We just spent a week-plus in Maryland, not too far outside of DC. I used to live around here – a long time ago – the mid 80’s. Wow! Yes! That’s really a long time ago. You guessed it, Government Employee. NIH, to be exact. Pete and I would visit here from Philly too. We’re comfortable here and were excited to be back. But, because we’ve “been here, done that” enough times, we tried to find new and different things to do. We succeeded! We thoroughly enjoyed the “New To Us” adventures we had.
It all started with a quick, unexpected trip to Havre de Grace for dinner with Pete’s daughter. Younger me spent a lot of time in HDG, sailing. No sailing this time, just dinner and ice cream. It’s always good to get a hug from family.
On to Baltimore. Fort McHenry was awesome. I can’t believe we’ve never been there before. You’ve all heard of The Star-Spangled Banner, yes? Fort McHenry is where the battle took place that inspired Francis Scott Key to write the poem that eventually got put to music, was renamed The Star-Spangled Banner and finally adopted as our national anthem. The park service does a fantastic job of making sure you feel, see and hear everything Key felt, saw and heard that night. He was literally stuck on a boat in the river, being detained by the British, nothing to do but watch the battle and hope all night long. I will never hear The Star-Spangled Banner the same way again. Corny, I know, but the Fort and its story really touched me.
One interesting tidbit, the flag flying the night of the battle, the flag that was so gallantly streaming, had 15 stars & 15 stripes. The plan at that time was to have a stripe & star for every state. Can you imagine a flag with 50 stripes today??? I’m glad they came up with a new plan!
DC never disappoints. But what to do when it feels like you’ve done it all? One of our “things”, as we travel around, has been to tour the State Capitol Buildings. I never knew you could do that, or that it would be worth doing, until we stumbled upon Topeka and the Kansas State Capitol building. We’ve been to 12 of them so far. Some are castles, really ornate. Some are simple, but beautiful. They are all built with pride. They’re free and most offer guided tours. If you are near one, go! Anyway, back to my story. Expanding upon our State Capitol theme, we decided that we would go to the big-daddy capitol of them all while in DC – The US Capitol. The history this building holds is unimaginable. Our DC Tourist Day was remarkable.
Annapolis! This town always makes my heart happy. It’s charming. We met up with Pete’s cousin and her husband and drove in for the day. More family time! The Naval Academy is there. Did you know you can just walk onto campus (after a security screening, of course). I’d never been on campus before, I think I always assumed it was locked down. Nope. Just wander in, walk around, go in the buildings, see all the cadets in their spiffy white uniforms. It was pretty cool to walk around the Academy, knowing these kids are learning to be leaders and will be our next military generation.
It was a very patriotic visit to Maryland. We didn’t plan it that way, but it turned out to be. Everything we did, everything we saw, just made us feel good about the good ol’ U S of A! God Bless America.
Today we circle the Beltway, leaving Maryland behind, returning to Virginia. Williamsburg VA is our destination. As a little girl, I often went to Colonial Williamsburg with my grandma. I’m excited to show it to Pete.
Beautiful pictures! I always liked driving through Maryland!
This area (MD & VA) is really beautiful. If only they had a warmer winter ….. 🙂 Miss you, hugs to David.
Wow. That is something for the bucket list for certain!
Your bucket list is getting longer and longer. It’s time to retire and get working on that list! Hope you are doing well. Miss you.
Yes, Fort McHenry is really awesome and inspiring to think about what Francis Scott key saw that night and wrote that amazing anthem for our country. We love Annapolis. Our son-in-law, Paul, went to Annapolis and gave us a personal tour there. It’s really quite inspiring specially when you see all those cadets and ready to serve our country. Looks like you had some more family time and hugs and good food as always. We left at one of our favorite spots on Southhaven iand South Beach. We are heading towards Camp Perry in Ohio going to tour some islands on fairies in golf carts. Safe travels you two. Never could get that website to do a blog to work it wasn’t free as you got more in detail darn I’ll just have to keep sending pictures and quick little notes of our travels. Love seeing all that you’re doing have a lot of fun you guys!
Your RV Adventure sounds wonderful. Sorry that blog site wasn’t successful. I had such high hopes. Be safe out there!!!
Love the sunset and the Oriole!
Hi Miss Cynthia! That sunset was absolutely beautiful. We were outside, having dinner in Havre de Grace, when I turned around and saw it. Had to go take a photo! The Oriole was a building mural – I have really enjoyed seeing all the murals. Every town has some. Miss you. Hope Spain was phenomenal.
Love the story about the Star Spangled banner….have always loved our anthem but didn’t know the a full story, thanks for educating me!
and yes that was a lifetime ago! I lived in Philly then….wow was that really almost 40 years ago? 😳
Have always loved DC too amd remember visiting you at least once……before you moved to Philly area!
What is the memorial in your photos with the people in the field?
Yes, 40 years ago, right after graduation for me! I remember you being here too – especially for that wedding-thing that happened! 🙂 The memorial with the soldiers in the field is the Korean War Memorial. I thought the presentation was wonderful. Fort McHenry was phenomenal. If you already love the Star-Spangled Banner, then you MUST go to Ft McHenry one day. I will never forget that visit.
You are such a good writer and photographer!
I’m so thankful that you are having such an enviable retirement. I thank God that you are so blessed.
I always enjoy your blogs!
Stay healthy, safe and blessed.
Thanks for the compliments – and always the positive thoughts for us and our travels. I know your prayers are helping keep us safe.
What history, someday I hope to make it back to check out some of those sights!
Hi Elise. Hope you are doing great. We have really enjoyed learning about US History. You think you know it, but there is so much, and the MD, VA area is full of it! Miss you.