Travels in 2011

This past year has been primarily about our first grandchild, Sebastian. It has been a delight to get to know this new little person who didn't even exist much more than a year ago. Here he is yakking at a cell phone with his usual jibber-jabber, although he probably has no idea why people hold these things to their heads while talking.

But that doesn't mean we haven't taken trips in the RV as well. This year's road trips have been fairly close to home in Maryland and Virginia. Nonetheless, they have been great fun and have provided relaxing getaways.

VIRGINIA BEACH
Back in April, with the early warmth of spring, we headed to Virginia Beach. We camped for a week at First Landing State Park, tucked into vegetation close to the water at the confluence of the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. Over the dunes, we could see the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel in the distance stretching out across the mouth of the Bay.

We spent the week hiking and biking the park's trails through the forest. At the beach, we biked along the boardwalk and watched the few swimmers and surfers hardy enough to brave the still-nippy water. Virginia Beach is home to the spectacular Virginia Aquarium and the headquarters of the Edgar Cayce Foundation, both of which we enjoyed visiting.

On our last day, we went into nearby Norfolk to watch a NATO parade featuring floats from the NATO member countries. The trip was capped off by a visit to the Norfolk Botanical Gardens which were in full bloom.

OCEAN CITY
Just a few weeks later, we spent a weekend at the Castaways Resort near Ocean City, Maryland. What a great place! Although our preference is to stay in more rustic state and national parks, we had fun both Friday and Saturday nights listening to live music at the tiki bar and eating free pancakes at the Saturday morning breakfast. The Castaways has a free shuttle that takes campers into nearby Ocean City, about twenty minutes away. We spent part of Saturday strolling the boardwalk and having lunch.

ROCKY GAP
We took several trips to state parks in western Maryland, including the beautiful Rocky Gap State Park near the town of Flintstone. This park lies beside a jewel of a lake surrounded by low mountains. Aside from having a very nice campground, the park has a lodge, restaurant, and golf course.





On our last trip to Rocky Gap, we met up with Tracey's sister Tina and her husband John. They were in their new travel trailer. After arriving on a Thursday night, we woke up on Friday to predictions of up to 12 inches of snow over the next few hours. Nothing of the sort had been predicted up to that point.
We reluctantly packed up and headed for home - Tina and John to Pennsylvania and us to Derwood. On the way home, however, Tracey and I realized that we weren't quite ready to go back home. So we pulled off at Little Bennett Park not far from our home and spent the snowy weekend snug inside the RV reading and watching the trees outside slowly turn fluffy white. It was a nice and cozy time, and we were glad we didn't have to make the two-hour drive back from western Maryland on the snowy highways. But we missed being able to spend the weekend with Tina and John.




FORT FREDERICK
The last trip of the season was again to western Maryland where we camped at Fort Frederick State Park. Our campsite was right on the Potomac River, which we could see out our back windows.


Fort Frederick, a huge stone fort, was built in 1756 to protect the Maryland frontier during the French and Indian War. During the American Revolution it served as a prison for British soldiers. After that, the fort was sold into private hands and for several generations it and the surrounding lands were owned and farmed by the Williams family. Patriarch Nathan Williams was the son of a slave who had bought freedom for himself, his wife, and his four children in 1826. In 1860 Nathan and his wife bought the tract containing the fort for $7,000. When the Civil War erupted, the the 1st Maryland Infantry (U.S.) garrisoned the fort in order to protect the nearby C&O Canal. The Williams family fed the soldiers and sold produce to them as well as to Confederate soldiers across the Potomac River. After the war, the Williams family built animal pens and planted grapevines, vegetables, and a small orchard inside the fort. They also cultivated the fields outside the fort and bought more land as they prospered. In 1911, the Williams family sold the land and the fort, and in 1922 it was acquired by the state of Maryland to create the first Maryland state park.





As it happened, there was a reenactment of a Civil War battle taking place when we were there, part of an ongoing celebration of the 150th anniversary of the war. It was interesting to see how an actual skirmish against Confederate raiders had unfolded right there at Fort Frederick on Christmas Day in 1861.