Tag: Maryland

  • St. Mary’s (and Calvert), Maryland

    County counting becomes increasingly difficult as I continue my glacially slow progress. Now it takes more than five hours to reach the closest unvisited county from my home. Fortunately I found a workaround by shifting my focus to overnight county visits. There are plenty of counties nearby where I haven’t spent even a single night.…

  • Exploring the Mitten, Part 4 (On the Road)

    We took only one substantial day-trip during the week. It followed a loop focused on Sleeping Bear Dunes designed to captured as many counties along the way as possible. Obviously, I wanted to see more than big piles of sand in return for a 270 mile (435 kilometre) drive. I consulted my article map for…

  • Counties in Maryland that I have Visited

    There are 24 Counties in Maryland – “The Free State“ Also be sure to see my United States County Counting Page for the rest of the states. I have visited 24 Counties = 100% of Counties in Maryland Counties visited are colored-in; counties still needing to be visited are blank.  Map created using Mob Rule.…

  • Demolition Derby

    Upperco, Baltimore County, Maryland, USA (photos a composite of races 2004-2007) We tried to make it to the demolition derby at least once a summer back in the day when the kids were young. For those who may be uninitiated to the concept, the main goal is to keep your vehicle running while attempting to…

  • Great Falls Park

    On the Virginia Side of the Potomac River (2008) Sitting along the wide, placid shoreline of the Potomac River in Washington, DC, it’s hard to imagine raging rapids crashing through a narrow gorge just 15 miles upstream. Here stand the mighty Great Falls, rushing from those first foothills of the Appalachian Mountains further west (map).…

  • Fenwick Island Lighthouse & Transpeninsular Line

    Fenwick Island, Delaware, USA (2008) A lighthouse rose above remote Fenwick Island in 1859.  It filled a critical 60-mile gap between Cape Henlopen and Assateague Island (map). The structure housed a third order Fresnel lens with an 83 foot focal plane in its slender white tower. Amazingly the same Fresnel lens operates today. This stands…

  • White’s Ferry

    Potomac River between Montgomery Co., MD and Loudoun Co., VA (September 2007) We arrived at the White’s Ferry landing west of Poolesville Maryland on our journey towards Virginia’s wine country and took our place in queue. A small flat-bottomed barge carried weekend explorers across the river on this sunny Saturday afternoon. The ferryboat “Jubal A.…

  • Finishing West Virginia, Day 1

    We finally began our trip to West Virginia after a two week delay. It made all of the difference. Springtime arrived and the weather approached perfection. My older son — the bird watcher, map aficionado, self-taught student of the Norwegian language — joined me on my inexplicable county counting odyssey. I did capture the remaining…

  • C&O: Carderock to Georgetown

    I ride my bike most weekends and I like to switch-up the route whenever possible. Sometimes I complete a circuit. Other times I’ll go for an out-and-back. When I do that I enjoy playing a little game I call “how far can I get in an hour.” We’re blessed with an abundance of well-maintained, scenic…

  • Simply Boring

    Speaking of boring places, the phenomenon didn’t confine itself exclusively to Oregon. Sure, the largest Boring town existed just outside of Portland. However, because Boring was also a surname, it spread to other locations as one might expect. Residents tended to have the same sense of humor about living in Boring places everywhere. The same…