Over the Halloween weekend I went on nearly a 400 mile excursion to visit a place that is very special to my pony friends, Assateague Island, Virginia.
See my pal Minnow was born wild on Assateague 18 years ago, and every year he returns to neighboring Chincoteague Island to perform for a week during their annual pony penning. I never get to go because the island isn’t very dog friendly and sitting in the car is not a good idea in the summer heat.
Even dogs need to take advantage of the rest stop!
But this time as all the ponies loaded up for a special trip to Assateague to ride on the beach in the cool fall weather, I was allowed to come! Yipee!
The even better news was that I got to leave behind a rare October snowstorm in PA for the still cold but way less snowy weather in Virginia. Score.
Upon arriving Saturday evening I got to attend a special picnic where mom got to meet up with her Chincoteague Pony Friends from all across the country. I even got to meet a bunch of my facebook fans in person for the very first time, and I wasted no time showing off some of my favorite tricks so that everyone could have a good laugh.
The next day we were up early and headed across the bridge and onto Assateague Island with all my pony friends in tow.
Dogs aren’t allowed on Assateague (seriously?) so I spent my morning snuggled in a pile of blankets. Honestly I can’t complain, from what the ponies tell me it would of been too cold for me anyway.
Meanwhile mom got to live out her dream of riding the ponies on the beach. Boomerang and Blitz were excited to visit the island where their parents were born years earlier. It was a very special trip for everyone.
Naturally mom spent hours on the beach taking pictures of the ponies. She promised me she’d show me all the cool photos once she has time to filter through the nearly 1,000 photos she took (and I thought she took a lot of photos of me!)
But here are a few she showed me last night that I thought were extra special.
I taught those ponies everything they know. Don’t forget that! 🙂
After our beach adventure we headed back to the mainland so the ponies could participate in a fun show. They won me lots of ribbons – but I won the most special one of them all…
The costume contest! Well, ok, Minnow might have helped some.
Then on Halloween morning we made one last drive out to Assateague so the ponies could say goodbye to the ocean before heading home to PA. I told them I had to be back home in time to hand out candy to all the trick-or-treaters in my neighborhood!
So how about that for a Halloween weekend adventure? Pretty exciting, right? I just might have to spend the rest of the week catching up on my sleep after this weekend fun! 
P.S. More fun photos from our amazing adventure will be popping up on the Painting Pony Blog & Facebook page as soon as my mom has a chance to filter through them all! So make sure you check back soon!