Our Blessings far-outnumbered our Disappointments

After several days of exploring the ocean side of the Eastern Shore of Maryland, we are moving to a new camping spot a little further inland to explore the bay side. We moved to our third Boondockers Welcome site in a row, and we can't explain why we haven't joined this organization much sooner. We have been blessed with great hosts that really enjoy meeting new people and sharing their property with RVers. Today's hosts have tried to think of everything that a camper might need. For example, they added a room that contains a large walk-in shower with plenty of hot water for a long shower. Sue is standing beside another addition--a washing machine and dryer in a little building outside that their boondockers can use. Those are both great blessings that people boondocking would never expect!

They also offer 30-amp electricity and water, and plenty of good conversation and advice for things for their guests to experience. After finding out that we love bakery goods, our host showed up the next morning with hot-out-of-the-oven chocolate muffins for breakfast! We have been so blessed!

We were disappointed that the weather forecast called for rain storms today. But we still wanted to explore a little of this Chesapeake Bay coast line. So we headed off towards the town of Chrisfield, Maryland. We had planned to take one of the two-car ferries across the river. But when we arrived at the Whitehaven ferry crossing, we were disappointed to find a "ferry closed" sign. 

We called the number posted and we had to laugh at the message that was left on the machine. The ferry captain obviously hadn't spent a lot of time preparing for the bad news he was going to give to callers. We called the number three times just to giggle again at the message. Sometimes you have to laugh to keep from crying. Right beside the closed ferry is a grand old house, and we had to take a picture. But we're pretty sure that our view of this old house wasn't worth the 20-mile detour that we'll now have to make to get to a bridge across the river.

Our destination is Chrisfield, Maryland. It is situated on the very tip of a peninsula jutting out into Chesapeake Bay. You might remember that we have already sampled a piece of Maryland's official state dessert--Smith Island cake. Well, we found out that the Smith Island Baking Company is in Chrisfield. We want to try another piece of that 8-layer cake, and this seems to be a great place to do that.

So we were certainly disappointed to find out they don't sell cake by the slice. We really weren't interested in buying an entire cake for $90. It would be fun to watch them assembling the cakes through their glass-fronted bakery. But it was afternoon and we were disappointed to find that they were just cleaning up for the day. We asked questions of the nice young woman at the shop, and she described how they individually bake each tiny layer, then frost them, and carefully stack them before a machine applies the outside frosting. We must have looked mighty forlorn at not getting to buy a piece of cake. Then she left, and came back with something for us.

It's one of those fragile little layers that had been baked and frosted today, but wasn't needed. She gave it to us with two forks, and absolutely made our day! We've been blessed again!

Back in the pickup, we tore into that red velvet cake with those two forks. Who do you think is the organized eater that carefully ate one-quarter, and who is the haphazard eater that cut off about a quarter all willy-nilly?

Let's just say that Denisa took her willy-nilly leftovers and stacked them up to look just like a Smith Island cake. Our trip to Chrisfield was a success!

After a stop at a local restaurant for a lunch of Maryland's state sea food--blue crab--we headed for a look at the town pier. It was all decked out in red, white and blue.

The wooden deck looks like a great place for a dance. We were disappointed that there was no music today, so we just took a picture of Denisa and the town's giant blue crab.

About that time, a fisherman brought up one of those blue crabs that are so famous here in Maryland.

It was too small to keep, but large enough to get into defensive stance to show off those blue pinchers.

On our way home from Chrisfield, we drove all the way to the Deal Island State Wildlife Management Area. With all the water in this area, the water birds are the only wildlife we saw. 

It was easy to get several birds in one picture, like the big blue heron in the foreground, and the white heron in the background. We were a little disappointed that after the long drive, the only thing at the end of the road were a few old houses and a spot to turn around.

We also made a stop at Janes Island State Park. Instead of hiking trails, this park has kayaking trails. Behind Mark is the main channel with inlets that branch off into the trees and around to the main inlet of the bay. We were disappointed that it was threatening rain, because we would have loved to be kayaking today.

So instead, we headed back to our nice boondockers welcome spot for long hot showers. We've had some disappointments today--but we have also been blessed with delicious baked goods TWICE, nice views, and the freedom to wander among God's wonders another day.