Gettysburg, PA

We chose Gettysburg, PA to visit because of its historical significance and to attend the FROG  (Forest River Owners Group) Rally.  We arrived at Gettysburg Campground, on June 16, a week before the rally began.  It's a very nice campground with large, mostly shady sites and plenty of activities--swimming, shuffleboard, horseshoes, low rider bikes for rent and more!

Office

Love the plants at the office!

We're across the street from the playground

Low riders available for rent

Nice shady site

We spent a couple of afternoons walking around Gettysburg.  The historic downtown district has many shops and restaurants.  Some buildings have plaques on them to show that they existed in Gettysburg at the time of the battle.

Historic Downtown:

Historic Houses:

Across from Gettysburg College is the house where President Eisenhower lived with his wife and baby son when he was a captain and commander of Camp Colt.

Eisenhower Home

Holes are from minie balls fired during the battle

Historic Homes on or Near Gettysburg Battlefield:

Gettysburg College is a small, private liberal arts college in town.  It's a beautiful campus with historic buildings used for administration and classrooms.  Tuition and room/board is $63,000/year!

Gettysburg College:

The current administration building (below) was used as a hospital during the battle of Gettysburg

The FROG rally was from June 23-25 and was well attended with about 40 rigs.  There was a bus tour of the battlefield, pot luck meals, and a catered dinner.  We met many friendly people.  A special shoutout to Darryl and Angela, Hank and Gayle, Trish and Tom, Roy and Glenda, Peggy and Jim, and Judy and Bill.  We enjoyed getting to know you and sharing travel stories.  Hope to run into you again sometime.

In my next post I'll have pictures from the Gettysburg Battlefield...

Fishing in Maryland

Rambling Pines RV Park has a small fishing lake for catch and release.  Stephen and John tried their hand at fishing and Stephen caught one!

A couple of weeks later John and Stephen went fishing on the Chesapeake Bay with Galloway Fishing Charters.  They went on a small fishing boat because it was just the 2 of them with Captain Bob.  They left the dock at sunrise and fished until early afternoon.  They caught their limit of 5 Rockfish (Stripers) and Captain Bob filleted them.  We had them for dinner that night and they were yummy!

Sunrise on the Chesapeake Bay

Captain Bob's Big Party Boat

Smaller Fishing Boat

Nice Rockfish!

On June 16 we left Maryland for Gettysburg, PA.  In spite of the rainy, then hot, weather and once we started feeling better, we enjoyed our stay and look forward to returning in November!

Barn Quilt Trail and Baugher's Orchards and Farm Market

The Barn Quilt Trail is a driving tour through scenic Carroll County, MD.  There are 22 barns scattered throughout the county that have 8' x 8' quilt blocks mounted on barns and some county buildings. It is a tribute to one of America's oldest and most beloved art forms (quilting) and it also honors Carroll County's agricultural heritage and the farm families who continue this tradition today.  We didn't drive by all the quilt blocks, but here are a few we did see along with their names.

Birds in Flight

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Sunflower on Star

Crazy Quilt

Shriver Millstones

County Fair

After driving around the county, we were ready to go to Baugher's Orchards and Farm Market.  They have over 600 acres of fruits, vegetables and  a petting zoo.  Hop on a tractor-pulled wagon to go out to the orchards and fields to pick in season fruit.

We had just bought strawberries at another farm market a couple of days earlier so we didn't go out to their fields.  Instead we went down the road to their restaurant and farm market that had a lot of vegetables, fruit, and flowers.  We bought 2 really large vine ripened tomatoes that I used to make a tomato pie.  It was delicious.  There's nothing like fresh picked fruit and vegetables!

Frederick, MD

Frederick is a small town of about 65,000 in the Cotoctin mountains with history dating back to before the American Revolution.  Carroll Creek runs through the city and was a flooding problem until the late 1970s when city began a flood control project.  Today there is a 40-ft channel waterway with brick sidewalks, water features, landscaping and fountains.  You can walk along the creek to the historic downtown shopping district where you will find many stores, art galleries, and restaurants.  We spent 2 hours following the walking tour guide so we could see other areas of Frederick besides the shopping district.  Here are some Frederick memories.

Lovely architecture--

The Carillon in Baker Park is the largest musical instrument in Maryland and one of only about 140 of its kind in the US.  It weighs about 6,000 lbs and cost nearly $350,000 to renovate about six years ago.  It has 49 bells atop a 70-ft granite tower.  John Widmann has been the carillonneur since 1992 and plays a 30-min recital every Sunday at noon.

Lobby of the old movie theater--

Glitzy!

The downtown shopping district--

Carroll Creek waterway--

After a morning of walking, it was time for lunch at Pistarro's.

Mmmm!

Before leaving Frederick we stopped by McCutcheon's which is near the new waterway.  They have been selling apple products (jams, jellies, butters, applesauce) since 1938.  They sell other fruit products now along with salsas and baking kits.

We look forward to visiting Frederick again in November on our way back down south.

Spending Time in the Baltimore Area

It rained most of the first week we were in the Baltimore area.  Fortunately the rain stopped and we were able to participate in the March of Dimes March for Babies on May 7. It was a cool sometimes drizzly morning but it was fun walking 4 miles around the Inner Harbor.  We walked with Stephen, Andrea, Holden, Laurie (Andrea's mother) and Alisha (Andrea's friend).

Right before Mother's Day the weather was again nice enough for us to venture outdoors.  We decided to ride our bikes at Centennial Park in Ellicott City, a Baltimore suburb.  It's a scenic park with many paved trails to walk or bike on.  There is also a lake for fishing and small boats are allowed on the lake.

Found a shady spot to rest and eat lunch

Unfortunately, all the rain put a lot of allergens in the air and while we were riding our bikes I had a bad reaction.  A couple of days later I wound up going to an urgent care clinic and was diagnosed with an upper respiratory infection, then a few days after that I was diagnosed with a sinus infection. Just as I was starting to feel better John developed a kidney stone.  It took 2 weeks to get scheduled for a procedure to bust it up.  So that was the end of our bike riding because after that neither one of us felt like working up a sweat and after the rains stopped the heat came!  Fortunately we are again feeling well.


Stephen and Andrea hosted a crab dinner.  The steamed, seasoned crabs came in a large cardboard box and we dumped them out onto the table and started cracking.  They were delicious! 

Also joining in the fun were Rob and Jen

In my next post we explore the Woodbine, MD area.