Travelrific® Travel Journal
Picture postcards in prose.™ Check out the blogroll on the front page for official merchandise and other resources!Archive for maryland
Christmas Fun in Baltimore
By Linda Tancs
A multicultural extravaganza of treats awaits you at the Christmas Village in Baltimore, Maryland at the Inner Harbor. Christmas Village is a collection of over 60 booths filled with seasonal goods, much like those found in traditional German Christmas markets. You’ll find German, Russian, Scandinavian and Egyptian ornaments, along with German comfort food classics like bratwurst with sauerkraut, potato salad, and, of course, spiced mulled wine. Admission is free indoors and outdoors on weekdays; a nominal fee applies to the festival tent on weekends. The event runs through 24 December.
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One Hundred Objects in 100 Days
By Linda Tancs
Maryland’s Baltimore Museum of Art is celebrating its 100th anniversary with 100 objects in 100 days. That’s an initiative among the curators, conservators, and registrars who will be highlighting various elements of the museum’s collection and sharing insights. Other events planned for the centennial include a splashy gala, an opening of the time capsule placed in the East Wing in 1982 and a grand re-opening of the American Wing. The newly renovated wing contains works of such stellar artists as Georgia O’Keeffe, Jackson Pollock and Louis Comfort Tiffany.
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A Star-Spangled Spectacular
By Linda Tancs
Festivities are reaching a fever pitch this weekend in Baltimore, Maryland, as the city celebrates the 200th anniversary of the national anthem with a Star-Spangled Spectacular. Lawyer Francis Scott Key wrote the anthem as he watched the Battle of Baltimore from the harbor during the War of 1812, so what better place to throw a party! Highlights include the arrival of tall ships, Navy ships, Navy gray hulls and the Blue Angels and the biggest fireworks display ever on the Chesapeake. The anthem has four stanzas although only the first one is commonly sung. Here it is in its entirety:
Oh, say can you see by the dawn’s early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight,
O’er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe’s haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o’er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning’s first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:
‘Tis the star-spangled banner! Oh long may it wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion,
A home and a country should leave us no more!
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps’ pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war’s desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav’n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: “In God is our trust.”
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
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On an Even Keel in Annapolis
By Linda Tancs
Annapolis, Maryland is heralded as the Sailing Capital of the World. Home to the United States Naval Academy, this seafaring city hosts the oldest and largest in-water sailboat show in the country. If you’d like to be captain of your own ship but lack the skills, then the city’s sailing school just might be the place for you. Boasting a blend of theory and hands-on practice known as the Annapolis Way, the school offers students an array of beginning to advanced classes. Novice skippers will learn about boat nomenclature, steering, sail trimming, putting on and taking off of sails, finding wind direction, tacking and jibing maneuvers, points of sail, right of way rules and basic chart reading. Ship ahoy!
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Tobacco Road
By Linda Tancs
Tobacco was a cash crop in the 17th and 18th centuries, particularly in tobacco-growing regions like Port Tobacco in southern Maryland, the state’s smallest town. Once the site of the Native American village of Potobac, this tiny hamlet’s link to its most powerful export is represented by a weathered tobacco barn, where leaves would hang until they were cured. An icon of America’s tobacco-growing past, the region’s barns are in a sad state of disrepair. Thomas Jefferson and George Washington number among the tobacco-growing elite.
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A Potomac River Valley Retreat
By Linda Tancs
For nearly 185 miles the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal, a National Historical Park, runs adjacent to the mighty Potomac River, winding its way between western Maryland and Georgetown. Used to transport goods and people prior to the advent of the railroad, its lock gates were an adaptation of a design by Leonardo DaVinci dating to the late 1400’s. Today the C&O Canal is a peaceful refuge, offering activities like a mule-drawn canal boat ride from the Great Falls Tavern Visitor Center, private boat tours, hiking and biking opportunities, camping, nature walks and ranger programs.
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A Race to the Chase
By Linda Tancs
Ever wonder where some cities get their unusual monikers? The town of Chevy Chase, Maryland allegedly got its name from a battle between the English and Scottish forces at the Cheviot Hills bordering England and Scotland. The feud was commemorated in the 15th century composition The Ballad of Chevy Chase (a chase is a tract of land used for hunting). You may want to make a race to the Chase to see its namesake rose. The red rambler blooms for only a few weeks around this time in the area.
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On the Water’s Edge
By Linda Tancs
Havre de Grace, Maryland bills itself as unique on the Chesapeake. Just five minutes off I-95 between Baltimore, Maryland and Wilmington, Delaware, the little city by the bay offers a plethora of things to do. Why not take a stroll along the boardwalk, where the Susquehanna River meets the Chesapeake Bay. Or check out the Chesapeake Bay Interpretive Buoy system, a system of buoys placed along portions of the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail, developed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The region is rich in maritime heritage. Visit the lock house museum for the story of the Susquehanna and Tidewater Canal or take in a lecture at the maritime museum. You can even visit a museum dedicated to decoy carving, or take an educational excursion aboard the Skipjack Martha Lewis, one of the last remaining working dredge boats comprising the Chesapeake Bay oyster fleet.
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A Haven for Wild Horses
By Linda Tancs
For hundreds of years wild horses have lived on the shores of Maryland’s Assateague Island, their native habitat preserved through miles of fencing to protect them against contact with contemporary means of transportation. You can use those means, though, to meander peacefully among the sanctuary and observe them as nature intended, along with eagles, osprey, falcons, dolphins, sting rangs and a host of other species living along the coastline. The Pony Express Nature Cruise is available now through 9 October. Get there via Chincoteague, Virginia or Ocean City, Maryland, the gateways to Assateague.
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Baltimore Lights Up
By Linda Tancs
For 60 years, the Hampden neighborhood in Baltimore at 34th Street has lit up in the spirit of the season. This year is no different. Each house on the block flipped the switch the Saturday after Thanksgiving to reveal a spectacle of lights befitting an amusement park. To be sure, this show of solidarity is not unique but nevertheless attracks visitors from around the globe. Clearly, it seems to be a wonderful life on 34th Street. Discover the miracle for yourself.
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