First Storybook Travel

I got the idea for this blog when I read an article from Wonder Time magazine (no longer in print)a few years ago. The article was about how a mother took her children to the setting of one of their favorite storybooks and they re-created some of the fun and imagination from the book. I thought it was a great idea to take your child to an actual place from a book. So last summer (2009) I made reservations at Assateague National Seashore in Maryland and checked Misty of Chincoteague out of our local library. The book is recommended for ages 9 - 12. My child is a little younger than the recommended reading age, so we took turns reading it. The main characters in the book are Paul and Maureen who live in Chincoteague, VA. Paul and Maureen want nothing more than to buy the pony Misty, who is Phantom's filly. In the book you learn how the horses came to live on Assateague and how once a year the horses are rounded up and auctioned off by the Chincoteague Fire Dept. Paul and Maureen work very hard to earn the money to buy Misty. What amazed me was that this book was written in 1946 by Marguerite Henry and there is still so much that is the same as the book. Assateauge is divided by Maryland and Virginia and both of them have different ideas of what to do with the horses that roam free on the island (http://www.nps.gov/asis/naturescience/horses.htm). We camped in a tent on the Maryland end of Assateague in the "tent only sites". It was a great area on the sand and just over the dunes from the beach. The "tent only sites" are fenced off so the horses can't get in to steal your food (which they've been known to do). We saw the horses everyday we were there. The morning and evening were the best times for horse spotting, although it wasn't difficult to find them. We would just walk out to the fence and there they were. Since feeding or trying to pet these wild horses is illegal, we were happy just to watch them roam about eating the grass. In the book, Maureen and Paul earn money by catching and selling crabs, oysters and clams . You can sign up at the visitors center in Assateague, MD to go clamming and crabbing in the bay and see how it was for Paul and Maureen to earn their money. Also in the book they have Chincoteague Pot Pie on Pony Penning Day. I found the recipe for this dish and we had it for dinner one evening after we got home from our "storybook travel". Following is the recipe.