The Atlantic! - with a side of Delaware-

Assateague Island National Seashore is about as far east as you can go in the state of Maryland.  In order to get there from the mainland, you have to drive past Annapolis on US 50, pay $2.50 to cross the Bay Bridge over the Chesapeake, and proceed ever eastward.  On this side of the bay Maryland's heritage is increasingly evident.  We passed a milepost sign for Euston, Cambridge, and Salisbury, making me wonder why residents don't also drive on the left-hand side of the road.  Our GPS decided that the quickest way to our destination was via a good chunk of Delaware, so we gave it a try so we could strike it from our list of unvisited states.  Lots of farmland.

Since we'd be arriving to the coast by lunchtime, we stopped in the nearby resort town of Ocean City, which probably has the highest number of mini-golf courses per square mile than any place on Earth.  It also boasts "Ten miles...of bustling boardwalk, a long stretch of beach, hundreds of shops, galleries, rides, restaurants, and much more...".  Ugh.  Since it's the middle of November, Ocean City resembles a very large ghost town, so the main drag of shops and tacky hotels wasn't completely terrible.  Hans had picked out a local diner for brunch and we enjoyed our respective meals of fried clams and pancake fare.

One short drive later we were entering Assateague Island with our National Park Pass (which is now finally starting to pay for itself).  The park's description in our local travel guide says thus: "Surf, sand, and ponies."  Huh?

Their origins are not completely known other than that some time in the 17th century small horses were introduced to the island and have since become wild.  There are two small herds, one on the Virginia side and one of the Maryland side of the island.  The salt marsh grasses they eat cause them to have to drink more water than normal, so they have a fairly bloated appearance.

Upon entering the park we stopped at the first parking area and followed the sound of the roaring Atlantic surf over the sand dunes.

The beach was fantastically desolate.  We spent a good amount of time testing our tolerance of the cold water on our feet and picking up shells.  While Hans wandered about I lay on our blanket with my ear pressed to the ground and listened to the waves as they pounded the beach.  Hans and I agreed that we've found a likely new favorite camping spot.

We drove a short ways to the side of the island that faces Assateague and Chincoteague Bay.  From here you are allowed to fish for blue crab (chicken is apparently the best bait) and catch clams.  I can see a beach-side crab-boil in the future!

Before starting the drive home we stopped at the visitor's center, where there was an amusing leaflet with pictures of horse bites people have sustained while trying to get friendly with the wild ponies.  Apparently they rip their way into tents to steal food too (the ponies, not the people, though I suppose either are almost equally possible).

Another Weekend in Virginia

Sorry about the lateness of this post.  Last week completely got away from me and this last weekend was lost in a blur of art-framing, housework, beer, lasagna, and playing with Legos.  Yep.

Saturday, September 16, 2010

This afternoon we drove back across the Potomac and headed for Mt. Vernon, George Washington's Virginia Home.  The drive down George Washington Memorial Parkway was very pleasant, and I will keep its miles of greenbelt river-side trails in mind next time I'm looking for a scenic bike ride.

While we waited for our friends to meet us there Hans and I observed the scale-model of the mansion with moving walls and spent some time in one of the gardens, featuring espaliered apple trees.  While we sat on a bench a bold squirrel approached us along the garden wall and flopped down pathetically on its belly once it reached our position.  Even though I stood up to take pictures and point it out to a small girl nearby it hardly seemed to be frightened or care in any way.  It might have been used to visitors handing out scraps but I sadly told Hans that it was likely sick.

Once our friends arrived we roamed more of the grounds, visiting George Washington's former and present tombs, a memorial dedicated to the slaves that worked on the property, and the dock on the river that serves a base of operations for short water tours and a landing spot for excursions that begin at the National Mall in DC.

We got in line to tour the mansion, which was so busy that you had to follow a constant single-file stream of visitors through the lower rooms, upstairs, and then back down again.  The tour guides did the best they could, repeating their speeches over and over as each group of people filed past, but it would have been much better to have more freedom in observing the house and stay in each room longer.  I am definitely determined to return in the winter.  I should note that the exterior walls of most of the buildings were particularly intriguing.  At first glance they looked to be made of stone, but really were varnished wood with sand mixed into the paint.  Even by touch the effect was very convincing.

Crowds aside, the house was very interesting.  I really liked the wheat motif in the plasterwork that could be seen throughout the building.  A key to the Bastille is on display in the main hall, a gift to Washington from Lafayette.  I tried to picture Washington, at six-foot-two, stooping in and out of small doorways in the narrow hallways.

At the end of our visit we made high-brow jokes about the property's "necessaries", then went through the extensive and very impressive museums, which included a pair of Washington's famous false teeth (not made of wood).

On the return drive Hans and I went through the more commercial side of Mt. Vernon and were impressed by the quiet parks and neighborhoods.

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Since it looked to be another nice weekend, we decided to visit the site of the Manassas Battlefields at the last minute, stopping to pick up some secondhand furniture for the apartment on the way.

The entire park has a range of trails that cross between most of the monuments and battle sites, and we did the short trail that outlines the features the first battle of Manassas, and the start of the Civil War.  The grave of Judith Carter Henry, the first civilian victim of the war is on the site, as well as a replica of the owner's farm house.  As we walked along the path crickets could be heard humming fretfully on the grassy hillside.  Hans pointed out that the battle took place in July, and the uncomfortable sweat I had coming on seemed hotter.

 

On a southeastern ridge there was a line of cannons on the site where Stonewall Jackson was given his nickname (and nearby the grave of the general who coined it and died a day later).

Artillery aimed at Henry House, where Union soldiers had taken refuge.

After deciding we'd had enough entertainment, we drove back home to enjoy a laid-back evening.

Shenandoah National Park

Oof.

We are tired.  I am sitting here at my desk with a bad case of sore limbs and surprisingly un-sore feet, but Hans' feet are fairly blistered.  There are muscles in my bum that I didn't know I had and they hurt, hurt, HURT.

So, at the moment I'm chowing down Ibuprofen with rootbeer chasers while I post about our weekend.  I guess you could say I'm speedballin' in the lamest way possible.

The general idea of our trip to Shenandoah this weekend was to pack for backcountry camping to get away from the crowds, and also all of the campgrounds were reserved/full months before we even thought of spending Columbus Day weekend in the park.

On Saturday we got up a little late so we weren't in the park until right before noon.  Skyline Drive, the 105-mile road that winds along the park's backbone, was already packed with cars and motorcycles and all of the scenic overlooks were occupied with multitudes of visitors.  After a quick stop at one of the visitor centers for a free backcountry permit, we drove to the Elkwallow picnic area where the trailhead Hans picked out was.

He had originally suggested a 5.2-mile loop for us to do, then later some short waterfall-viewing walks before we chose a campsite, but I wanted to get the whole backpacking experience and suggested a "slightly-longer" loop where we could make camp near the end of the hike.  What I originally estimated to be about 8 miles turned out to be 13.  Ouch.

This hike really made us feel flabby and out of shape, even though we recognized that it had been a long time since we'd hiked any distance with 30-pound packs on, and the first time we'd ascended 1,700 feet in the process.  

 After 3.4 miles, when we'd reached the 2,865-foot summit of Knob Mountain, we were really considering turning around instead of pressing onward.  But, after a little co-encouragement, we lumbered down the back ridge of the mountain and into the creek valley known as Jeremy's Run and began to make our way back toward our starting point.  At this time we began to look for a decent place to pitch our tent, but the long weekend and nice weather meant that several people had the same idea.  It seemed like we were in a designated campground.  It wasn't for another half-mile that we managed to find a secluded place for ourselves, though we could hear several groups of other campers nearby.

We thankfully threw our packs to the ground.  Making camp was a tedious process in the fading light and with our stiff legs.  Once we were seated around our camp stove it was very difficult to move, except when it came to escaping from spiders.  Hans nearly set the woods on fire (a moment that was really scary one second, and hilarious the next).

Hanging our bear bag at the end of the night was a little difficult since we were surrounded by trees with very few and very skinny branches.  Hans had to help because, well, I throw like a girl.  After we'd crawled into our tent for the night we could hear our neighbors searching far and wide for a bear-bag place in the pitch dark.  I crushed some spiders in our tent with Hans' hat, to his great indignation.

This morning we were up at first light and on the trail about an hour later.  It took me a long time for my legs to feel more flexible than wooden posts.  The last five miles of our hike took us across the creek at least a dozen times and by the last crossing I was very tired of trying to balance on small rocks with my heavy and wobbly backpack.  Hans recommended that I bring a jet pack next time.

Once we returned to the car I drove as we continued on Skyline Drive for another couple of hours of sightseeing and viewpoint stops.  At about the half-way point through the park, we headed back into civilization and continued home after making a quick burger stop.

We will definitely be returning to Shenandoah in the future.  The fall foliage was very beautiful and the cool weather was perfect for hiking.  Next time, we'll do some of the shorter hikes and hopefully be in slightly better shape.  For the moment I'm just happy to have feeling in my shoulders again.

The National Arboretum

At first we were thinking of going back to the National Mall for the first time since we moved to Maryland, but in stead opted for a visit to the National Arboretum at Hans' suggestion.

Now that the cooler fall weather is finally here, it grants the opportunity to get away from civilization, and with 446 acres to play with and the tourist season winding down, the park is a great option for us.

We only saw one corner of the Arboretum today, starting with the traditional knot herb garden and nearby vegetable herb gardens, which offered plenty of color even though most of the flowers have already faded.  Ornamental peppers seemed to be the main feature though there were some interesting collections of plants historically used to as dyes or for their industrial-use chemicals (like one that was used for its epoxy acid production).

Explosion of color

See pods of a tree native to southwest China

In the knot herb garden

The highlight of our visit was probably the impressive collection of bonsai trees.  I will let the pictures speak for themselves:

This bonsai has been "in training" since 1625!

Across the meadow from the knot garden were a peculiar assemblage of tall Corinthian columns.  It turns out they are the original sandstone columns from the front of the Capitol Building that were replaced in the 1950's with marble ones (there was an oversight when it was first built and the dome overhung the rest of the building until it was extended slightly).

For the last part of our visit we climbed the gentle paths on Mount Hamilton (I snorted quietly to myself at this label).  The hill is planted with many varieties of azalea, so we'll have to return in the spring.  At the top of the hill there was a very faint clearing from which we could see the Capitol Building about 3 miles away and some of the other monuments of the mall, so we sort of killed two birds with one stone today :)

September Wrap-Up

It's unbelievable how quickly this month swept along.  Aside from still hunting for furniture we're mostly settled in (unpacked, anyway) but still getting used to the area.  The first few weeks were a little sad, with leaving everyone we knew in Missouri and the thoughts of the extra distance between us and everyone else.

Then I started my job, and I was too tired to feel anything other than how much I really need to make an effort to get at least 7 hours of sleep every night.

Now that I'm on my third week, things are going more smoothly and Hans has been spending his time applying for jobs and recently, making lasagna for me.

Bunsen started out very needy now that The Humans have more space to float around in, but I think she's adjusting to our around-the-corner absences.

No real vacation plans have been made for the moment, but we are heading out to Shenandoah for Columbus Day weekend and we've been trying to spend our past weekends out at about.

We've made it out to Annapolis a couple of times, both brief visits but enjoyable.  I was very taken by the mix of colonial and victorian architecture in the historic down town.  It would be lovely to visit again in the winter.  The Maryland State Capitol Building is very pretty and sits on a low hill, providing views of the harbor and nearby curving cobblestone streets.  The doors to the building are very ornate.

Our second trip to Annapolis gave us a chance to have lunch at the Boatyard Bar and Grill, which I can't recommend enough.  On Sundays their fresh oysters are half off before 3 pm.  Sold!  I tried a few of the chincoteague (sink-o-teeg) oysters along with an open-faced sandwich that had the best blue crab artichoke spread I've ever had.  But boy, was it rich.  We also made our own six-pack of east-coast microbrews at a wonderful wine store near the harbor and we were impressed by most of them.

One weekend we went to nearby Watkins Regional State Park and enjoyed a rainy 3-mile walk in the woods.

This past weekend we finally made it out to the Air and Space Museum Annex out in Dulles, VA.  It is an hour drive from our place, so we stopped for some fantastic thai food before going to the hangar.  Hans was excited to see his all-time favorite aircraft, the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird.  Other exhibits of interest were the Enola Gay and the Enterprise (the shuttle one, not the Star Trek one).

View from half-way along main hangar,

Enola Gay on the right 

The Blackbird

 "Fly into the danger zone!"

If you're a fan of aircraft spark plugs, 

this is the right place!

I will continue to update as we go on little weekend excursions here and there.

Goodbye, Cape Girardeau

August 30, Update 3:

We left Missouri a day early so we can break the long drive into two easier days.

Last night was exciting.  While I was cleaning one of the kitchen walls some water must have dripped into one of the electrical outlets because after a while there was a very bright flash and pop and the kitchen breaker tripped.  Then when I tried to reset the breaker it popped again, this time tripping the main breaker for our apartment.  No power for the rest of the evening since the property manager was an hour out of town and he was needed to access the building's utility room.  Luckily, our friend was able to set us up in his family's motel for the night, so at least we had some furniture comforts.

This morning the property manager got the power back on but the wet outlet from last night sent several more sparks into the kitchen sink.

After loading up the car and checking the mail one last time, we drove across the Mississippi River and waved goodbye to Cape. 

Historic Cape downtown and flood wall as seen from the river.

As we made our way through Illinois we saw a sign advertising a Giant Superman Statue in the (nonfictional) town of Metropolis, but we mistakenly thought we had to go inside a museum to see it.  But we did find an acceptable substitute nearby:

Bunsen did fairly well in the car.  She was very quiet and sleepy, and appeared content in the backseat even though she was surrounded by piles of boxes.

At the moment we're in Knoxville for the night and still deciding whether to drive through Shenandoah on our way to Maryland.


August 27, Update 2:

The movers came today, packed up our belongings, and loaded it onto their truck in just under three hours.  It was impressively efficient, though 80% of our stuff was already packed into the tote bins we've been dragging around since college.

Though now our place has a very lonely echo.  Not that we're at all sad.  The only disadvantage is that while we will now be able to get all the cleaning done over the weekend fairly easily, the living arrangements are a little more Spartan:

Bunsen has been downgraded from a chalet to a budget junior suite

Living room

Bedroom

The only task now is to figure out how we're going to spend the next three days.

August 16, Update 1:

Tonight I became curious as to what it would look like if I put all of our significant road trips onto one map.  I added up all the mileage and so far the map represents just under 12,000 miles of road.  Twelve.  Thousand.  That's not including my first and third visits to New Orleans, my job interview road trip (still debating whether to add that here), the Canadian vacation, and a number of shorter trips.  Being in the middle of the country sure provided a lot of opportunities for travel.  Once we're on the east coast the epic road trips will probably be restricted to I-95, but there's still 1,900 miles to be had on that road :)

View Roads We Have Travelled in a larger map

August 18, 2010

We are moving.  Soon.

This week we were approved for the place that we applied to, so we're all set to move into our new apartment in Maryland (just outside DC) on September 1st 10th.  Our current lease ends on August 31st, so we'll be a little homeless for ten days.  We'll make it work.

Since I'll be in the middle of training for my new job through at least the end of the year and we'll be trying to save a bit of money, we haven't made any travel plans for the near future.  This doesn't mean that we won't make short weekend trips along the east coast here and there.

In the mean time, I will be making additions to this post as we prepare to leave.

Road Trip: Daytrip to the Mall and Homeward Bound

Saturday was our fist day in Washington, DC.  The hotel shuttle took us to the College Park metro station and we rode into town, stepping into the city at the foot of the National Archives building on Pennsylvania Avenue.  We began our introductory walk by turning west at the Mall and proceeded to the Washington Monument.  Hans was excited about being in the middle of our nation's capital but I was positively tickled.  I asked Hans if we could swing by the White House today, because, why the hell not?

We discovered that the Washington Monument sits on a raised green, from where you can look all the way from the Capitol to the Lincoln Memorial.  To the northwest you could see the White House peeking through the trees.  I tried not to let my excitement run away with me.

We walked to the Lincoln Memorial, stopping for a few breaks in the muggy heat, and pausing to look around the new(ish) WWII Memorial.  By now there were considerable crowds crawling around the park.  At the Lincoln Memorial there were a few corners from where one could contemplate in relative solitude.  Hans got goosebumps from reading the Gettysburg Address, carved into the marble walls.

Moving on, we took in the Vietnam Memorial.  This was a very moving experience for both of us.  I remember seeing a short documentary on PBS as a kid about the artist who designed the memorial and how she went about choosing the materials to be used for its construction.  The concept of carving the name of every single American that died in the war into gleaming black granite seemed to me, even then, very special.

The mobile version has appeared in Anchorage a few times but obviously it is nothing compared to the original.  The curious thing about the Vietnam Memorial is that it is so unbelievably magnetic.  The reflective property is subtle and conspicuous all at once.  Time after time I watched people suddenly step out of the stream of passers-by and reach out, as if trying to touch a ghost, gain some kind of new understanding, or simply communicate some kind of empathy, only to be separated by a mirrored veil.

At one point some men assissted a veteran as he climbed a small step ladder in order to make a rubbing of his friend's name.  Even in the open air the park seemed to become unusually quiet as the other visitors solemnly looked on.

I became a little choked up as I followed Hans back to the path and we both sat on a bench to catch our breath.  Hans pointed out that both our fathers could have been drafted into the war.

Since we were near the Ellipse we stepped over the the familiar iron fence I see on the news often and we gazed across the leafy green lawn at the White House.  Yay!

An excellent lunch was had at the Old Ebbit Grill, even if I nearly decimated our table by sitting on the tablecloth as I got into my seat.

We wandered the streets a little more, stopping to have a look at Ford's Theatre and the house across the street where Lincoln died after been shot by John Wilkes Booth.

The Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, while impressive, was a little crowded for our taste.  Not discouraged (since we are moving here next month), we sat outside in the park for a while before meeting up with some friends at the Air and Space Museum.

Soon Hans had a grin on his face as he excitedly pointed out what all the airplanes and spacecraft were and I was impressed by his knowledge of the exhibits.  Apparently he's been wanting to visit this museum since childhood.  Notables were:  The Spirit of St. Louis, the Apollo 11 command module, a test-version of the lunar lander, a V2 rocket, Howard Hughes' H1, and X1, and the Wright Flier.

After the museum we were failry tired by still enthusiastic about our first day in DC.

Sunday was a very long day in the car but we made it back to Cape just fine.  Now we have a few weeks before the movers arrive to pack up all our belongings.