Sunday, April 13, 2008

Made it to Maryland




Here it is only the second day of our vacation and we had so many good times already. Here's the re-cap from when we left on Friday afternoon. 

We drove from Rochester to Lewisburg, PA, where we had a really bad room in the Days Inn. We met up with one of my college roommates, Deb, who lives about 10 minutes away. We went to the Town Tavern for a drink and to catch-up. Deb has been teaching middle school English since we graduated from college, bless her heart! It was a fun evening-thanks for the drinks, Deb!

After a fair night's sleep on a Murphy Bed in the Days Inn we continued south on Route 15 to Harrisburg, where our first stop of the day was at the Whitaker Center for Science and Arts. We were there to see the IMAX movie, Grand Canyon Adventure. If you ever have a chance to see this film, get your tickets immediately. It is so well done and had a wonderful message about the importance of proper water management. A bonus for us was that the man that was the trip leader is a man that we did a river trip with, down the Colorado River, 25 years ago. The man is a legend on the river and it was great to see him on the big screen. Of the hundreds of river guides in Grand Canyon, what an honor to have our friend, Regan chosen to lead the IMAX trip. We knew he was a gifted guide so many years ago. 

From Harrisburg, we jumped back on Rt. 15 (I love to drive Rt. 15) and continued onto Gettysburg. I think every Boy Scout troop from the mid-Atlantic states was there! But we changed into our biking clothes, grabbed a map and headed out on the 15 mile Auto Loop Tour. We did not stop at too many places because we have been there a few times in the past (Tucker and Corey may have different perceived numbers for how many times we have been there!).


While we were riding, my cell phone rang, and I heard it, and it was Tucker! I was so excited to tell him that we were talking to him from Gettysburg. He had a great San Juan River trip and was now in Durango for a concert. Our bike ride was wonderful, especially since the sun came out as we pedaled out of the Visitor Center Parking lot. In this photo we are leaning against the monument dedicated to Col. O'Rorke, a Rochester native. We now have a bridge over the Genesee River named in his honor.

From Harrisburg we drove to Baltimore, where we met up with our Jenny Lake friends Robin and Joe. The live in a lovely row house, right across from a park, where we went for a walk shortly after our arrival. Sally and Jim, more Jenny Lake friends who also live in Baltimore, joined us for cocktails so we had a mini-Jenny Lake reunion. Robin cooked us a wonderful dinner, which we started to eat on their patio until it started to rain, at which point we picked up plates, silverware, candles and the tablecloth and moved into the dining room. Before retiring for the night, we got to see photos from Robin and Joe's trip to Morrocco to see Hannah, who is there are a Peace Corps worker. This morning we attended their urban evangelical Lutheran church and were made to feel very welcome. Can I get an "Amen"!


We said our thank-yous and goodbyes to Robin and Joe and headed to the Eastern Shore area of Maryland. We are staying in a nice B & B in St. Michaels. We quickly unloaded our stuff from the Beetle and headed out on a bike ride. We rode out Rt. 33 to the end of Tilghman Island, about 16 miles each way. Jim set a good pace on a pancake flat road. The traffic was minimal since we didn't get started until after 3 PM. Tonight we had a lovely dinner at The Bistro, a restaurant about 5 blocks from our B & B. Our meals were delicious (and we were starved after riding almost 32 miles), and we finished the dinner off with tasty wildberry sorbet! Yummy!

So that catches you up on our adventures. We have had some rain, but nothing that has kept us from doing what we wanted. Tomorrow is supposed to be another cloudy day, but after that I think the weather is to clear. 

Hope all is well with you. Blueberry Pancakes are on the menu for breakfast tomorrow at this B &B! That will be good fuel for our bike ride!

2 comments:

Liz said...

A drink at the Towny T, that's spectacular! I've been there a few times!

Unknown said...

IMAX movie, Grand Canyon Adventure. A bonus for us was that the man that was the trip leader is a man that we did a river trip with, down the Colorado River, 25 years ago. The man is a legend on the river and it was great to see him on the big screen. Of the hundreds of river guides in Grand Canyon, what an honor to have our friend, Regan chosen to lead the IMAX trip. We knew he was a gifted guide so many years ago. ............How neat is that!!! I did see this IMAX movie a couple of weeks ago with my ESL students and it was fabulous. I wish I had known at the time that you had a connection, because that would have made it a tiny bit more of a bonus for me, too.