Maryland and Washington DC

Maryland….. what a nice name… in Spanish you’d say “Tierra de Maria” and there’s actually a couple of reasons behind this name: one comes from the royalty and another one from a religious significance. Maryland was named in honor of the Queen Henrietta Maria of France, the wife of King Charles I of England. In 1632, the King granted a colonial charter to George Calvert, the 1st Lord Baltimore, who proposed the name Terra Mariae (Latin for “Mary’s Land”) to flatter the Queen and secure royal favor for his Catholic safe haven. Because Lord Baltimore envisioned the colony as a safe, tolerant haven for English Catholics, the name inherently served as a dual tribute to the Virgin Mary

Since our intentions were to visit both Annapolis ( state’s capital) and Washington, the federal capital of the United States, sandwiched between Maryland and Virginia, we chose a campground located right in between these two cities in Lothian, MD…very convenient!.

We started off by riding an old train that goes from Cumberland to Frostburg, a 32 mile round trip made by a diesel locomotive that powers an electric generator.

Isn’t he the spitting image of Polar Express!!!

There’s a bike trail right next to the tracks. It was a Sunday and quite a few people were enjoying the nice weather

It is an attraction to see the crew changing direction of the locomotive for the return

Time to stay on the move and visit Annapolis, the capital of Maryland. A lot of history behind in times of British presence and the actual independence.

To our surprise we found an sculpture of nothing less and nothing more that Kunta Kinte!! Those of us who had the fortune to watch the series “Roots” know why this is so significant

The commemoration is located right by City Dock, a lively area of the old town known to be ( sadly) as the port where many slaves would disembark from Africa and be sold to whoever had the practice of human trading. Now, it is an area well visited by all generations with good restaurants, day and night

We were right by the Chesapeake Bay and we thought… hmmm… what if we hire a tour-boat? And that’s when we were lucky to come at 5 PM and pay for the tour and we were the only passenegers!! We had a good chat with Captain David. Quite a few pretty boats and homes too!!!

For years this boat was my favorite ( Searay 400 Sedan Bridge). I guess it still is!!

Then I took the wife for a good meal

And it is right here in this restaurant that the waitress said…. are you going to watch the Blue Angels show tomorrow??? What??? Yes! there’s the graduation of the cadets of the US Naval Academy! You need to be here at 2:00 PM… the rest is history

Finally, before heading to Washington DC we went ahead and planted tree number 45

Washington DC

Going to Washington means that we are going to visit some museums, the iconic monuments and of course, get a glimpse of The White House

This is the Air and Space Museum where all you see is original, no models

This is a Piper Cub J-3; I have the replica which I fly on weekends back in Spain!!

This is incredible….. the model that was used to film Star Trek is also here!!

The very famous DC-3… I’ve flown in it a few times

The original Wright Brother’s airplane which we will visit once we make it to North Carolina ( Kitty Hawk)

The Queen of the Skies….. Boeing 747

This is a micro-light which by the way is the only aircraft I’ve flown myself ( with an instructor of course…)

Cessna 180, pretty similar to the Cessna 182 that I also fly on weekends

Finally, this is the X-15, the first hypersonic rocket plane. Revell models used to produce a plastic version of it; one Christmas my mum handed a box to me… what a surprise!! It was an X-15, which became the very first model I put my hands on.

Moving on, we went to visit the mega famous Natural Museum to see… dinosaurs!!

These two are part of the Smithsonian Museums, venues that are sponsored by the federal government and are free to visit ( you can always make a small donation).

Now, monuments and buildings!!

This is the closest you can get to The White House

Washington Monument

The Capitol in the distance

The Reflective Pool, currently under renovation

Abraham Lincoln himself….

And this is how a state and a district reports end. It was a 3 day visit with temperatures ranging from 90 to 95 F ( 32 to 35 celcius) , very unconfortable to walk out on the streets but still you manage!!