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Don’t Know Much About Lighthouses
Raise your hand if you’ve ever taken a picture of a lighthouse. Irresistibly picturesque, they almost demand to be photographed. Tall and stately (but not always), sturdy and indestructible (definitely not always), and historic but enduringly essential, they stand out … Continue reading → Read more
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To the Shore, at Last
It was 208 days since we had been away from home on an overnight trip. Nearly 30 weeks since we had returned from Florida at the end of March. So during a stretch of delightfully warm October weather, Sue and … Continue reading → Read more
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The Covered Bridges of Frederick County
Over the river and through the wood, to Grandmother’s house we go; the horse knows the way to carry the sleigh, through the white and drifted snow. When we sang that ditty in grammar school at Thanksgiving time, our imaginary … Continue reading → Read more
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Photo Sleuth
Have you ever looked at an old travel photo of yours and wondered where, exactly, you took it? An especially meaningful image that perfectly captures a moment or mood, that infuses you with memory? This is about such a photo … Continue reading → Read more
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Cycling the Florida Keys via Google Earth
Recently I wrote a post about creating a Google Earth project that followed the route of my 2011 Erie Canal bicycle tour. The presentation flies you across New York State from point to point along the route. At each stop, … Continue reading → Read more
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The Hidden History of Fort Hunt Park
As you enter Fort Hunt Park, a few miles south of Alexandria, Virginia, you will encounter only three clues that it actually once was a fort. 1) The name on the park sign. 2) The concrete remains of a small … Continue reading → Read more
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Cycle the Erie Canal via Google Earth
The Cycle the Erie Canal tour I went on in 2011 was one of the most fun and satisfying bicycle tours I’ve ever done. Over eight days, I biked 400 miles across my home state, from the Niagara River in … Continue reading → Read more
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Picture Perfect: The Salute
Washington, D.C.May 30, 2004 It is the morning after the dedication of the National World War II Memorial. Dad is wearing his Purple Heart. I am wearing a Marine Corps pin honoring Mom. It’s hot and very crowded, not the … Continue reading → Read more
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Picture Perfect: Mount Tam
Mill Valley, CaliforniaApril 1973 The note on the back of the photo reads, “Give this to David! I took it of him on Mt. Tamalpais, overlooking Mill Valley, when he was here on vacation. We could hardly get him down … Continue reading → Read more
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Picture Perfect: Yellowstone
Yellowstone National ParkSeptember 5, 1997 It looks like winter, but it’s not. The “snow” is travertine, limestone leached from the hills by volcanically heated water. The trees are not bare but dead. Little survives here in Mammoth Hot Springs, other … Continue reading → Read more
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Picture Perfect: Waikiki
Honolulu, Hawaii October 10, 2009 The view from my lanai is a study in coral and palm with a splash of turquoise. Pacific waves smooth last night’s footprints from the sand. Three people walk the sidewalk as two cars pass … Continue reading → Read more
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A C&O Canal Gallery
If I ever move away from the Mid-Atlantic region, the C&O Canal National Historical Park is one of the things I’ll miss most. It extends for 184.5 miles along the Potomac River from Georgetown in Washington, D.C., to Cumberland in … Continue reading → Read more
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Picture Perfect: Cape Henlopen
Cape Henlopen, DelawareNovember 4, 2015 I’m relaxing with a glass of wine in late afternoon. Shards of sunlight pierce the pines and slice the sultry air. It reached the low 80s today. Humidity is 96 percent. I’ve taken advantage of … Continue reading → Read more
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A Trail Guide to Rock Creek Park
Rock Creek Park is the city of Washington’s largest park and the nation’s oldest urban national park. It extends from where Rock Creek empties into the Potomac River to the District of Columbia–Maryland boundary, about 9 miles north by car … Continue reading → Read more
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Picture Perfect: Oregon Coast
Netarts, Oregon September 15, 2006 I watch the Pacific ease ashore from a bluff above Netarts Bay. The sky carries no memory of the pounding rain it unleashed earlier, as I sat in the Tillamook Cheese Factory eating marionberry ice … Continue reading → Read more
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The Rail Trail and Towpath at Hancock, Maryland
An ironic effect of the stay-at-home orders in place this spring is that Sue and I have had a harder time getting away from people. Nearby walking and biking paths are much more crowded than in pre-pandemic days. The National … Continue reading → Read more
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Scenes from a Southern Sojourn
We left home on March 9, two days earlier than planned, restless, ready, and eager to hit the road. The coronavirus pandemic would begin to explode within days. We drove away from the Washington, D.C., region just in time. The … Continue reading → Read more
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Gold Mines at Great Falls in Maryland
A while ago in this blog, I wrote a post called Walking the Gold Mine Loop, about the trail system in the woods near the Great Falls of the Potomac on the Maryland side of the river. The loop trail … Continue reading → Read more
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Postcards from the Road
During the period from 1986 to 2005, I did a lot of traveling out West and elsewhere. These were the years when Sue and I took many trips to the western national parks, California, and Oregon, and when I drove … Continue reading → Read more
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Exploring “Deep Time”
In June 2019 the National Museum of Natural History, where I volunteer at the visitor information desk, reopened its Fossil Hall after a floor-to-ceiling renovation. The hall, one of the largest in the museum, had been closed for five years. … Continue reading → Read more
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Back to the Florida Keys for Bubba Fest
When you come across a breathtaking aerial view of the Florida Keys, it almost always shows the Seven Mile Bridge, the longest by far in the Keys. About four times longer than the Golden Gate Bridge, it spans the blended … Continue reading → Read more
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Heritage Museums and Gardens on Cape Cod
Most who visit Cape Cod blow past the town of Sandwich, Massachusetts, on their way to Provincetown or the shore. Their loss. Sandwich Village, just south of scenic Route 6A, looks like an old colonial town, which it is—the oldest, … Continue reading → Read more
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Exciting Changes to Trail and Towpath
At least once a year, Sue and I drive an hour and half west to Hancock, Maryland, to bike the Western Maryland Rail Trail. It’s never crowded, even on a lovely late summer weekend, and is nicely shaded and scenic. On the … Continue reading → Read more
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Rock Creek Park: Loop Hikes and the Western Ridge Trail
[See also this newer post, A Trail Guide to Rock Creek Park.] I haven’t been traveling much lately; housework and yardwork dominated my spring and early summer. Recreationally, my goal for this summer has been to walk many of the … Continue reading → Read more
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A Southern Swamp in Maryland
Standing in this eerie forest on a sultry summer day, you can easily imagine yourself in another time and place, like somewhere along the swampy coast of South Carolina. It’s not hard to envision Francis Marion, the “Swamp Fox” of Revolutionary … Continue reading → Read more
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Big Slackwater on the C&O Canal
The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal was a monumental engineering feat for its day. President John Quincy Adams turned the first shovel-full of dirt for the project on Independence Day in 1828, just a few miles from where I live. The … Continue reading → Read more
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Botanical Gardens in Florida
During our annual spring trip to Florida, Sue and I always seek out new places to visit: Old Florida attractions, state parks and other nature preserves, and, lately, botanical gardens. Over the past few years, we’ve visited or revisited quite … Continue reading → Read more
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Winter Dreams: Coasts and Shores
January, the most useless month. I wish I could sleep through it and wake up when the crocuses are finally nosing up through the grass. Here in Bethesda, the foot of snow that fell just over a week ago is mostly … Continue reading → Read more
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Brookside Gardens’ Model Train Display Recalls the 1960s
Brookside Gardens near Wheaton, Maryland, is one of our favorite local gardens. During the holiday season, it is renowned for its nightly Garden of Lights display. But day or night, there’s another holiday attraction worth visiting here: the Winter Train Display, located in … Continue reading → Read more
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October at the Shore
Taking advantage of a week of favorable weather, Sue and I rendezvoused with New York friends Tad and Lea in mid-October to introduce them to some of our favorite cycling spots along the Delmarva Shore. Over five days, we biked … Continue reading → Read more
Bike Walk Drive
Here There Then
Bike Walk Drive 