Maryland

On Thursday, October 17th, Cody and I drove 16 hours straight from Winter Haven, FL to North East, MD. That's right. We stayed in a small town named "North East". They're real original up there in Maryland. We made this trip for the wedding of one of my best friends from college and figured while we were there we would knock out a couple of states for our Bucket List goal to visit all 50 together. 

After a solid night of sleep in our hotel in North East, we woke up to a beautiful sunny day and made the hour and a half drive back down into Baltimore to explore the Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine.

Fort McHenry was the site where Francis Scott Key penned the words to our National Anthem during the War of 1812 after witnessing the bombardment of Fort McHenry by the British Royal Navy. We really enjoyed our visit. The grounds of Fort McHenry are beautiful and the exhibits are informative and interesting. We got to see parts of the original crossbeam (which wasn't excavated till the late 1950s) that supported the broad stripes and bright stars through the harrowing night of battle. They actually have original cannonballs that were fired on the fort  by the British which was cool to see, and everyone working and volunteering at the fort was so knowledgeable and friendly. 

~gigantic monument of Orpheus dedicated to Francis Scott Key and the soldiers of the fort~

~sneaking a smooch behind the armory~

After we worked up a hearty appetite hiking all over Fort McHenry, we went down the street to L.P. Steamers for Maryland crab cakes and crab chowder before making the hour and a half drive back up to North East to get ready for the wedding.

Friday night was all about celebrating Karsch (which I will continue to call her even though her name has legally changed) and her groom.

10/18/19

Saturday morning we woke up bright and early, got checked our of our hotel, and drove all the way down to Assateague Island to see some wild ponies.

When I was in grade school, Misty of Chincoteague by Marguerite Henry was one of my favorite books and I have always wanted to go to Assateague Island to see the wild ponies. After about an hour of hiking around, I wasn't sure we would see any. But then we stumbled upon a couple...then a couple more...then several all grazing together!

Can you spot the two wild ponies behind us?

They were beautiful and didn't seem to mind our presence at all. I felt like I could go right up to one and pet it, but we were given strict instructions by park rangers and in writing to keep a schoolbus length between us and them so I grudgingly followed orders and let them have their space. I didn't get to see a whole herd of them racing down the beach, but I really enjoyed our day on Assateague Island.

That evening, we stayed in Delaware (the other state we checked off on this trip) so I'll be posting about that next week. Have a Happy Valentines Weekend with whoever you love!

Maryland : done.

Have you visited Assateague Island or Fort McHenry? What is a historical site that we cannot miss in our quest to #SeeAll50?