48 HOURS IN MARYLAND (wild horses and crab cakes)

Foreign.

We're Karen, Nate. In 2020, we traded international travel for van life to accomplish our new goal of visiting all 50 states. We're Karen and Nate.

We're Karen, Nate.

It's hard to hear.

I like that sound. Agitated.

Now, yesterday, we drove our van three hours from Washington, D.C. to our 31st state of Maryland, where we filmed a little cooking show.

Went crabbing. Is that experience professional boat docking.

Are you nervous?

Yes. And last but not least, we camped on an island with wild horses.

Our first stop in Maryland is Crisville, which is the closest jumping off point to Smith Island. Most people who go to the island go by ferry because that's pretty much the only way to get there. Unless you have your own boat, which we don't. But I say the best type of boat is a friend's boat. Speaking of friends, how you doing?

Tara.

Hey, how you doing?

I'm Jason. Nice to meet you.

Nice to meet you. How you doing?

Nice to meet you.

Nice to meet you.

All right.

These boat right here, they're the ferries that goes back and forth Smith island every day.

So Jamie grew up on Smith island. His parents still live there, and he's gonna be showing us around today. He also built this entire boat himself and is a professional boat talker. Apparently that's a thing.

It's muscle memory.

Jamie's been doing this since the 90s, but he still gets a little anxious.

We talk y playing like it's windy today. We'll be like, turn ain't a blowing today. Or if a boat's going fast, be like, she weren't a going. I would have headed. It's different.

How long does it take to get to the island?

We'll be there about 35 minutes. You got currents, you got wind.

Welcome to Smith island.

We learned on the way over here that Smith island is actually split up into three different towns. And we are in the town of Tylerton. So not only do the people here live on a remote island, but just to get to the other towns that are on the island, they have to get on a boat.

This is Kara.

This is Nate.

It's time we made.

I'm Kara. We have come to Jamie's ma's house, and we're gonna do some cooking. First up are her famous Maryland crab cakes. And I'm not allowed to tell you what's in them.

We won't tell anyone.

I ain't telling you either.

I feel like you've done this a lot of times. How many batches?

You don't know to have I'm allergic to seafood. I've never eaten one of these. Everybody says they're good. Ain't that awful?

You're famous for your crab cakes and you've never eaten one? No.

If you want to put your finger there and taste it really just raw.

Just straight out of the bowl. Okay. My first tasting.

Oh, I just scoop it. And this is gonna be your lunch.

Oh, yeah.

We will cook these later on. Now we're gonna do this cake. You gonna help me put it together?

You know what, mom? I don't bake.

You're gonna do it today.

I tend to somehow. You're gonna do it today.

I'm gonna teach you how she came out of retirement. She's been on the Travel channel, the Food network. She said she was never gonna teach people how to make this again. So this is the grand finale.

Fancy. Is this right?

You weren't.

Oh, the Maryland flag. You don't think.

Get over here. So today we're gonna make a nine layer Smith island cake. Takes about a half an hour.

The meat, the reason.

And I'm very proud to say that I'm not the one who invented the cake, but I am the one that went to Annapolis to help get it. The state dessert over here we use evaporated milk, third of a cup of oil, half a cup stick of butter. I like box cake mix. It takes up one box. So we'll be getting that a going.

So we have nine pans for this one cake. So do all Smith island cakes come with nine layers?

Nope. Some six, some seven, some 12, some 15. I'll just eyeball it. You always have to pull it out to the side.

I'm watching and learning for when I make it myself one day.

You gonna try it? Probably not.

Oh, I can't believe you're trusting me with this. Maybe mine can be like the bottom one.

I don't think if you were doing it, you would make much money.

How long do they beg for?

You'll smell them.

You just smell and then.

Yep.

Oh, that stresses me out.

Doing the hard work over here.

Yeah, they're beautiful. I was thinking they smelled about ready.

Are you?

And I bet these. I bet these toppings ain't done yet.

Probably not. They're not smelling.

No, but they don't like smell. It's crazy cool. And we're gonna make our pan of fudge.

Look, I'm cooking. Nate. Rare sighting. I do a lot of more like assembling. You know, I'll assemble like a charcuterie board.

What the devil's what kind of board? What is that?

Crying, laughing back at you.

Made that right up.

So smooth and creamy.

You take your fingers, go under it, and you spread your hand out like a fan to hold your layer. This goes fast. Chocolate sets up quick.

Oh, oh, oh, that looks hard.

Come on.

Gotta work quick.

How do you get in there?

Yeah, fold it.

Shove that hand in there and spread your fingers out.

And then slide it on there. This much?

Oh, yeah.

Put it on there. We'll tell you. Don't put that on the burner.

Yeah. Oh, dear.

Oh, now I got my hand in it.

No pressure, but hurry up.

We're almost there.

Are we there?

Yep.

I think we nailed it. Ma, do you look at those layers? Do I get to lick this?

Yeah, I try to give it to you.

Our fudge is great. I can't believe how quickly you just did that.

What did we make today?

We made a Smith island chocolate cake. No.

What did we make today?

I've not taught you anything.

A Maryland chocolate cake.

A Maryland Why?

Maryland state. State dessert.

Lord, I pray.

Maryland state.

Dad, she's not a baker.

Maryland state dessert. Not the spot.

Maryland state dessert. My signature is the Maryland fl. I put them on every cake I make.

So we learned that golf carts are the main form of transportation here on the island. There are a couple trucks that they need to move heavy stuff around, but for the most part, they just ride golf carts.

We just got to the market. We're gonna cook our crab cake. We were at the only store on the entire island right now.

Hello.

Are they for mine?

These are all mine. Don't even think about it. This is the only store so you have everything.

If you look over there, we are well stocked.

How often does the boat bring food?

Once a day, if you cook these for us and take them right back home. So I sure will.

Y' all are impressive.

Perfect, girl.

This is the town post office.

I feel like I'm holding gold right now.

So while the cake sets, Jamie and his dad are going to take us out and we're going to do a little crabbing.

Putting on the crabbing uniform. Dwight sharing his with me.

He looks the part.

It's called old skin jacket. You got an old skin jacket on.

Wearing an old skin jacket. Not oilskin. They say old skin however you want.

Give them a little shake. They come on in, they crawl up in, they get to the bait, and when they go in and drop, it's like they get trapped right on in. And you have four ways to do it. So that's a Female.

And this is.

This is a jimmy. You see the difference?

Yeah.

That's the Capitol Building. That's the Washington Monument. We're not gonna save any soot, so we throw it in the way. Measure from tip to tip. So this guy's lucky. See, he's got a broke tip right there. He's illegal, so we couldn't keep any.

Crabs out of the first pot. So we're going for pot number two.

So here's a good one.

Three keepers out of pot number two. This is slow work. If you have to make a living.

Doing it well, it's a grind. Now's not a good time to do it because all the jimmies are not really that hungry to eat fish. They're looking for their mate. Are you ready?

So you're gonna walk me through this. I get the hook.

All right. Get the hook.

Go ahead, hook her in my net.

All right. Grab the rope. Grab the rope.

You made it look so easy.

And come on up. Bring her on up. Not many crabs in that one. So wait. Now what are you gonna do?

Throw it back? No, I thought it was a trick question.

Now, you gotta dump that old bait out. Look, flip it up on its side.

There you go. You got it out.

Go ahead, turn it up.

You know, I was just doing it the easy way. All right, we got the new bait. Throw it down hole.

There you go.

Close her back up.

Yep.

Toss her overboard.

Nope. You gotta close her up.

Nope, didn't make it.

Good and tight. Go ahead, throw her away. That's all she wrote.

Nicely done.

Now you gotta cull them off. Oh, yeah, don't put you out now. They'll bite you. That's a sook. You can throw her overboard.

Don't bite me.

Yeah, that's a girl.

Is that.

Okay? There we go. All right, last one.

That's a jimmy. Looks like he's gonna be too small, but you go measure it if you want.

All right. He's definitely too small. Yep. All right. Those got lucky.

Hey, you want to do another one?

Yeah, no, I got to do another one until I catch a keeper.

How many keepers on that one? Not a keeper. That's the worst one.

You want absolutely nothing.

Yeah, that's it. That's a female. Hey, come on.

All right, we got a few.

You got females.

Last opportunity for me to catch a keeper. Cue the dramatic music.

You might have a keeper there. Yep, I think you got one right here.

Right here.

I think it's a good one. All right, dump it out. Crush it down.

Oh, this one's different. Yeah.

Oh, yeah.

Okay.

It's not how we do it back in Tennessee.

All right, now find your keeper.

Keep checking if you want me. Dude, careful now. This one's mad. No juice ball going back.

Oh, you're such a pro, Nate.

Oh, look at this one. All right, this is a male, which is a good sign. He just barely. They can't fit over him. Ten pots, one keeper. All in a hard day's work.

Hey, Nate, Come on.

This one.

Dad, do I stay dry?

We should have gotten the oil pants as well. Not oil, oil skin pants.

You want to pack these in your bags and carry them with you? These crabs.

How long have you had this shack?

I mean, it's 25, 30 years. When I was growing up here, there was around, I guess, 175, 200 residents on this part of the island. I'm 76 and I've been working on the water since I was in, I'll say grade school anyway. And then when I graduated from high school, I was full time. Never tell moment. This here is the vertebrae of a dolphin that died washed up on the beach. Here's the head. Wow.

Whoa.

Almost looks like a cow skull.

That was a bottlenose dolphin.

He's so cute. It is finally time for a well deserved homemade lunch. Thank you. Mom, we're home. I'm so excited about this. Before, not like this. I've had a crab cake, but they were about a fourth of the size of this one.

Look at that.

I'm eating locally caught crab from right there. Made by the one and only Ma. I'm so excited. M.

Tastes even better than it looks. It is perfection. Literally the best crab cake I've ever put in my mouth. Like, the outside is perfectly fried and then the inside just melts. And like, the amount of crab in there, like, the ratio is perfect. I can see why they're famous. And I can see why Ma doesn't share her recipe with anyone.

Wow, look at that.

The moment is finally here. I am about to eat the famous Maryland chocolate steak.

Nine layer chocolate cake that I had a very small part in helping bake today.

Oh, my gosh.

It's the best cake I ever had. How much chocolate can you get in one slice of cake? This is it.

What do you think, Dwight? Has she enjoyed everything too much? Are people gonna believe her or think she's faking it for the Internet?

I don't know. She's pretty convincing.

This is gonna sound harsh and blunt, but I can't think of better words that the island is dying. Not only is the land itself eroding, but the population is also eroding, or leaving and going back to the mainland to find work. Because I think the generation that has a desire to live here is over.

Well, it's no way of fighting nature. I mean, it's going to erode. We just have to deal with it as it comes to us.

How much longer do you think the island will be here?

My school teacher used to say, thoroughly will always be a Smith Island.

Thank you so much.

I love him.

I know that's not really an accurate depiction of the state of Maryland, but it was still a pretty good first impression.

Heading back to the mainland.

All right, tell us what's about to happen.

All right, Boat docking. Generally what we do, we go from point A to point B, and we tie four loops. It's like a. Like a lasso on four poles. And then it's a matter of seconds. And when that last line's on, boom, boom, it's done. Now we're not going to throw the ropes today.

Should we, like. Hold on.

Brace yourself in that corner.

I'm braced in the corner. Are you nervous?

Yes.

We are about to be a physical part of professional boat docking. All right, here we go.

There's no way you can appreciate how fast that was without being on the boat. That was impressive.

All right, our next stop in Maryland is about an hour east from here to a place called Assateague Island.

So this is our home for the night. And apparently, we got super lucky. This place supposedly books up, like, super far in advance. And I logged onto the website the other day. There was one site left, so we're pretty much right on the beach. But the other reason this place is super popular is because there are wild horses here. So tomorrow morning, as soon as we wake up, we're going in search of wild horses.

We have never seen wild horses. After going to 31 states and 100 countries.

Never seen them.

I'm so excited.

Door is locked.

Not surprisingly, we're still pretty full from Ma's lunch. So for dinner tonight, we're having popcorn and carrots and hummus.

If we're in the van. This is how pretty much every night ends. Eating something in bed and watching YouTube.

Are you ready for your coffee?

Thank you.

How'd you sleep?

Great.

Oh, what a great start to the morning. We slept in a little bit. We're having leftover Smith island cake with our coffee and just waiting on it to quit raining so we can go look for wild horses.

All right. The rain has stopped. We've busted out the big winds, and we are going in search of horses.

Okay, here we go. Here, horsey, horsey.

I'm no expert tracker, but I think we're on the right track.

It's fresh.

Let's go.

We'll see if that was worth getting demonetized. We've made it to a very remote area of the park. We're on a boardwalk where we've spotted our first wild horse. It is majestically ignoring us.

It's definitely a boy. Oh, wow. I've never seen that before. I feel so immature right now. Nature. We're going to give him his privacy and move on and look for some more wild horses.

So my dream scenario coming here was to see wild horses galloping on the beach because I heard they come here in the summer to get away from the flies, but.

Just have to settle for majestic birds instead.

Wild pelican.

I. I hear something.

Hello, good sir.

Hello.

That's a reference to Monty Python, if you haven't seen the movie.

I thought it was dead, but it's alive.

Wow.

Look at him move.

That's so crazy.

Whoa. Where'd he go? Where'd he go? Well, no horses, but we did find a horseshoe crab. And my pants are soaked. Did the wave get me?

Oh, no.

All right. Of all places, we have found the wild horses inside the campground.

I love them so much. They're beautiful. Little bitty baby. Since they're wild, you gotta, like, keep your distance and stuff. Keep them wild. And you can't give them food or water and stuff, obviously, but we're gonna run around to the other side of the campground, see if we can get a better angle. You're not going fast enough.

According to the Internet, they don't know exactly how these horses got here, but they think one of two things happened. The first story I think, is a little more exciting, and that's that they say a Spanish ship wrecked offshore sometime in the 1700s, and the horses swam ashore and they've lived here ever since. That, to me, is the more romantic story, but I think the more realistic option is that at some point in the 1800s, the mainland colonies would move the horses over to Assateague island to avoid livestock taxes. Now they're managed by the National Park Service, actually as wild animals. So they. They don't feed the horses at all, and there's no veterinary care. So if the horses get sick, nobody's here to help them. They treat them just like any other wildlife. Another fun fact I read is that these horses actually drink twice as much water as a normal horse because the majority of the food that they consume is covered in salt from the ocean. So if they look a little bloated, that's why it sounds like a pretty miserable existence to me. I'm picturing how I feel after I leave a Mexican restaurant where I've eaten a bunch of salty chips. Who knows? Maybe that's how the horses feel every day.

Here they are literally just walking through people's campsites. This lens has seen some sweet animals.

Oh, no. Oh, no.

They're literally, like, in their lunch sack.

Oh, why did they leave their food out?

This one's eating the tent.

It was a bit cloudy and cold for the beach, so we drove 20 minutes north to Ocean City.

So a ton of people gave us recommendations for Ocean City, and the two most popular, without a doubt, were thresher fries and an Orange Crush. Sorry, everyone that lives in Maryland and loves this place. I think they're Thrasher fries. You can tell we found the French fry place because we found the line and we found all the birds.

Apparently, you're supposed to put extra malt vinegar on it.

There we go.

So this is a medium.

It was $9. I don't know how I feel about vinegar on my fries, but we'll see.

Hot burger coming at me. Malt vinegar is weird. I'm scale 1 to 10. 10 being the best fries I've ever had. These are probably like, a six. Does that mean. I mean, I'm gonna eat them.

We wanted to love them. I said, we like them as I.

Continue shoving these in my mouth.

The more I have, the better they get.

We didn't give a single one of these to a seagull. And we do like them.

We're Karen and Nathan. 2020 brought us back to the US where we bought a converted sprinter van to explore all 50 states.

This one's different.

We are Karen and Nate. We used to travel in airplanes. Now we live in a van. This will really throw people off. We are Karen, Nate.

Jamie, I have a question for you.

Go ahead.

Do you know what a charcuterie board is?

Yeah.

Your mom didn't believe me, huh?

What is.

I don't know what that is.

No, you don't eat well.

Good.

Come on.

I tell you, it's like a cold cut.

No.

No.

Torture. Hello.

These are the weird things that we do at SEI because we spend too much time together. I don't know when we started going, hello.

I do. We follow a lot of Australians and I always like to try to contact them. And that's what it sounds like.

You gotta do something good to get in the vlog.

Thank you. Thank you. That's always good.

We're having so much fun looking for horses today that Nate forgot to put sunscreen on.

All right, so look, I even have a tan line.

You really can't tell how orange you are?

It hurts.

Or how red you are.

Like when a sunburn hurts. Day of, that's a bad sign. One day I'll become an adult.

I dressed to work this morning. See, I got my paint stain.

I dressed to hold a camera today.

I'm gonna do one more thing for you. I can set this stern. I can cock it up in the air and put the whole whole stern out of the water. It's a very unique trick, and not many people can do it, if any. There it is.

You.

So, what do you think?

You didn't know what you were getting yourself into when you invited us.