One of the great loves of my life is travel. I not only like to travel, but I like to plan to travel. I like reading about places to visit, browsing the guide books at the book store and poring over the NY Times travel section over the weekend. By the time I got to high school I had my first list of places I wanted to see -- London and St. Paul's; Paris and the Louvre and India and the Taj Mahal. From then on the list kept growing. For every place I visited two more popped up. As time went by the places I longed to see became more exotic. Right now Laos and Bhutan are at the very top. I don't know if I will get to either destination, but I enjoy reading about them.
I've been to Maryland a number of times, but had never had the good fortune to spend time in Frederick County and the area where Marydon and Harold live. What a great treat. Not as exotic as Bhutan, but I had a wonderful touring morning. We saw a number of sites related to the Civil War, which was fascinating. A definite high point was a historical marker about Charles Carroll of Carrollton, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. He also helped form the government of the Maryland, and became US Senator from Maryland. In a fascinating side note -- thank you Wikipedia -- I learned that one of my favorite neighborhoods in Brooklyn, Carroll Gardens, was named for him.
A charming bed and breakfast
Maryland country church
I had a wonderful time during our tourist day. There are few things I enjoy more than seeing historic sites with dear friends who also have a deep interest in history. But I also learned a great lesson. Yes, I still want to visit Bhutan and Laos and Wales and the Lake Country in England. But if I never leave the East Coast there is more than enough to enjoy, to see for the first time and to keep me learning. So please pass me the Maryland guide book. I've got to read about Annapolis.