MD, VA – Nov 2023

It’s all about the kids and grands!  I did absolutely zero sightseeing during my 10-day stay in MD.  Rather, I spent the time visiting with my daughters and grandkids, and visiting with friends.  I even reconnected with a former foster child who lived with us for several months some 20+ years ago.   My stay here went by quickly, but the time with friends and family will live on as memories for well into the future.  Then, as I traveled south through VA, I did manage to check off another national park from my bucket list.  Here are all the details.

Freeland, MD

There are not many choices for RV campgrounds in the metro Baltimore area.  So instead, I parked the RV with Merry Meadows in Freeland, MD – a town right at the MD/PA boarder.  I’ve stayed there many times before over the years, and it has always proven to be a very accommodating place to hang out for a while.

The day after my arrival was to be a birthday celebration at Ashley’s house for my granddaughter Savannah who would be turning 4 years old.  In fact, it was sort of a double celebration as we also  recognized Raelynn’s birthday since we hadn’t fully enjoyed celebrating her 6th birthday which occurred back in Aug.  So between the two of them, it was almost like Christmas with lots of present openings.  There was also a host of fall themed games and activities for the kids and adults to enjoy.  Samantha, with her wild cake making talents, constructed a magnificent Doc McStuffins themed birthday cake to perfectly coincide with Savannah’s favorite character that week.  It was a well planned, organized, and executed event that we all thoroughly enjoyed.  Well done mom Samantha, and aunt/host Ashley for a truly wonderful day.

A few days later, daughter Ashley and grandson Henry came up to spend the day at the campground.  It was a beautiful unseasonably warm and sunny day that allowed us to fully enjoy a host of outdoor fun.  We went on a hike around the campground, spent lots of time at the playground going down the big slide, and otherwise enjoyed the warm weather.  For lunch, we pigged out on an Ashley suggestion and one of our favorites – a charcuterie with various cheeses, meets, olives, grapes, lots of veggies and dips, a variety of crackers, and even some tapenade that Ashely brought along.  It was an absolute feast of flavors, and oh so delicious!  Thanks Ashley and Henry for a wonderful day.

Besides just spending the day together, there was also an ulterior motive for the Ashley and Henry visit.  As I noted earlier, I have been to this campground many times before, spanning well over a decade.  Back in the summer of 2012 while I was camping here, Ashley and grandson AJ came up to spend the day.  AJ had just turned two a couple weeks before the visit, and is now a newly minted teenager.  We had a wonderful day, playing in the playground, hiking through the campground, and even feeding the goldfish in the local pond.  I was taking pictures throughout the day, and happened to capture this specific picture of AJ (at left, top) sitting at the shore of the pond feeding the fish.  It had always been one of my favorite pictures of him, so much so that I had it made into a large canvas painting that sits on the wall in Ashley’s house to this day.  Given that Henry would be near the same age as AJ was during their visit, we decided to try to recreate that same picture with Henry.  Ashley went all out on the recreation by getting the same color shirt and khaki pants, and even went to several stores looking for the same style of shoes.  Fortunately, the pond was still here at the campground, but sadly all the fish are gone.  So we did the best we could to recreate the picture of Henry and I think it turned out great (at left, bottom).  I took many pictures of Henry by the pond, and will be making the best one into a canvas painting to sit on Ashley’s wall next to AJs.  This was a fun recreation.

On the following Saturday, Samantha, her friend Justin, and granddaughter Savannah drove down to the campground to spend the day. It was fortunate that this particular weekend would be Halloween themed here at the campground, which also meant the place would be a full house.  We headed up to the play area for some fun where Savannah enjoyed the bounce house, while Justin showed us his cowboy moves on the mechanical bull.  From there, we enjoyed a left over charcuterie lunch then got ready for the afternoon festivities. Besides the normal kid friendly events, there would be a costume parade followed by camper-to-camper trick or treat.  Savannah wore a horse costume, and enjoyed gathering treats from many of the campers here.   We got a campfire going then grilled up some hotdogs and burgers for dinner.  The evening was topped off with some S’Mores for dessert.  A fun filled day to be sure!

During the rest of the week, I got to connect with friends and former co-workers.  Back in the 80s when I was stationed here with the Air Force, several of us would get together once a month for what we coined “Wine and Dine”.  One of us would host the party and be responsible for the main meal, while the others of us would bring side dishes and the all important wine.  So I recreated this event here at the campground.  I played host and made my world famous lasagna (what else), while Kim, Al, Deb, and Doug (pictured at left, top right) brought sides, dessert, and of course lots of wine.  Al Doug and I were all in the Air Force together, while Deb (who later became Al’s wife) and Kim were civilians also working for the same agency.  It was a great get together so thanks folks for making the drive up to the campground (and apparently getting lost on the way here).  I also reached out to Judi, my former partner in IT crime back in my working days, to arrange a lunch get together.  She thoughtfully reached out to others in the old gang, and Bill, Sheila, and Bruce (at left, bottom) joined Judi and I for a terrific lunch out.  It was great seeing them all again, and particularly enjoyable to collect my $26 from Bill after having won that weeks football pool.  Thanks all for the great visit!  Last, but certainly not least, I enjoyed a nice lunch with former working vendor and friend Pete (at left, center right).  He was my go-to master electrician back when I was managing and running computer data centers, while I provided him with personal computer help desk support when he would mess up his home machine.  He and his team of merry men always took great care of my electrical needs, and we’ve remained good friends since.  Pete is also an avid follower of my blog, which I greatly appreciate.  Great seeing you again Pete – till the next time I’m in town.

My last visit to write about is kinda special.  Back in the mid 90s through 2000, we opened our home to foster kids.  There were probably just over two dozen kids that stayed with us during that time, some just a few weeks, while others stayed upwards of a year or longer.  It’s difficult not to bond with them while they are in your care, but there are those precious special few that you really connect with and who hold a special place in your heart forever.  Hannah was one of those special few.  She was 7 at the time in 1999 and only with us for 3 to 4 months, but she was so sweet and had such a joyous spirit about her, that it was impossible not to love her like your own.  I spent many many years thereafter searching for her in an attempt to reconnect.  As luck would have it, in 2012 I found an article written from her high school days which provided a clue.  From that, I found her on Facebook, and sent her a message with some of her old pictures to see if she was interested in reconnecting.  I never know how or if they want to relive those foster days, or even if she would remember me at all.  I indicated such in my note, and said this would be my only time to reach out, and the decision to reconnect would be totally hers.  Years went by and I never heard back.  I figured she either didn’t remember me, or was not interested in reconnecting.  Then, in 2016 after four years,  she responded indicating that she had just then read my original message I had sent years prior.  Some strange Facebook thing where if you are not friends, messages go to some black hole that you have to purposefully go to in order to see.  Apparently, she finally had gone there and saw my note.  We reconnected, became FB friends, and I took this opportunity being in town to visit with her for the first time in over 20 years.  It was so wonderful to see her again!  And despite the many challenges she has faced in her life, I was thrilled to see that the joyous spirit I had seen in her as a child, remains ever present and strong in her as a young adult.  Thank you Hannah for being back in my life, and I look forward to keeping close to you from here on in.

New Market, VA

This was just to be a short 2-night pit stop as I make my way south back to FL for the winter.  However, I was not far from Shenandoah National Park so I figured I’d take a drive through there to check it off my retirement list.  I’ve actually been to Shenandoah NP many times when I lived in MD.  In fact, I’ve even participated in a scooter rally back then that took us through many miles along the picturesque winding road of Skyline Drive.  I entered the park at Rt 211, and drove 34 miles south on Skyline and exited on Rt 33 in Elkton.  Though the peak of leaf peeping had past, there was enough remaining leaves on the trees to provide a beautiful and colorful backdrop to the exquisite drive.  At almost 200k acres (310 sq miles), Shenandoah NP was established in Dec 1935.  It lies within Virginia’s northern Blue Ridge Mountains, with the 105 miles Skyline Drive that runs the length of the park.  101 miles of the Appalachian Trail are also located within the park, among the over 500 miles of total trails.  Skyline Drive is the first NPS road east of the Mississippi River, and is also listed as a National Historic Landmark and on the National Register of Historic Places.  There are lots of of pull-offs along the drive providing spectacular overlooks.  There is lots of history that went into the formation of this park, including lots of controversy around how some of the land was acquired or otherwise taken from private owners.  Too much to cover here, but a couple of  interesting documentaries on the subject can be found on YouTube HERE and HERE.

Final Thoughts

I’m going to keep this edition of the blog similar to the candy I handed out during trick or treat – bite size.  I’ve got less than two weeks left of travel before landing back to my Florida home base.  And it’s a good thing!  While here in southern VA last night, the temps dropped to the mid 20s, necessitating that I disconnect my water feed to the RV, turning on the heaters for the holding tanks, and opening up all the faucets to prevent pipe freezing and bursting.  Certainly NOT the environment I’m accustomed to nor desirous of in my travels.  Once again tonight it’s supposed to drop into the 20s, so I’m not out of the woods yet.  Tomorrow I head to TN for a few days, then down into GA where I hope I can get back to something more moderate in terms of the weather.  Time will tell.  I’ve got a few friends to catch up with along the way, before pulling into my Saddlebag Lake RV property.  Looking forward to that, and also to returning to a slightly more sedate life where I can recharge and catch up on maintenance of things.  Till next time, safe travels!

I only show a sampling of my adventure pictures here in the blog, and do so mostly in collage format for brevity and ease of reading. If you want to view an album containing individual full fidelity and hi-res images of all my travel pictures related to this specific blog, click the image below. Enjoy!