Assateague National Park

Moonlight on the beach.

I am exhausted.  Today (and yesterday for that matter) were long and exhausting days.  I had my test yesterday (if you didn't catch that from my Spanish post) and I passed, though my nerves made me worry that I wouldn't.  I messed up way more than I was comfortable with.  But, I got what I needed so I can go to post.
I had some administrative errands to run after work to get ready to leave.  I didn't get it all done because I just ran out of time, but oh well.  Then I rushed home to meet up with some friends to go to Assateague National Park for camping and swimming.  Assateague is about 3 1/2 hours from DC, so we were expecting to arrive pretty late, around 11:00 pm.  What we were not expecting was to discover the hard way that there are three parks: Assateague National Seashore, Assateague State Park, and Assateague National Park.
We ended up first at Assateague National Seashore around 11pm.  We drove up to a gate that said it closed at 10pm.  There was no way to get it.  We were a little worried until we called our other friends and discovered that we were at the wrong location.  We got the address, and the GPS told us it would be another hour.  We were all tired, and a little frustrated that we were so far from our destination, but we continued on.

This horse came and terrorized camp in the morning
trying to steal food, and just standing around.
It was surprising how many people were terrified
of the horses.

Around midnight, we arrived at Assateague State Park.  We pulled in, but there was no way to register our vehicle.  As we were waiting, a police officer came by to check on us.  We were waiting for our friends to come to the ranger station when we discovered that for the second time we were in the wrong location.  This time, we were only a few minutes away from where we wanted to be.
The police officer gave us directions and we headed down the road.  After arriving at Assateague National Park (where we were supposed to be the whole time) we immediately saw some horses.  We nearly hit one that was walking in the road.  We also walked to the beach before heading to our campsite.

Our campsite.

After arriving at the campsite, we stayed up talking until 2:30 in the morning.  That may not have been the smartest move considering that the sun rises.  Most of us were up by 6 am.  3 1/2 hours of sleep, not too bad. :)
We ate breakfast, went for walks, and relaxed a little before taking down camp and heading to the beach.  We spent the next several hours swimming, riding the waves (body surfing or with a boogie board), laying on the beach, building sandcastles, and having a good time.  The only problem is that I forgot my SD card, so I could only take a few pictures.  I got home around 8pm.  Now I have a lot to do to get ready for my upcoming departure.