Maryland – Places I’ve Been – Part 2

During my last post, I shared the 1^st half of my favorite places to visit and some good things to know before you visit the historic state of Maryland.  Here is part two.

Located southwest of Baltimore, Patapsco Valley State Park is Maryland’s oldest state park (established in 1907).  A few years back, two of my friends (Anna and Rob) and I hiked a very small portion of the 70 miles of their maintained trails.  You can also fish, camp, canoe, mountain bike, and horseback within the park.  We stuck to the Avalon/Orange Grove/Glen Artney areas of the park.  Trail maps are available on information boards located throughout the park or for purchase online, at the visitor center, or at the park’s headquarters.  We walked past the Bloede’s Dam and walked across the swinging bridge.  You can walk at Patapsco Park a lot and still not see the same thing twice.  Perfect.
 

I spent many weeks as a kid on the New Jersey shore boardwalks.  So when my friend, Ketina, took me to the Ocean City Boardwalk a few years ago, I was reminded of my summers as a kid – food, sand, food, people watching, ocean smells and sounds, food, walking along the boardwalk, did I mention the food?  Ocean City Boardwalk isn’t as long as some of the ones in Jersey that I grew up with but it’s still nice.  It’s the traditional boardwalk with popcorn (my friend Ketina likes Fisher’s popcorn), pizza, ice cream/frozen custard (Kohr Brothers is yummy), rides/games, tourist souvenir shops, etc, but Ocean City also has Maryland crab cakes and Thrasher’s Fries, which are great.  Here’s a list of 100 free Ocean City activities you might want to check out if you plan to visit there.

Every state has beautiful back roads, and Maryland is no exception.  One of those roads is the Historic National Road, which was the nation’s first federally funded interstate highway going from Baltimore, MD to the mighty Mississippi River in St. Louis, Missouri.  It traverses 824 miles through six states, including 170 miles within Maryland.  I drove along the eastern Maryland section (Baltimore to Hagerstown) back in May and it was beautiful.  This section parallels I-70 and takes you through all the small towns you would normally bypass, such as Ellicott City, which I spoke of in my last post.  It makes for a great lazy Sunday afternoon drive.

 

Maryland has some beautiful Civil War Battlefields such as Monocacy and Antietam, both of which I visited for the first time this past May.  Monocacy Battlefield is located two miles south of Frederick and it’s the battle that saved Washington, DC in the summer of 1864.  It has a small visitor center that shows a great timeline of all the events before and after the battle.  Before leaving the visitor center, be sure to pick up a helpful free self-guided auto tour brochure.  The route totals approximately 6 miles round-trip.  If you have kids, be sure to bring along a copy of the scavenger hunt for them to complete on your visit to keep them entertained. 

The Battle of Antietam is said to be the bloodiest one-day battle in American history having 23,000 soldiers killed, wounded, or missing after only 12 hours of combat back in 1862.  You should take the self-guided 8 ½ mile 11 stop auto tour through the battlefield. 

My two favorite stops along the tour were climbing to the top of the tower on Bloody Lane and visiting the Burnside Bridge. 

Whether you’re into the Civil War or not, I highly recommend the walking trails along both of the battlefields’ self-guided auto tours.  They make great places to get out of the car, get some fresh air, and get some exercise.

I love covered bridges and I found out this past May that Maryland has two Covered Bridges Trails.  I drove along the Frederick County Covered Bridge Trail that has three bridges (Utica Mills, Roddy Road, and Loys Station), and it was neat to explore some of the beautiful back roads, rolling hills, and history of that part of Maryland.

As I mentioned in the Delaware Blog Post, if you’ll be traveling through the Mid-Atlantic area (Maryland, Delaware, and New Jersey), you might want to look into getting an EZ Pass for the toll booths.  In Maryland, there are tolls on I-95 at the Baltimore/Delaware boarder area as well as crossing the Chesapeake Bay Bridge near Annapolis.  If you pay cash for those tolls, you’ll be in a long line, however, the EZ Pass lines run much faster.  Also, when traveling on I-95 north of Baltimore, you should stop at the Maryland House.  It’s a great, clean, and well-light rest area with restaurants, restrooms, a convenience store, and a gas station.
 

I’ve shared with you my favorite places to visit and some good things to know before you visit Maryland.  In my next post, I’ll share the wish list of places I still want to check out in my state of Maryland.

* Photos taken by Me

Maine - Wish List

In my last post, I noted the places I visited in 2007, but I’d love to go again and visit quite a lot of places on my next trip to Maine.  Here is a shortened version of that list.

While in Maine, I visited two lighthouses, however Maine has 65 lighthouses!  Every year in September, Maine hosts an Open Lighthouse Day.  It’s a fun family event intended to increase awareness of the rich history of its lighthouses and lighthouse keepers.  Along the shores of Maine on this day, companies provide excursions to show lighthouses that are only accessible by boat, lighthouses and museums are open for tours, and some lighthouses host live music.

In the town of Prospect, about 118 miles north of Portland, is the Penobscot Narrows Bridge and Observatory.  It’s the only bridge observatory tower in the US, and there are only four bridge observatories in the world.  It also has Maine’s fastest and tallest passenger elevator taking you up to the observatory.  The 360-degree view from the observatory is so beautiful.  But, the observatory is only open from May 1^st through October 31^st every year, so make sure to plan your trip accordingly.

 

While on the subject of bridges, I also love covered bridges.  We saw quite a few in New Hampshire on our New England road trip, however, we didn’t stop to see any of the nine covered bridges in Maine that are beautiful as well.

Babb's Bridge

With Maine being the US’s largest blueberry growing state, I might be able to find my chocolate blueberry latte at one of the state’s wild blueberry festivals, one of which is the Machias Wild Blueberry Festival in Machias.  They have a ball, fun runs, pie eating contests, crafters, farm tours, and even a blueberry musical.

I bet I could also find another good Maine lobster meal at the Maine Lobster Festival in Rockland.  They have a pancake breakfast, cooking contest, lobster crate races, fun runs, and a big parade.  Along with lobsters, they also have clam festivals such as the Yarmouth Clam Festival in Yarmouth, which hosts the Maine State Clam Shucking Contest.  WOW!  It also has a canoe/kayak race, parade, fun runs, crafters, and even a diaper derby (a fun race for crawlers and toddlers).

 

My friends from Maine told me that Maine has a desert.  I thought they were either lying or I had heard wrong and they were saying DESSERT!  But, nope, I heard right and they weren’t lying.  The Desert of Maine is Maine’s famous natural phenomenon in Freeport.  It has nature trails, sand dunes, and a barn museum.  But, they are only open from May through October every year so keep this in mind when planning your trip.  It used to be fertile grassland in the 1700s that eroded away to show the glacier desert that was always underneath the grassland.

Also in Freeport is the LL Bean Flagship Store.  Throughout the summer, they offer outdoor activities at their Discovery Park such as farmers’ markets, festivals, concerts, and games.  Throughout the year, they offer indoor events around the topics of birding, kayaking, navigating, hiking, camping, etc.

There is one place in Maine I’m not sure about visiting because I’m not that much of an outdoors person, but I sure do love to look at pictures of it.  That’s Baxter State Park in Millinocket.  They describe it as rustic, unpaved, and no electricity.  They have 215 miles of trails that offer all kinds of hikes from short easy day hikes to difficult long hikes.  It’s 209,501 acres and includes Maine’s highest peak, Mt. Katahdin, which is also the northern terminus of the Appalachian Trail that starts in the Amicaloloa Falls State Park in Dawsonville, Georgia (Georgia’s Blog Post).

Mt. Katahdin

As I’ve mentioned many times, you should go tour the state capitol buildings when you’re traveling, especially in your home state.  Most of the time, there are free tours available.  Maine’s state capitol in Augusta is no different.

 

There’s one HUGE and MAGNIFICANT area of Maine I’m leaving out of this post and saving for my next post – Acadia National Park.  So, watch for that post in the next couple of days.

**All photos were found online.**

Iowa

I visited Iowa with two friends as part of a  week long, Midwest road trip from Texas to Minnesota a few years ago. From Nebraska, we crossed into Iowa and spent the night near the border in Council Bluffs.  The next day, I was surprised by how much I liked Iowa.  It was just really pretty.

Two travel tips for Iowa: 1) never drive a white vehicle in Iowa. The state has many dirt roads.  We flew into the Dallas/Fort Worth Airport in Texas and rented a white car.  When we returned the car to the Minneapolis/St. Paul Airport in Minnesota, I was so ashamed at how our nasty BROWN car looked. 

Our brown car in Iowa.

2) Pack an ice scrapper.  In early October, we woke up to snow and ice in Iowa and we had nothing but our sweatshirt sleeves to wipe it off with.  We did have a nice snow ball fight though.

Our drive in Iowa

The main thing we wanted to see in Iowa was the Madison County Covered Bridges Festival.  Madison County Covered Bridges were made famous in the romantic novel and movie titled, The Bridges of Madison County.  In downtown Winterset, you can hop on a school bus and take a guided tour of the covered bridges.  We thought it would be more fun to visit them on our own using a map similar to this one.  We drove to the six bridges and the school house. 

My friends and I at Hogback Bridge.

Cedar Bridge

Cutler-Donahoe Bridge

Roseman Bridge

Holiway Bridge

Imes Bridge

One of the bridges is located in the Winterset City Park which also has a cool tower. 

Winterset City Park Tower

From there it was on to the festival, also in Winterset.  They had music, food (mostly different kinds of meat), crafts, alpacas, and a few cowboys too, which was a really nice surprise.  If you’re into old cowboy movies, Winterset is also John Wayne’s birthplace.  We didn’t visit that though.  After touring the county all morning, it was time to head on to our next destination.

From Madison County, we drove to Des Moines, the state capital.  We visited the outside of the state capital building, but I would love to go inside next time. 

My friend in front of the Iowa State Capital Building

Near the state capital is the John and Mary Pappajohn Sculpture Park.  This park was kind of cool.  It has 27 pieces of artwork contributed by John and Mary Pappajohn.  The park stretches from  13^th to 15^th streets between Locus Street and Grand Avenue in downtown Des Moines.  On the website, they now have a podcast tour of the pieces of artwork that you can download and listen to while you’re walking around the park.

My favorite sculpture at the sculpture park 

If I was to go back to Iowa, there are a few things I’d like to do.

President Herbert Hoover’s Presidential Library and Museum is in West Branch.  He was our 31^st President of the United States, and took the oath of office just 10 months before the stock market crashed in 1929.  It had to have been an interesting time to live in.  My grandparents were just babies.  The grounds of this presidential library and museum include his birthplace cottage, a reconstructed blacksmith shop, a one-room school house, a tall grass prairie, his gravesite, and a visitor center.

President Hoover.  Picture found online.

My grandfather and dad taught me what good music is.  When it comes to Christmas music and some amazing dance music, I don’t think you can get better than Glenn Miller – a Big Band leader and popular musician of the Swing Era.  I’d love to attend the festival in his honor and visit his birthplace and museum in Clarinda.  I think I would have a swinging good time!

Glenn Miller. Picture found online.

One of Iowa’s most famous travel destinations is the Amana Colonies. 

Amana Colonies Welcome Sign.  Picture found online.

These seven authentic German villages were founded as a religious commune in the mid 1800s.  The religious group from Germany that built this commune is called the Community of True Inspiration.  They first immigrated to an area outside of Buffalo, New York but later expanded to the Amana colonies in Iowa in 1855.  They were virtually self-sustaining but by the 1920s, influence of improved communications and transportation and finally, the Great Depression made the isolated communal life socially and economically impossible.  In 1932, the members of the Amana Society voted to abandon the communal system.  Having never heard of this religious group before my research, and the fact that people have preserved this village for that long, I’d love to go see it in person.  For more information on the Amana Heritage Society, check out this website.  This culture reminds me of the Amish communities that I mentioned about in my post on Indiana.  I’m not exactly sure of the differences between the two orders other than the Amish are still going strong.  Iowa does have their own Amish communities in Kalona about 50 miles from the Amana Colonies.  Within Kalona, you’ll find shops selling quilts and furniture, and you’ll be able to view the Amish traditions just like in Indiana.

The Cordova Observation Tower is in the Cordova Park near Lake Red Rock in the town of Otley.  It is the tallest observation tower in a public park in the Midwest at 106-feet tall with 170 steps to the top.  It also has the longest continuous fiberglass staircase in the world.  The view from the top looks beautiful!

Near Otley is the town of Pella, which has a festival for one of my favorite flowers – tulips.  Their annual Tulip Time Festival is the 1st weekend in May every year.  It has brought Dutch traditions to life among the tulips in Iowa for more than 75 years.  They have six parades and two shows during their three-day festival that features Dutch dancing and singing, Dutch costumes, Dutch treats, a craft market, a tractor rodeo, a quilt show, cheese market demonstrations, and “street scrubbing.”  You can’t miss them scrubbing the street because supposedly the festival is famous for this event. 

Pella Tulip Time Festival.  Picture found online.

Also, Orange City has their own Dutch Tulip Festival downtown next to their windmill the 3^rd weekend in May- .  If you have a Dutch background, then you should also check out the Danish Immigrant Museum in Elk Horn while you’re in Iowa.  It was founded in 1983 and opened in 1994 to preserve the history of Danish immigration to America.  The museum has over 35,000 artifacts ranging from needlework to lawn tools.  Many of the items have been passed down through the generations in Danish families who immigrated to Iowa.

If you have a German background, you should visit the town of Manning and visit the Manning Heritage Park and German Hausbarn.  The town was founded by immigrants from Schleswig-Holstein, Germany in the late 1800s.  The town of Manning spoke German in their schools, churches, and homes, and the town’s newspaper was written in German until 1918, when World War I was declared and a bill was passed in Iowa that no foreign language would be spoken in public gatherings in the state.  One of the interesting pieces in the park is the German Hausbarn, built in 1660 in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany and reconstructed in Manning in 1999.

German Hausbarn.  Picture found online.

Two more countries represented in Iowa are the Czech Republic and Slovakia.  The National Czech and Slovak Museum and Library is in Cedar Rapids.  The museum and library were severely damaged in a 2008 flood, and will reopen on July 14^th, 2012.  They will have exhibits of children’s books, jewelry, textiles, paintings, as well as one on the flood and how that impacted the Czechs and Slovaks in the area.  It looks really interesting and very well done.

The scoop is that we should chill out in the Ice Cream Capital of the World, Le Mars, Iowa during their Ice Cream Days activities the 2^nd weekend in June.  DAYS of ice cream sound good to me.  Le Mars got this title in 1994 from the state of Iowa because more ice cream is produced in this town by a single company, Wells, than in any other town in the world.  Wells is the home of Blue Bunny Ice Cream.  While in town, be sure to visit Wells’s Ice Cream Parlor and Museum.

Lastly, while in Iowa, I’d like to visit the Grotto of the Redemption in Westbend because it is an interesting composite of nine separate grottos portraying scenes from the life of Christ using stories and gems from around the world.  I don’t think I’ve seen anything like it and it makes me wonder what the story is behind the building of the grottos.

Grotto of the Redemption.  Picture found online.

These are just the places I’d like to go to in Iowa.  If you know of anywhere else in Iowa we should check out, please leave a comment below.  See you later this week, when we’ll explore what’s just round the corner in Kansas.

**Pictures were taken by my friends and I unless noted. **

Indiana

As I stated last week, I visited Illinois and Indiana on a road trip around Lake Michigan a few years go with three of my friends.

While in Indiana, we visited the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, specifically Mount Baldy.  At 126 feet high, it was a real workout to get up to the top of this mountain of sand, but, my friends had a good time running up and down this mountain (I did not). 

On the way up! (I took the pic)

From the top of Mt. Baldy (I took the pic)

Me at the top (A friend took the pic)

Also, the view of Lake Michigan from the top of the mountain was beautiful long as you didn’t look down the beach to see the power plant with the plume of smoke. 

Down the beach (I took the pic)

They don’t show that on the website!  After getting back to our car, we headed to the next state on our road trip, Michigan.

When in Indiana, you have to know what counties you’ll be traveling in and what time it is there.  It’s not as simple as you might think.  Some Indianan counties use to not recognize Daylight Savings Time, some recognized it and followed Central Time, and the rest recognized it and followed Eastern Time.  As of 2012, all counties recognize Daylight Savings Time now, however, 12 counties in the northwest and southwest parts of the state have decided to follow the Central Time and the rest of the state has decided to follow the Eastern Time.  You’ll want to check out what county you want to visit and what time zone they have decided on before making any appointments.  You wouldn’t want to be an hour early or late.

In researching for this post, I found a lot of rare, quirky, interesting and possibly weird areas/towns in Indiana I’d like to go back and see.

Within Indiana there is a rare group of people called the Amish people.  If you’re unfamiliar with them, they have Amish people in a few northeast / midwest states.  They’re Christians that do not use power, have horse drawn buggies instead of automobiles, and they dress very plainly.  They also speak English and either Pennsylvania Dutch and/or Swiss German.  They call those that are not Amish - English people.  They settled on land just east of the towns of Goshen and Middlebury, Indiana.  You can visit the Menno-Hof in Shipshewana for the history of the Amish/Mennonite/Anabaptists or you can check out this website for more about the Amish culture.  While in this area of Indiana, if you’ve never taken an Amish buggy ride before, you definitely need to.  There are many companies in this area that offer buggy rides at reasonable prices such as Buggy Lane Tours in Shipshewana.  I’ve taken two buggy rides near Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where there are Amish communities, and really enjoyed learning more about their culture.

Indiana Amish Buggy

A town that is all their own is the town of Peru, which claims they are the Circus Capital of the World.  The circus has been a part of the town of Peru for over 100 years!  Every July for nine days (July 14-21, 2012), the downtown converts to an amusement park filed with rides, games, food, and entertainment including a circus parade for the Circus City Festival!  Don’t fear if you’re not in Indiana in July.  They have a Circus City Museum and Gift Shop open year round downtown.  It’s filled with photos, miniatures, displays, and costumes from circus past.

Peru, Indiana's Circus City Festival Parade

Yet another interesting town is called Santa Claus and yes, you can celebrate Christmas every day of the year there.  The town’s website states that the town was named on Christmas Eve of 1852.  The sound of bells made a jubilant child ring out “Its Santa Claus,” to which a town elder asked “Why not call it (the town) Santa Claus?”  The residents all agreed and the town of Santa Claus was born.  Within town there are many Christmas-ish named stores and attractions.  Also, there is a 22-foot tall Santa in the Santa Claus Park.  It’s looking toward both the original settlement of Santa Claus, Indiana and the town of Bethlehem (Bethlehem, Indiana that is).

The Welcome sign in Santa Clau, IN

The biggest resort that I know of has got to be the French Lick Resort in French Lick, Indiana, which is a 3,000-acre resort with two hotels, two spas, three golf courses, one casino, two conference centers, indoor/outdoor pools, indoor tennis courts, indoor basketball courts, stables, bowling alley, arcade, concerts, and they host a slew of special events.  This resort’s history goes back to 1832, when the first hotel was constructed.  One of the hotels in the resort, the West Baden Springs Hotel, had the largest free-spanning dome in the United States at the time and kept that record for 10 years. 

West Baden Springs Hotel's lobby

Franklin D. Roosevelt announced his intention to run for president at a National Governors' Convention held at the French Lick Springs Hotel which is now the second hotel in the resort.  But, the town has been best known for being the hometown of the National Basketball Association (NBA) great Larry Bird ever since his professional basketball career took off.  He was given the nickname "the Hick from French Lick.”  That’s an awful nickname.

For those Nascar fans, you’ll want to visit the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.  The first Indianapolis 500-mile race was held in May 1911.  The Speedway boasts that it is now the world’s largest spectator sporting facility, with more than 250,000 permanent seats.  They also note on their website that the Churchill Downs Horse Racing Track, the Yankee Baseball Stadium, the Rose Bowl Football Stadium, the Roman Coliseum, and Vatican City ALL can fit inside the Speedway’s oval, which covers 253 acres.  WOW!

Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Indianapolis is also Indiana’s state capital, so stop by and visit the capital building.  No matter how long you have or what day you’re in town during the week, the statehouse tour office offers various tours that are 15, 30, 45, or 90-minutes long – you choose.

Indiana State Capital Building

While in Indianapolis, check out the Indiana Historical Society.  They have a really exciting looking building full of interesting exhibits.  They use a lot of innovative technology with touch screens, 3-D pictures, digital grand piano playing Cole Porter music (Cole Porter was born in Peru, Indiana) and within the building is something about all 92 counties in Indiana.

The Cole Porter Room at the Indiana Historical Society

Another awesome looking museum in Indianapolis is their Children’s Museum.  You can even have your birthday party there!  Right now they have dinosaur exhibit, a Lego Travel Adventure exhibit, a Mr. Potato Head exhibit, a hall of mirrors, and a carousel.  I had fun just exploring their website!

The Carousel at the Children's Museum

Towns and counties across the United States have various fairs and festivals paying homage to various fruits, vegetables, plants, and trees.  Parke County is no different.  In February and March, when maple syrup producers begin tapping the maple trees that provide sugar water for making maple syrup, it’s time for the Parke County Maple Syrup Fair!  You can tour maple syrup camps, see how maple syrup is made, and sample its wonderful flavor. 

Maple Syrup

In October, Parke County also hosts Indiana’s largest festival, the Parke County Covered Bridge Festival.  Parke County, with 31 historic covered bridges, claims to be the Covered Bridge Capital of the World.  I think they’re so quaint and beautiful.  I’d love to go to this festival.

Red Covered Bridge in Rockville, IN

As always, these are just the places I’d like to go to in Indiana.  If you know of anywhere else in Indiana we should check out, please leave a comment below.  See you next week when we’ll explore what’s just round the corner in Iowa and their covered bridge festival.

**Photos were found online if not noted**