Marvelous Maryland

We are in the Snow Hill Public Library right now because our B&B does not have internet access. So I have 30 minutes to let you know what we've been up to the past 2 days.

Yesterday, after leaving the Hambleton Inn in St. Michael's, we drove to the Blackwater Wildlife Refuge where we did a 27 mile bike ride around the refuge. We saw a nice variety of birds and I saw one turtle. The most memorable part of this ride was the wind. Now we have not found any hills here in the Eastern Shore of Maryland, but there is wind. And sometimes we are loving the wind as it pushes us down the road and other times we are cursing it as Jim is leading the way into the wind and I am drafting behind him! The sun was out and the traffic was minimal so overall it was a good ride.

We loaded the bikes back on top of the Beetle and drove onto Snow Hill, where there is neither snow, nor a hill! Our B&B is a big old Victorian house with 3 cottages overlooking the Pocomoke River. We are in one of those cottages and it is very nice for us. There is a screened in porch where we can store our bikes and a nice room with a refrig and a microwave. After settling in we drove to Ocean City, MD for a walk on the boardwalk and dinner. Let me say that in mid-April, Ocean City is a ghost town. We walked the boardwalk and most of the shops were closed or closing at 6:oo PM. There were very few walkers and when we decided to find a restaurant, for a while we thought we might starve to death. Nothing is open in this town yet. We finally found an Italian place where we were able to recharge our carbo supply. We both agreed that this was not someplace we would want to be during the peak season! It would be a mob-scene.

This morning our breakfast was delivered to our cottage in a picnic basket and it was most enjoyable. We then headed off on a bike ride to see the area. We came upon an old furnace town that was the site of an old blast furnace that was used in the mid-1800's to convert bog iron ore into iron. The site is a bit like the Genesee Country Museum in that there are many period buildings that re-create what this town looked like in its hay day. There was also a weaver, a gardener, and a spinner, reenacting what life was like in the 1800's. I particularly enjoyed chatting with the spinner as she was spinning.

We continued riding and pretty much had the back roads of Worchester County to ourselves. The sun was out and the temperatures were approaching 60 so it was a perfect day for a ride. 37 miles later we returned to Snow Hill and since we hadn't found a place for lunch we rode to the small market where we bought some lunch stuff which we could eat in our room.

When we finish here at the library we are going to drive to Assateague Island and walk around. maybe we will see the wild horses. Dinner will be in the town of Berlin, Maryland, where the movie "Runaway Bride" was filmed. I'll be looking for Richard Gere!!!

No photos because I am on a library computer. Rest assured that we are enjoying sunny weather in a lovely part of the country.

Hope all is well.