Maryland, My Maryland

October 5, 2015

Dennis on Assateague Island in the '70s

This is the week we had planned to be camping on the Atlantic Ocean. When Cheri and I first talked about where we'd like to go on our six month RV adventure, one of the places we really were looking forward to was the mid-Atlantic Coast. We picked two ocean camping spots - Long Island, NJ and Assateague Island, MD. My sister and I had camped in the sand dunes on Assateague back in the '70s. We awoke one morning and saw wild ponies jumping the waves and playing in the surf. It's one of the vivid memories of my life and I wanted to share that special spot with Cheri.

Beware of Hurricane Joaquin

Joaquin changed all that. We had to quickly change our itinerary and move inland as high winds and drenching rain are not necessarily your best friend when you're living inside an 8 x 34 foot metal and fiberglass box on wheels. My cousin Esther who lives on the Delaware shore near Ocean City and Assateague Island was texting us weather updates and let us know that the rain and wind was relentless and it was not a good time to be on the coast.

The CIA in Hyde Park NY

So, we headed from the coast of Connecticut to the interior. We ended up in the Hudson Valley in the shadow of the Catskill Mountains. We settled into a campground in the woods near Rhinebeck, New York. It's an area Cheri had visited many years ago and was excited to show me. We toured the local communities of Stratsburg, Poughkeepsie and the harbor of Kingston. We stopped and toured the CIA (Culinary Institute of America) in Hyde Park where you see students wearing their chef's uniforms while learning the art of preparing fine meals. While in Hyde Park, we stopped by a local diner near the campus, where the food was truly inspired, and obviously prepared by graduates of the famous school.

Autumn comes to the Pennsylvania hills

After our tour of the area, we loaded up Dolly and headed South through the hills of Pennsylvania and into Maryland. Fall colors are beginning to show in the hills and we were happy to see the bright reds and yellows of the trees adding a color palate to the scenery. Driving through these hills is enriching. The forests are thick and deep. However, the impact that civilization has had on the Earth is evident everywhere you look. Although the power and the beauty of nature is very prevalent - whether it's a massive storm like Joaquin, or the change of the season with the gentile colors of the leaves on the trees. It's ever-present and is always there to remind us that we're just visitors on this crust of a cooling fireball.

Back in Baltimore - my hometown

We drove right into the area where I grew up - Baltimore. It's all so familiar to me. The cool fall air. The friendly people. The sports fanaticism and love for their teams. The lifestyle. The food. However, we're right in the middle of major civilization now, and the night sounds of crickets and tree frogs have been replaced with the distant roar of traffic on highways. I'll be diving into it this week, with visits with my cousins and extended family. It's good to be home!