Visiting with relatives in Maryland

Several different things to do this trip. Last but not least we visited with my aunt and uncle in rural Maryland. They have a lovely old house on the historic register that I have heard about for decades. It was good to see them and eat Maryland blue crab cakes!

They took us down to the Calvert Maritme Museum and we went inside the Drum Point Light. The museum was a suprise. The local Calvert cliffs are a renouned area for fossils and the interpretation and displays were very well done. The weather is better and we were able to visit Sandy Point Shoal Lighthouse. Fun time.

Washington DC and Rebuilding Together Conference

What a great city. We spent Wednesday at the Smithsonian visiting the Native American building and just part of the natural history building. It rained all day and every day since, but we are not outside much with the metro just a block away from our hotel in Alexandria.

The Rebuilding Together conference was Thursday-Saturday and it has been invaluable. So many sessions and we wanted to go to all of them. Between the two of us, we did cover many. I concentrated on board, compliance and administration matters while Don took on practical and building related classes. If we can implement just a fraction of what we learned we will have a stronger affiliate.

The wilds of Virginia and Maryland

We left the Baltimore area for Chancelorsville Virginia. How remote can Virginia be? Well, actually, pretty remote. Lots of horse farms and lovely 2 lane rural roads. Lots of deer on the road to. I thought is was bad on the peninsula. From the evidence we saw, I wouldn't want to drive far at night here. No internet or cell service where we are staying, but it is a great lodge with two bedrooms, kitchen and a fireplace on a lake. Nice drive down visiting two lighthouses.

The next day we drove to the bay and visited Piney Point light and museum; and Lookout Point which was open for the last weekend of the season. We were able to see Point No Point in the distance from here.

Then it was on to Drum Point and Cove point. The gates were closed at Cove Pt, but they really should clean the keypad because Don could tell which buttons were used and scared me half to death when the gate started to open. I was too much of a scardy cat/anal to enter the grounds. Lovely drive through the Maryland and Virginia countrysides.

Monticello was the next destination. This plantation was on the top of a large hill and was very impractical for farming. There were terraced fields, but it was not suprizing that Jefferson died in debt if he was trying to farm a mountain side and build and then spend years extensively remodeling his home. We learned Jefferson was not the inventor we had thought, but he was an avid user of technology. The weather has been grand so far. Today it was 82.

We are staying in the middle of Civil War battlegrounds. On Monday we visited some of the sites. Although abolition of slavery was a just cause, and there was interesting history, the glorification of war and battle strategy was a bit much for us.

All day Tuesday was spent at the Air and Space Museum at Dulles Airport. Wonderful exhibit! We had a tour of the WWII section by a docent that flew in WWII. He must have been 90, and walked like a snail, but had great information and made all the planes in that section (German, Japanese and US) come alive.

We will be staying in Alexandria until Sunday. Great room with full kitchen, living, dining and bedroom. I feel like a queen here and we are a block from the metro stop.

Lighthouse Heaven

We flew into Baltimore yesterday on a very interesting flight. About 1/2 hr into the flight, a man collapsed in the aisle next to Don. The young man at the window seat next to me jumps up and wants to get out - in a hurry! We are quickly unhooking headsets, belts, books, drinks, etc. but the steward won't get out of the way so Don can get out. Finally, the steward moves when he realizes the passenger next to me is a doctor. All is well, the man was seriously dehydrated and passed out from low blood pressure. The doc had him drink 1/2 gallon of sugar water and apple juice. After 45 minutes, Don moved to the man's seat and the doc and the man moved next to me. He was able to walk off the plane. Needless to say, we didn't sleep much on that flight. But, if I ever need an allergist/internist from Vancouver, I know who I'll check out!

Today we visited downtown Baltimore, took walks in the countryside visiting six lighthouses and one light ship; and saw the last of lovely fall colors.

The Baltimore Aquarium has a wonderful pedestrian dock and waterfront area with numerous ships on display as well as the Chesapeake Lightship and Seven Foot Knoll Lighthouse.

Lazaretto Point is now a cement manufacturing plant that is considered a non-public and secure facility. We thought the road was public, but no. We were able to snap a couple of quick photos before security escorted us off the premises.

We walked about a mile out to Turkey Point light through meadows, forest and along cliffs overlooking the bay.

It was almost sunset when we got to North Point State Park and walked out to see the CraigHill Range lights. The rear range light was very unusual with a square stone pillar, skeleton legs and a lovely lantern room. Check out the Bald Eagle on the rock below the tower. The front range is a great spark plug with and outhouse hanging over the rail. Cute but not environmentally sound.