We arrived at Greenbrier State Park in Maryland on August 1st to begin a two month stint as camp hosts for one of the camping loops in the park. It is a beautiful park with a small lake, lots of hiking and biking trails, access to the Appalachian Trail, bunches of good hills (they really do call them mountains here! – they have some that are almost a couple thousand feet high. OK! – all of you people from western Canada and the western U.S. stop rolling on the floor laughing and keep reading). The location put us in good proximity of our Son and Grandbabies, so when the opportunity presented itself, we took it. The responsibilities are very light so we have the majority of our time to just enjoy - be tourists, visit, hike, bike and all that good stuff. The park staff and the volunteers are all very helpful and pleasant to work with as well as being characters in their own right.
Our son, Adam, girlfriend, Katie, and grandbabies, Jocelyn and Bjorn, all came to visit shortly after we got here. There have been numerous visits since and will continue while we are here. The Grandbabies are a bit taller now (and look down on Grammy and Grampy) as it should be. Jocelyn just got her drivers license and Bjorn is working on his. We have learned to pay close attention to when and where they will be driving so we can avoid the roads where the hazard level is elevated (just kidding!).
The area that we are in (central Maryland) has quite the number of attractions and historical events – so many so that it’s difficult to pick and choose. Having been in the area on prior visits we decided to stay away from the major venues that we had seen before and take a few side trips (depending on traffic) to the less visited attractions. Just a few miles down the road from us is the Antietam National Battlefield so we decided to go give it a visit. We learned a lot about the 12 hour battle on September 17, 1862 as we went through the museum and visitors center then walked and drove through the battlefield. The battle itself took a few days to form as the Union and Confederate forces positioned themselves along Antietam Creek and the area surrounding it.
Of the nearly 100,000 soldiers that participated in the battle, about 23,000 were killed, wounded or missing once it was done. Of those - 4,776 of the Union Soldiers were buried at the Antietam National Cemetery. The Confederate soldiers were buried in Hagerstown, Frederick and Shepherdstown. The war separated them even in death.
The pic on the left is Burnside Bridge and one of the locations of repeated battles during the day. The Union troops would try and run across the bridge right into a wall of rifle fire. Many did not make it.
Two of the worst battle areas during the day were the Bloody Lane which was a sunken road where the two armies met. In the words of one observer, “They were lying in rows like the ties of a railroad, in heaps like cordwood mingled with the splintered and shattered fence rails”. The other was the Bloody Cornfield – for three hours the two sides fought, some regiments were cut to pieces with casualty rates approaching 60 percent.
I could not help but think how history can humble even the most horrifying current atrocities. And this was only one 12 hour battle!
On a much lighter note we hooked up with friends Bill & Rena and Duane & Debbie to meet, tour and have lunch at Longwood Gardens. It was about a 120 mile drive and we thought we would be “smart” and take the back roads to avoid the traffic around the cities during the morning rush. There are no fast ways around the cities in Maryland, only slow and slower, it took us a little over three and a half hours. But we made it and met up with the group and were introduced to
Longwood Gardens. The original 1,077 acre plus site of Longwood Gardens was owned by William Penn in the late 1600’s and over the years and multiple owners was turned into an arboretum with one of the finest collections of trees in the nation. It was bought by industrialist, Pierre S. du Pont, in 1906. He made it his private estate, and from 1906 until the 1930s, du Pont added extensively to the property. A world traveler from an early age, du Pont was often inspired to add features to the
garden after attending world's fairs, 
Today, the 1,077-plus acre Longwood Gardens consists of 20 outdoor gardens and 20 indoor gardens within 4.5 acres of heated greenhouses, known as conservatories. It contains over 11,000 different types of plants and trees, as well as fountains.
We enjoyed ourselves as we wandered the gardens with the group catching up on recent events and directions of future travel. Bill and Rena brought me a sample of their son’s beer (he’s the owner-operator of Gotham Brewery in New York City) to try and review for my Walking the Sticks Blog.
The day went by way too fast and after a leisurely lunch on the grounds it was time to head back to Greenbrier. We thought we were going to be “smart” and miss all the stoplights and extremely low speed limits of the back roads of Maryland and take the interstate. Three and and half hours later, after a couple of accidents stopping traffic and multiple slowdowns, we made it home. Wow!
One of the nice things about Greenbrier State Park is its trail system. It has many miles of hiking and biking trails as well as a few geocaches. It also hooks up to the Appalachian National Scenic Trail, generally known as the Appalachian Trail or simply the A.T. Linda took a hike one day through the park to the A.T. and then up to an overlook called Annapolis Rock. The Appalachian Trail is a marked hiking trail (no biking, dammit!) along the Appalachian Mountains and goes all the way from Springer Mountain in Georgia to Mount Katahdin in Maine.
On another of our excursions we headed south to the Potomac River and the bike trail system for the C&O Canal. The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal (C&O) is occasionally referred to as the "Grand Old Ditch" (That’s Ditch with a “D”) and operated from 1831 until 1924 along the Potomac River in Maryland. It went from Cumberland, Maryland to Washington, D.C. with a total length of the canal being about 185 miles (or 297 km). Over the length of the canal there were 74 canal locks, bridges for 11 aqueducts, and something like 150 culverts. That’s me above crossing over one of the bridges for the old aqueducts. We entered the trail near a town called Shepherdstown and rode down to Harpers Ferry which turned out to be about 13 miles one way.
We encountered a few critters along the way – here is a pic of Linda with a small whitetail doe, the spotted fawn was just a short distance away in the bushes.
While we were in Harpers Ferry we had to visit John Brown’s Fort and wander the area to see what we could. Lots of history and shops and one really good little burger shop that made an outstanding mushroom and Swiss burger for lunch (I was hungry!)
Our fellow camp hosts took us out to Raystown Reservoir for a boat ride and lunch one day. It was a very pleasant and relaxing day as we motored around the lake enjoying the scenery and ride. They even let me drive for awhile, that’s one thing I doubt if I will forget how to do after spending many hundreds of hours driving boats on the Midwest lakes, rivers and reservoirs. I enjoyed it immensely!
Linda had an opportunity to go for a Sunday ride with our son, Adam, and his motorcycle club the “MCV“. Adam is known as “Swede” in the club so Linda was promptly dubbed “Momma Swede” – bodacious biker babe in training.
They rode for a couple of hours around the area from Reisterstown to Clarksville, Maryland covering about 60 miles and ending up at a Tavern called the Twist and Turn for lunch. It was a fun day as Adam (Swede) had planned and led the ride for the club. It had been a very long time since Linda had been on the back of a bike and was nothing but smiles as she told me about her day. A very special thanks to “Swede” and the MCV!
We also had the opportunity to visit and have lunch with friends, Steve and Pat, as they passed though the area. A year ago we had lunch with them in Tacoma, Washington!
Oreo - our 17 pound Tom Cat, who has lived and traveled with us for quite a few years, decided he likes being part of the Blog and will continue to provide a few purr-fect bits of wisdom and observations for all the blog readers out there as well as a few comments about the antics of his pride members and life on the road.
I was told by my pride member that some of my fans really don’t know me very well and would like to know more – so if I must.
I'm a cat who loves to enjoy life and tries to focus on important things (like food and sleep) and real friendships (like who is going to pet or play with me next.) That's why I live very simply. I'm not a jeans and T-shirt kind of cat, but I do like furs, but only in the basic black and white. I don't spend much time grooming myself or trying to look cool – I am cool. I live like a normal cat and even though I'm in a very high-profile life style, (being a Blog star) I really don't let it affect the way I live. I heard someone say once – “The best intelligence test is what we do with our leisure.” I am a very smart cat!
OREO
I hope you enjoyed the blog and all the experiences included. Our latest experiences in Maryland and surrounding area have been fun to say the least. Over the next couple of weeks we will be winding down here and will be heading south to our winter home in Everglades City, Florida. It’s been another great place to visit our Son and his family as well as friends that cross our paths.
Home is where we park it!
Lee & Linda
