This year is the 40th annual Maryland Renaissance Festival, where for 9 weekends between August and October. My husband and I have been attending, at least every other year, for about 20 years — it’s crazy that it’s been that long! There’s nothing quite like a Renaissance festival, whether it’s in Maryland or Virginia or Pennsylvania. […]
Maryland
Chasing the Fox and Hounds at Ladew Topiary Gardens
Harvey Ladew loved hunting, and while visiting England in the 1920s, he became fascinated with the art of topiary. The hunt scene combines his love of the foxhunt as well as his gardening hobby. As traveler, artist, fox hunter and creator of an amazing garden, Harvey Ladew filled the nearly 90 years of his life […]
Spending the Day at the National Colonial Farm
Photo courtesy Accokeek Foundation. This week Mike guest blogs about a recent day trip he and his wife enjoyed. My wife and I visited the National Colonial Farm located in the Piscataway National Park in Accokeek, MD on Saturday, 23 April; we enjoyed it very much. The National Colonial Farm is a living heritage farm […]
Gotta Catch Them All: 11 Best Places to Play Pokemon Go
With multiple Pokéstops and Pokégyms, 1. Columbia’s four lakes in Howard County, MD, offer Pokémon Go players great game play in a pleasant, shaded setting that belies its urban location. Proximity to water also ensures you’ll catch plenty of magikarp as you collect what you need to evolve a gyarados. 2. Downtown Pittsburgh has hundreds […]
Baltimore’s Waterfront Promenade
My friend suggested Baltimore’s Waterfront Promenade as a daytrip destination earlier this year, and we’d been waiting for a weekend which we both had some free time to go explore it in its entirety — or almost in its entirety. I am still amazed that I can live within minutes of some of these daytrip […]
Four Lakes in Columbia
Maryland has no natural lakes. Thus, to find a place with several lakes that look completely natural, with many lovely scenes, and walking paths so you can enjoy the scenery, is a wonderful discovery. Over the years, I’ve enjoyed Columbia’s lakes throughout the seasons. If you’re a fan of the new and popular Pokémon Go, these […]
The Battle That Saved D.C.
True confession: Not only had I grown up in Frederick, MD, without ever going to see the Monocacy National Battlefield Park, which is a scant 9 miles south of Frederick, but I’d grown up without even knowing it had taken place. To be fair to the local school system, I’m an Army brat, and had […]
Maryland’s Ghost Fleet Lurks in Mallow’s Bay
Mallows Bay seems an unlikely destination for a daytrip. Oh, not that the beauty of the place is in dispute, but at first glance, you wonder exactly why you came here. The beauty of the place is echoed in many other places along the Potomac River. Mallows Bay is a small bay on the Maryland […]
Art in the Park: Frederick’s Festival of the Arts
Celebrating 23 years, the Frederick Festival of the Arts, presented by the Frederick Arts Council, is held along Carroll Creek Linear Park in the heart of Historic downtown Frederick, MD. The artists at the arts festival showed in a variety of mediums, including wood, fiber, metal, clay, and leather, and featured an elegant mix of […]
Top Nine Mid-Atlantic Region Summer Day Trips for Kids
It’s that time again — when school ends for the year and kids cheer and parents groan (just a little, because, you know, we really love our kids). If you’re looking for some great ideas for day trips with your little cherubs — the kind of daytrips that will keep their imaginations active and expand […]
Serenity at Maryland’s Grotto of Lourdes
I don’t normally visit religious shrines, but sheer curiosity drove me to explore this uniquely Maryland Catholic shrine near Emmitsburg. I’d been driving past Mount St. Mary’s College, located along U.S. 15 since I was a kid. The college nestles against the base of the Catoctin Mountains in northern Frederick County. Behind the college looms […]
Taking Pride in the C&O Canal and a Couple of Recipes
This year the Blog officially volunteered for the Ninth Annual Canal Pride Days, a program sponsored by the C&O Canal Trust to work on projects, in coordination with the C&O Canal National Park, to improve or help the park. Projects such as pulling out invasive plants, planting gardens for the lockhouses, cleaning garbage and debris […]
A Lot of Hot Air
May the winds welcome you with softness. May the sun bless you with its warm hands. May you fly so high and so well that God joins you in laughter and sets you gently back into the loving arms of Mother Earth. — Balloonist’s Prayer The annual hot air balloon festival promised to be amazing, and since we’d […]
Six Mid-Atlantic Lighthouses You Need to See!
These are six of my favorite lighthouses in the Mid-Atlantic region — from a variety of locations, including the Atlantic Ocean, the Chesapeake Bay, and Delaware Bay. During the summer months you can find boat tours of both the Chesapeake and Delaware bays that will take you to the various lighthouses; many lighthouses you can drive […]
The Doctor Mudd House
Dr. Samuel Mudd was a lucky man: he missed swinging on the gallows by one jury vote, although he was sent to Fort Jefferson, in the Dry Tortugas, for over 3 years. The jury pivoted on a key fact: whether he knew the man he treated that dark and stormy night in April was John […]