Yes, it has been a long time since I've posted, and my loving visits by friends and family on the trip, and fantastic sightseeing have been the reasons. I had a really fun time in Ocean City, Maryland, where I visited my Jr. High School classmate, Mary Ann. She has a beautiful house about 12 miles from downtown Ocean City, and the contrast couldn't be greater. She's in a quiet, heavily wooded area with birds singing and crickets chirping. There's a stream at the back of the property and her house is real cute. We yakked constantly and went on a sightseeing trip into Ocean City. I got a chance to meet her daughter also. Ocean City is a very commercialized stretch of restaurants, nice and not-so-nice hotels, but with a beautiful beach, so little wonder it's pretty built up. It's been a favorite of people in New England for years. It was wonderful catching up with Mary Ann, and she recommended that on my way to D.C., I stop in St. Michael.
St Michael is one of those terminally charming little towns with cute shops, with everything looking old and nicely restored. They were having a boat show the day I was there, and I got a chance to hear a little of the history of the area. Here's a workshop where they were showing how they make small skiffs that the locals sometimes use in shallow water.
I then headed to Washington, D.C., and stayed at a new Wyndham resort called National Harbor. It's across the river from Alexandria on the Maryland side, and it was beautiful. I can't go to Washington without getting strong feelings of nostalgia for my childhood experiences. So, I snapped a few pictures of my favorite places:
I had a chance to go to the National Museum of the American Indian with Rosemary and Rispba, and it was very impressive. I started to get some sense of the level of ignorance I have about the indigenous people who were here before the English, Spanish and French arrived. We all ended up feeling great that we got to see the museum, but with great sadness that by simply getting off the boat, about 90% of the population of Native Americans were condemned to death by diseases to which they had no immunity.
It was really fun seeing the gals, and a couple days later I had a chance to visit Rosemary at her home for several hours. With both of us being rather irreverent and silly, we had a great time. During the course of my visit I also did a walking tour of Alexandria, which was "town" back in George Washington's day. I also did a side trip to Frederick, and in honor of my mother, I submit this photo of Barbara Fritchie's house, to which on occasion Mom would take us in the furtherance of our Civil War education.
I did enough driving around to realize that the area is just so much different now, with it being real important to not drive anytime anywhere near rush hour. I visited my old hometown of Damascus, and it is so built up that it simply is a large town now instead of a small village. One little irrelevant bit of trivia was that I did need to go get a soft serve ice cream from the Jimmie Cone. Old habits die hard.
I love this entire area, and am always awed by the beauty of the National Mall and touched by the basic principles that going through the history reminds one of. It was also a relief every night, after being outside a lot in 85 degree weather and high humidity, to return to the Wyndham and my lovely room there, and especially the air conditioning. Next: off to Baltimore.
