple is for old people. The chocolate frosting was also delicious, but when is chocolate bad?
From the donut shop Chad, the girls and I headed out to the jeep tour. We got there and one of the guides started talking about the best off road sand dune driving you'll ever experience. At one point, he swears, we'll go nearly straight up one of the dunes. Um...excuse me? straight up? what? Now, I'm really getting nervous. I look at Chad with my wide nervous eyes and in response he rolls his eyes and mouths "big talker." "Hope so," I mouth in response.
So we meet our 20 something sufer guide. He's a cute kid with so much enthusiasm and seems really laid back about the whole thing. He promises that even though the speed limit where we are going is 35 MPH, we aren't likely to get going faster than about 20 MPH. That seems ok to me, so when he's done giving a few instructions we load up the jeep and head off. As we are buzzing along toward the beach I think of all the things I've been really nervous for and then not enjoyed to their fullest because I wasted time being nervous. So I decide, I'm just going to enjoy the whole thing. I've been really looking forward to doin this. I've never done anything like it before and I don't want to waste the experience worrying about things that might never happen.
The night before while out walking I asked Chad what he though happened when you drove to the end of the island. Well, turns out that the road turns into beach. Highway 12 keeps going, but the pavement gives way to miles and miles of open beach. You follow the same basic rules of the road. There is a left lane, a right lane and a median. If you have to pull off the "road" or are there to enjoy the beach then you stop in the median, otherwise you stick to the area of the beach that makes up your 'lane'.
We headed along for a mile of so, skirting the edge of the waves and enjoying the cool, ocean breeze and then the guide signals and heads up this big sand dune. Chad guns it to follow him and about half way up, the jeep gets stuck in the sand. Turns out the jeep wasn't in 4WD yet - looked like it was, but hadn't kicked in for some reason. Ultimately, Chad hops out and the guide hops in. He revvs is and rocks it and sand is flying everywhere. The girls have their heads down and eyes closed, so they don't get sand in their eyes. He finally gets the jeep to kick into 4WD and the next thing I know we are blasting up the sand dune. Oh my gosh, it was fun!
The tour was great. We saw tons of horses and lots of babies, some 2 weeks old, some 2 days old. Wow, they were cute. A couple of times they got so close to the jeep I could have reached out and touched them. It was cool to see the little family groups and there's nothing quite like a momma horse staring you down. I got her message, if I didn't try to touch her babies, she wouldn't try to touch mine.
We toured through a preservation area and stopped at a lookout. You could see out over the entire sound. It was really beautiful.
On the way home we raced down the beach, bouncing around, and splashing in the waves. We were hot and pretty sandy, but it was such unique experience. We got a popsicle and some juice after the tour and a few minutes sitting in the shade helped Brynn's face to a normal color. (She gets really hot, really fast.) It was a great morning.
We spent our last afternoon at the beach and the pool hanging out with everyone. It was great weather and a great last day.
Once we got everyone in we made a little dinner and starting packing. Aunt Annie had helped the kids make pinatas earlier in the week and we let them whack them for our last night. It was pretty funny, each kid had their own pinata and it was fun to see how differently they approached them. The little kids were just happy when they connected with the pinata. Jake was a pretty good hit, but not enough power to break the thing open. John gave him a little help, tearing his bag a smidge. Brynn also needed a little tear to break hers, but she could connect no problem. Grace hit hers so hard it snapped off the string and she beat the living daylights out of it as it laid on the ground. Tanner and Parker were characteristically excellent at the pinata beating. I think Parker might have cracked him in one whack.
Once we got the kids to be Chad and I went to a late night dinner with B and Ameila. We cracked crab legs, talked LOST and laughed until we were sick. It was fun. I can't remember the last time we hung out with those guys.
A perfect last day.
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