Maryland/Pennsylvania

To me, the entire state of Maryland looks the same from the air.  It is relatively flat, spread out, and boring.  Where we were taking pictures, there are a lot of chicken farms, and if you have ever smelled a chicken farm, you know what I was going through for at least week in Maryland.  On the ground though, there are areas that are beautiful, and don't happen to smell like chicken crap.  On a very windy day, the photographer and I took this opportunity to explore a bit.  We were staying in Cambridge MD, the place where Harriet Tubman grew up, and there is a large wildlife preserve. 

Maryland Blue Crab

We had to take a break, so why not land on the beach?

Cambridge is a nice little place, but not much to it.  We also stayed in nearby Salisbury MD, the home and headquarters of Purdue chicken.  Like I said, a lot of chicken farms.

We moved from MD to Lancaster PA, home of the Amish!  I was really hoping to see a horse-drawn carriage, but I never ran across one.  Lancaster struck me as a nice place to live, based on no evidence at all, but we were only in Lancaster for a few days, then back to Frederick MD.  In Frederick, there is a flight school called Advanced Helicopters, where I had an opportunity to see my first R22 Alpha.  I didn't even know these existed anymore, not only that, it is an instrument trainer!

While I was in Frederick, I was lucky enough to have an opportunity to have Kristina come and visit for Memorial Day weekend.  I was not planning on seeing her until August, so it was a very nice surprise.  I still had to work a lot, but we made the most of it.  She came into Baltimore on Friday night, and I went and picked her up from Frederick at 11 PM.  Saturday night, we explored downtown Frederick, which was surprisingly nice, but also really expensive.  There is not a single restaurant downtown that has plates less than $25.  We found a nice Italian restaurant, and made the best of it with a long night of great conversation.  We also saw an all electric sports car called a Tesla outside of a restaurant called Volt! By the way, this car is over $100,000, there are only 1,000 in existence, and it can do 0-60 in 3.7

Sunday night we went to Washington DC, and got a chance to see a Memorial Day concert at the base of the Capitol Building.  Gary Sinise, Joe Mantegna, the National Symphony Orchestra, Lionel Richie, Brad Paisley, etc. provided a great night in DC.

French food for dinner, and before I knew it, the night was already over.  On Kristina's last day in Frederick, after a long day of work, we had a chance to explore Catoctin Mountain Park and Frederick Municipal Forest. 

While exploring we happened upon this abandoned house that look as though it was built in the Late 1800s and hasn't been liven in for about 50 years.  There were broken out windows, decaying stone walls, and overgrown weeds.  We decided to take a closer look, and as we pulled the car behind the house, we saw the backdoor was wide open.  This house rubbed me the wrong way, it was creepy even in braod daylight, but it really had the feeling some kind of crackhead was living inside and was about to spring out and attack us.  Apparently I was the only one that felt this way, as Kristina walked right up to the backdoor and wanted to go inside.  Take a look for yourself, would you want to go rooting around in there?

Ok, it doesn't look that creepy in the pictures, but trust me on this one.  I decided there was no way I could let my girlfriend out-brave me, so I carefully and silently worked my way inside, peered around a few corners, and promptly got the hell out of there. 

Strangely enough, a few days later, while taking pictures the photographer was having stomach problems so we landed in a field in the middle of nowhere, and happened upon another house is disrepair.  This one looked even older, and was tangled in a wooded area, which would seem even more creepy than the house Kristina and I explored, but no.  This house did not creep me out at all!

Anyway, we continued driving in Catocti, and found a reservoir, which was a perfect place to take jumping pictures!

 And then it was over.  I am really glad Kristina got a chance to come out and visit, I only wish she could have been here longer.  It wasn't cheap, but it was worth it!  Thanks babe!