"A special place in the hearts of many readers." Assateague Island by jennifermueller

Like most other 11 year old girls I knew, I was obsesed with horses and Marguerite Henry's novel of "Misty of Chincoteague" was one of my favorites.

April is a little chilly for ocean bathing but no mosquitoes that time of year. Mosquitos are just fierce later in the summer.

Assateague Island National Seashore, MD

You can camp on the MD part of the island in Assateague in both the state and national parks (the state park supposedly has showers). See the The Park Service - Assateague Island National Seashore or Assateague State Park sites.

Both campgrounds are an easy hop to Ocean City MD, if, as happened to us, it seriously downpours during dinner and makes cooking over a fire impossible. In our case it rained all night the night we arrived, but was just lovely the next day.

Chincoteage National Wildlife Refuge, VA

See my Assateague Island, MD page for tips on the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge.

The VA part of Assateague is more forested, and has longer walking trails than the northern part. Several outfits from nearby Chincoteague offer pony watching boat tours that get much closer to the horses than we did.

• Pros:Nice camping, 2-3 hours from DC, not crowded early in season.
• Cons:Mosquitos are downright awful in the late summer.