Our goal, that cold last Saturday (25 April) was to park at Fort Frederick State Park, ride up to Hancock on the C&O Canal towpath, grab lunch, ride back on the Western Maryland Rail Trail, and then tour Fort Frederick, mostly because we were there and I could get two blogs for the effort of […]
Maryland
A Walk Through Time: Patapsco’s Grist Mill Trail
I’ve blogged about Patapsco River Valley State Park before (check out this post and this one), but this post will focus on the Grist Mill Trail, in the Avalon part of the park. I’m writing again about it because, of all the places I have been to or go to regularly, this is the place […]
Ellicott City: Quant and Small, There’s Something for Everyone
For a town* that stretches barely a mile long, there’s an impressive array of things to do. Booze it up in the bars, sit down for fine dining (preferably before you booze it up), spend an afternoon shopping the variety of boutiques that line Main Street, explore local rail history at the B&O Museum, take […]
The Famously Wed and the Very Dead: Touring Greenmount Cemetery
Longtime readers of this blog know I love visiting cemeteries — especially the lovely “rural garden” or “garden park” cemeteries of the mid to late 1800s. So when I learned of historic Green Mount Cemetery, in northern Baltimore, I was excited. Green Mount Cemetery was established a the very beginning of the rural garden cemetery […]
There’s Lots to Dig about Crystal Grottoes Caverns
Guest blogger Melinda writes about taking her family to Crystal Grottoes Caverns. What a great day trip for any time of year! When my family and I returned two years ago from living in Europe, we decided that if Central Maryland was going to be home for the foreseeable future, we might as well get […]
Enjoying Greenwell’s Legacy
Another summer afternoon adventure — this time exploring a lovely little state park in southern Maryland. “If I lived here….” I spent an afternoon saying that to myself. If I lived here, I’d go riding across the fields every day (I don’t ride, so I’m not sure where that daydream fantasy came from). If I […]
The Covered Bridges of Frederick County
My 16-year-old son needed more driving hours, so we headed out one Saturday afternoon last summer on an impromptu and entirely unplanned “day trip.” We ended up checking out the three covered bridges of Frederick County: Roddy Road Bridge, Utica Mills Bridge, and Loys Station Bridge. It was a win-win. He got some highway experience, […]
Accidental Tourist: How Playing a Game Brought Me to New Places
My husband and I recently discovered Ingress, a game we can play on our phones, either during a day trip or as the goal of a day trip. We first started it while biking along the C&O Canal. For those of you not familiar with Ingress, it’s an augmented reality massively multiplayer online role playing […]
Two Days and Eleven Lights: Day Two
This is part two of Chesapeake Lighthouses, Southern Expedition, a two-day excursion to 11 lighthouses around the Chesapeake Bay. From Tangier Island, we headed straight over to Onancock, VA, arriving around 5:30 p.m. We unloaded our bags, and headed up the street to our respective inns (Captain Jack arranged rides for those in the group […]
Two Days and Eleven Lights: Day One
My sister and I had been on the shorter “Passage to Five” excursion offered by Chesapeake Lights in May; before we’d even gotten off the boat that day, we’d signed up for the once annual 2-day trip that takes place every August. Update May 2021: Unfortunately, Chesapeake Lights no longer offers lighthouse tours. The lighthouses […]
Remembering Our Dead
The muffled drum’s sad roll has beat The soldier’s last tattoo; No more on life’s parade shall meet The brave and daring few. On Fame’s eternal camping-ground Their silent tents are spread, And Glory guards with solemn round The bivouac of the dead. The Confederate graves at Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond, VA. In honor of Veterans […]
Autumn Glory in Swallow Falls State Park
“Autumn burned brightly, a running flame through the mountains, a torch flung to the trees” ~ Faith Baldwin, American Family We went on a weekend getaway in search of some romance, my husband and I. And in search of autumn’s exquisite show. And maybe along the way, we’d visit some places we’d never been to […]
Great Grapes! Autumn 5k Run at Distillery Lane Ciderworks
Another fine fall day lured us out last Sunday with the prospect of some exercise and fun in a rural setting in the heart of Frederick County, MD. Both my sister and my friend had signed up to participate in the Great Grapes Race Series, this time at Distillery Lane Ciderworks, and I was happy […]
Favorite Places: Cunningham Falls
There are some places I like to return to over and over again; Cunningham Falls, in Frederick County’s Catoctin Mountains, is one of those places. I’d tried to bring the boys there a year ago, during a lovely cool spell in August, but we were turned away because I hadn’t realized the summer-no-dog policy in […]
Pedal Through the Past: Biking through History
The prospect of biking through three national parks and two states in one day was intriguing, and doing so while gaining some insight into local Civil War history and heritage was almost too good to be true. That’s what I was thinking as I signed my husband and I up for Pedal Through the Past […]