What to do in Maryland

Eat Maryland Crab Cakes of course. Well that was the plan, but at $30 each, we decided we would just have a little on our fries and on club sandwiches (which were delicious!) It seems as though there is a crab shortage due to the lack of pickers. Our waiter said they had to pay $58 a pound for crab, so they lose money on the crab cakes.

Rural Maryland is lush, green and rolling, much like central Kentucky Horse Country. We parked The Wanderer at the farm of our friends near Frederick, MD. Their granddaughters ages 6, 4 and 2 gave us the farm tour and introduced us to their goats and chickens. We were quite impressed with the young ladies. They seemed unusually articulate, inquisitive, observant and engaging for their ages. They are expecting a baby brother to arrive in a few weeks.  Oh, and they are home schooled. 

We met Greg and Juanita in Fredricksburg, TX about a year and a half ago. You may have remembered them from a blog post last fall when they parked their rig at our house for a couple of nights. We introduced them to our local brewery, Dry Ground, and they introduced us to their Flood Zone. Our timing was fortuitous as water had just receded from Ida the day before.

Not far from Frederick is the Civil War battlefield, Antietam; so off we went for a little history lesson. Antietam was not the bloodiest battle of the war (that would be Gettysburg) but it was the bloodiest one day battle with about 23,000 casualties. Even though the Union lost more men, they were given the victory when Gen. Lee withdrew and crossed back over the Potomac River. The win gave President Lincoln the encouragement he needed to announce the Emancipation Proclamation.

Reading history is interesting; visiting historical sites make it real. The Union lost 359,528 soldiers to the war in battles, diseases, accidents and prison camps.

Rarely is the price paid for freedom for the slaves mentioned.

Of course we couldn’t be so close to Arlington and not stop in.

Greg and Juanita are Boondockers Welcome hosts. It was our fortune that a Boondocker couple was also parked on the farm.  Janine and Matt, formerly from the Frederick area, are now full time RVers. Janine is a hooker (she hooks rugs, okay) and an amazing artist. From her photos she sketches designs on canvas fabric and hooks them to make amazing pieces of art. 

I stole this image from her blog. 

You can see more of her pieces and read about their adventures on her blog,  Joyful Wonder, 

Both Greg and Matt work remotely, while Juanita and Janine drive their rigs. They were doing this long before the COVID lockdowns. 

Another evening sitting around, drinking wine and telling stories. Life is good.

The Eastern Seaboard is calling us and we are so close. Texas can wait.

43 down and still wandering

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Why Stamping Ground?

 

Located about 10 miles NE of Georgetown in Scott County, KY, Stamping Ground is a small town of about 802 (2019 census.) It was named for the herds of buffalo that once roamed the area.

This is what brought us to Stamping Ground.

ABN’s nephew and family live on a small farm with 2 horses, 6 chickens and 2 dogs.

Calamity Creek Farm

So much fun seeing the changes in the children over the past couple of years. Jack is a freshmen in high school and is a percussionist in the high school marching band. Samaya is in 7^th grade and is all about horses. She trains Emmet and Zip for competition.

The annual Horsey Hundred bike ride has been a favorite of ours these past 25 years. We had hoped to ride the familiar roads while we were there. 

(Thanks to Ida, we were not able to ride.)

But we did revisit Georgetown.

Leaving Stamping Ground, we skipped across ABN’s roots in Eastern Kentucky,

into

where we did a Harvest Host stay at Lambert’s Vintage Wines in Weston, WV.

Lambert’s Winery is about 10 miles down twisting roads from I-79. It is a popular wedding venue.

Our hosts, Debbie and Jim welcomed us most graciously by building a fire for us to enjoy as we sipped wine.

Later Becky and Mike from South Carolina, enroute to a family reunion in Pennsylvania, joined us. After dinner, Bonnie and Tom pulled up with their Scamp RV,  returning to their home in Lexington, KY after spending time with friends in Long Island, NY. After the winery closed for the day, Jim and Debbie pulled up chairs and we all had a fun evening exchanging stories. This is the best of adventure traveling, making new friends. Note to our neighbors at home, we anticipate more RVs parked in our drive. Note to fellow Harvest Host RVers, we highly recommend Lambert’s Vintage Wines in Weston, West Virginia.

Texas, we are on our way; but we are so close to Maryland, we should first pop over say hello to our friends in Frederick.

 

They are back!

 

With fickle weather during the spring and summer; hard freeze in April, wet and cool May, weeks of hot and dry temperatures in June, cool downs in July and early August, we were beginning to wonder if they were a bit confused. As the expected August hot and humid temperatures arrived, so did the butterflies.

The bees always give me affirmation that my garden practices are ecologically friendly. This year has not been an exception with bees of all sizes swarming the thyme, chives and lavender.

The hummingbird migration has been most entertaining these past few weeks. No photos to show as they don’t stay perched for long. It seems as though the Major Wheeler Honeysuckle and lantana have been their nourishment of choice this season.

The bird feeders have been cleaned and stored; the garden has been pruned, weeded, pre-emergentized (is that a word?) and the Vermi-worms have been put out to pasture (think vermicompost).  

The sewing room

has transitioned back to a dining room,

and the Tipsy Tuesday Summer Finale is history.

The Wanderer is loaded and we are ready to start our trek to College Station for Captain’s 50^th high school class reunion.

First stop, Stamping Ground, Kentucky.