Update 37: Beyond Washington D. C.

Update 37: Beyond Washington D.C. 

Using Cherry Hill RV as our home base we did explore some areas outside of Washington D.C. proper.

We took a day and drove to Hagerstown in northwest Maryland. It's an old city. One of its claims to fame includes the creation of the first county library in 1901 followed by the creation of a bookmobile. I missed a turn or we may not have even gone through Hagerstown.

South of Hagerstown, next to the town of Sharpsburg, MD, we went to the Antietam Battlefield. This battle took place on Sept. 17, 1862. It started in a cornfield, moved to a sunken road and finally to possession of a bridge. This battles goes down as the bloodiest one day (four hour or so) encounter in the war. 12, 410 Union troops and 10,700 Confederate troops ( total of 23,110 men) were killed or wounded. The battle actually resulted in a draw. We watched the film and toured the battlefield, which is located on and around Harper Ferry's road.

Driving south we headed for Harper's Ferry. The tree lined roads wound through the countryside.

At the Potomac River we turned toward the one street town of Sandy Hook. The bridge across the Potomac enters Virginia before it enters West Virginia. From the bridge I spotted a church in the hills where the water forked. At the time I didn't know the church was in old Harper's Ferry, and the river flowing into the Potomac was the Shenandoah.

Harper's Ferry...another surprise! From the description and photo in the tour book we expected a mountain park with spectacular views. We expected the usual visitor center museum and film with a driving tour and reader boards of information. We arrived at the park around 4:30 pm. Nearly every parking space held a car. We felt lucky to find a spot.

Several men in Confederate or Union uniforms were working their way to their cars. Streams of people, adults and children, showed facial expressions that said this was the end of a long but satisfying day. Obviously a civil war re-enactment occurred at this site, this day.





We entered the garage-size visitor's center. The usual information, film and museums found in visitors centers did not exist here. The park aide told us to board the shuttle for a five minute ride to Harper's Ferry. Driving ourselves was highly discouraged by the park rangers.

Harper's Ferry remains as it was in the 1800's. Some buildings display exhibits or reader boards.

The buildings that go up the hill above Main Street house shops and restaurants. We hiked up the steep hill of shops and then went across the upper street to the church I had spotted from the bridge. Most of the shops were closing for the day so we returned to the shuttle. At a different time, Harper's Ferry could be an exciting day of exploration.

A Catholic church sits high on the hill.

People dressed in costumes and walk around the streets.

High on the hill behind the visitors center the battlefield sits flat and open, a good place for re-enactment. The linear approach to fighting battles in two lines and walking across flat open spaces to the opponent in their two lines seems crazy.

The next day my legs and knees were feeling cranky. Even my fused ankle felt like I had pushed the limits the past couple of days. So we decided to drive to Ocean City, Maryland which is about 134 miles from D.C. The overcast sky began spitting a little rain. Halfway to the coast the rain became heavier and it soon fell so hard and fast that the road nearly disappeared. The rain continued to fall at varying rates for the rest of the drive.

We parked in one of the open spots on the main street to the beach. The rain eased just enough for us to don our raincoats and hoods for a quick trip to the beach. The wide wooden boardwalk stretched out wet and shiny in both directions. A continuous row of buttoned-up shops line the west side of the boardwalk. We could easily visualize the shop sides opened up and bursting with summer wares and the summer crowd.

 At the south end of the boardwalk the metal skeleton of an amusement park rose silently over the end of Main Street.

Between the boardwalk and the water miles of flat white sand, now soft and wet, await the coming of winter, knowing a sea of people will again fill the space next summer. Even on a nasty weather day, the beach invited us to stay and enjoy the view. We dashed back to the car just as gumdrop-sized rain began to beat upon us.

We drove carefully down Main Street through the rivulets of water running from the dunes and across the east side of the street. Cars going too fast sent up hydroplane rooster tails. For miles and miles down Main Street tall hotels and condos create a ridge above the beach. Summer rentals fill the short streets between the main drag and hotel ridge. Restaurant after restaurant stand ready for summer guests along both sides of the wide street. The variety of menus choices surprised us a bit too. Some restaurants remained dark or even had posted signs thanking guests for patronage, and “see you next season”. Between the eateries shopping plazas and strip malls looked for customers. Some of the stores, like the candy store, we recognized from Rehoboth Beach, DE. We counted about ten Sunsations stores that sell a swimsuits, water toys, and souvenirs. They looked like ones we have seen in South Padre Texas.

Mini golf courses dotted the strip about every half mile or so. Each themed course sported pirates, ships, monsters, volcanoes, dinosaurs, or castles.

The eight lanes of Main Street moved well even on this dark, rainy, fall, afternoon. We could only imagine the congestion of summer. The lane next to the sidewalk in both directions states for buses only.



We chuckled at the sign over the road out of town…..Sacramento 2,073 miles.

From Ocean City we headed south along the road closest to the ocean which leads to Assateague Island National Park. This barrier island extends from Ocean City south into Virginia.

Two groups of wild horses called “ponies” call the island home. One herd lives here at the north end. One herd lives at Chincoteague Island to the south. Although we knew that seeing the ponies on this cold, grey, rainy and blustery late afternoon were zero to none, we decided to look anyway. Horse dung covered places along the walkway and the road. We found it interesting that they also use the walkways. Several campgrounds tuck in between the dunes. At the end of the parking lot a sign states that a license and an off road vehicle is required to proceed any further.

We drove down any road we could find. We saw Egrets, Herons and two deer. Then on a whim we drove through Loop A of the campground and there they were! Seven wild ponies huddled beneath a sparse tree halfway between two RVs. The three pintos, two black and two brown ponies stood in the heavy rain. The shaggy ponies possess solid muscular bodies on short strong legs. Derrille and I felt honored to have viewed these magnificent wild creatures on such a yucky day. Feeling elated we headed back to Ocean City for dinner.

Blue crab and soft shelled crab exist on my list of things to try. With that in mind we went in search of a restaurant. Many were closed for the season. The Old Mill parking lot contained several cars, and a sign that advertised an All You Can Eat special of blue crab and corn on the cob for only $25.

Inside the restaurant brown wrapping paper covered each table. A regular plastic garbage can with a yellow plastic liner sat at the end of each table. I’d heard about East Coast seafood restaurants that use the brown paper instead of plates and fingers instead of utensils. We declared this a special night and I went for the blue crab special. My dinner arrived on a serving platter. An ear of corn cooked in its own husk sat with 5 Blue Crabs, a container of melted butter, one plastic knife and a small wooden mallet. The small crabs were not blue after cooking, but rather a dull red covered with some sort of spice blend. One blue crab could easily fit on just the back portion of a Dungeness.

The waitress demonstrated how to use the knife and clean the crab: which wasn’t done ahead of time. Next she applied pressure to the back and it broke in two sections. These sections of white meat would not equal the big claw of the Dungeness. The smaller, flat, legs of the Blue Crab weren’t even worth the time to crack. The 5 Blue Crabs yield about the same amount of meat as 1 medium Dungeness. The taste was OK. The comparison that came to mind was getting that piece of meat from a Prawn or Shrimp tail as compared with eating the whole prawn or shrimp. Dining was an interesting experience. Derrille and I agreed that even though the weather was not tourist-friendly we had a wonderful day!

Next: Virginia