July 11, 2021

July 11, 2021

Aimee and I took this extended 6000+ mile driving tour of the East for lots of reasons. We attended a wedding, visited with both sides of our family and ticked off almost two dozen more National Park sites. We are now up to 364; only fifty-nine to go! Besides the dearth of rental cars today, one big reason we drove instead of flying, is to retrieve a set of dishes from my mother, that have been languishing in St Louis storage for several years. They are in surprisingly good shape. My mother cherished them and used them sparingly. We are going to make use of them often.

July 10, 2021

July 10, 2021

We left Amarillo, TX early for the last push home to Tucson. We headed west on I-40 into New Mexico. Interestingly we passed a marker noting the spot where the Goodnight-Loving Trail crossed. Goodnight made his first money after the Civil War rounding up stray cattle in the Texas wilds and then driving them into New Mexico for sale to the US Army. He had to take a wide route south and west before turning north, all to avoid Comanche Indian raiders. Goodnight invented the chuck-wagon to feed his hired cowboys.

In Santa Rosa, NM we left the highway southwest. This alternative route turned out to be slow. We ran into construction. Not the normal road variety. We encountered two large wind turbine fields in expansion. Despite none of the turbines spinning today, the tax breaks are lucrative enough to keep investment dollars flowing.

On the northern edge of the Tularosa Valley we arrived at Valley of Fires Recreation Area. This BLM park contains a forty mile long swath of solidified lava. The newest in the Continental US at a mere 2000 years old. We hiked the mile-long Malpais loop trail down into the valley. This lava flow is a result of the nearby Rio Grande rift zone that is slowly widening trying to split New Mexico in half. The vast lava field has a rugged beauty and is in the process of being reclaimed by vegetation. Mother nature eventually wins out over time. We get that feeling after only leaving our yard unattended for a month.

We drove a half hour south to another BLM park, Three Rivers Petroglyph Site. We hiked along a ridge seeing hundreds of petroglyphs scratched into the rock outcroppings. They are dated to the Mogollon Indians of a thousand years ago. Normally we don’t get excited about this ancient rock art, but we thought this site seemed better than other more famous ones. There were loads of dotted circles, many masks and faces, and various animals. My favorite was a Bighorn Sheep with two arrows protruding.

In a sign that I did well today, Aimee wondered out loud why we hadn’t stopped and seen these two sites earlier.

Richard Branson is taking his first Virgin Galactic suborbital flight tomorrow from Spaceport America on the other side of the Tularosa Valley. We think very briefly about staying. Instead with just a couple brief stops for lunch and pistachios, we made it home in time for a late dinner.

July 9, 2021

July 9, 2021

Aimee and I both miss our RV. Car travelling is much more stressful. The everyday needs of packing/unpacking, looking for bathrooms, restaurants, and hotels takes away from the joy of wandering the country. RVs can’t be beat for exploring the West, but are problematic in the tight urban areas of the East.

Imagine my surprise when I saw Amarillo, TX has an RV Museum. I had to take Aimee. It took some effort to find as it recently moved into a larger unsigned location and shares the space with a Motorsports Hall of Fame. The facility is less a museum and more a collection of vintage travel vehicles. But it has some impressive collectibles. The items include the oldest Airstream from 1935! It also has the very first Itasca motorhome ever built. It used to be in the Winnebago Welcome Center. I wonder how they got it. Surprisingly, little has changed over the years in RVs. Mostly boxy designs have become a little sleeker and orange and lime are no longer the favorite colors.

One item that brought back memories was an old 1973 Popup camper. My family rented a similar one in 1967. We took it to camp on Lake Michigan. I had a blast exploring the sand dunes with my cousins. My parents not so much; we never did it again.

July 8, 2021

July 8, 2021

After dinner, Aimee and I and her sister drove southeast from Amarillo. After thirty minutes the flat Texas Panhandle country abruptly gave way to a deep gash called Palo Duro Canyon. We were not the first amazed by this Grand Canyon of Texas. In the mid 1870’s another southern Illinois boy, Charles Goodnight, thought this the perfect spot to raise cattle. The canyon provided natural fencing (steep walls) and plentiful water. Goodnight went from cattle driver to baron. He is the fictional protagonist of our favorite Western novel, Lonesome Dove.

We are at Palo Duro Canyon State Park to attend a performance of the Texas Outdoor Musical. Pioneer Amphitheater is a great venue for this story of early Panhandle History. In the latter half of the 20th century, after the Comanches were pushed onto reservation and large ranches predominated, land use and range wars was the main issue. This history was woven through multiple love stories. I loved the line 'here you can look further and see less than anywhere'. That surely describes most of the Panhandle. The story plot finished suddenly with everybody happy (and married). The performance ended with patriotic songs and great fireworks. The finale was the best part of this nice show.

July 6-7, 2021

July 6-7, 2021

For exercise we walked downhill from my sister’s house outside St Charles, MO to hike a section of the Katy Trail. This linear State Park is named after the KT part of  the Missouri-Kansas-Texas (MKT) Railroad.

Aimee and I left early on Wednesday to make the long drive back to Amarillo, TX. The persistent Texas wind is harnessed by vast fields of Wind Turbines. I was shocked to see one of the turbines east of town missing its housing. It turns out these tall generators are prime targets of lightning. The resulting fires are almost impossible to extinguish.

July 5, 2021

 

July 5, 2021

We spent the extended holiday weekend eating well. One benefit of taking Aimee and my weekend hosts to Italy a couple years ago is their heightened interest in Italian cuisine. It didn’t take much prodding for them to make me a pesto dish.

We all contributed to the time-consuming endeavor. My brother in law spent months growing the basil and fresh-picking the mature leaves. He also went to the market and bought olive oil, Parmesan, pine nuts, and pasta. Aimee and my sister washed the basil, toasted the pine nuts and mixed the ingredients. I provided the all important pulsing of the food processor mixer to achieve the perfect consistency. And of course the critical taste test.

Our delicious ethnic meal included salad, a Caprese appetizer and crusty bread. We paired it with a bold red Cabernet wine.

July 4, 2021

July 4, 2021

To celebrate the Independence Holiday, we drove with my sister to the St Charles Historic District. This city is the oldest European settlement on the Missouri River. Frontier Park next to the river is filled with people and carnival rides and good music.

We parked at a trail-head for the Katy Trail, the longest rail to trail system. It parallels the Missouri River and spans the state. We walked along the brick-paved Main Street. All the buildings are brick or wood-framed period structures, mostly in a French Colonial style. Surprisingly this historic street goes on for many blocks. City Fathers have done a great job preserving this heritage.

After a half mile of strolling and shopping we reached the First Missouri State Capitol State Historic Site and signed up for a tour. A wonderful docent gave us a great lesson on early Missouri history. Missouri was granted statehood along with Maine as part of the Missouri Compromise. The future Jefferson City was to be the Capitol; but an interim site was needed for five years. St Charles won the contest because it offered free meeting rooms above a general store.

Our guide then gave us a tour of these upper floor legislative rooms and governor's office. William Clark had been the appointed territorial governor but lost the first state election. We also learned that this French city got its name from the Anglicization of the local Catholic Church, San Carlos Borromeo. Interestingly my sister taught at the neighboring school for many years.

The tour continued in the general store on the first floor below. My hunter brother-in-law easily aced the fur identification quiz. Our informative ex-archaeological student guide was a font of information on the pre-industrial origin of arcane terms, like ‘sleep tight’, ‘don't let the bed bugs bite’ or our favorite, the dollar ‘buck’. That one likely came from the nominal exchange rate of one dollar per buckskin.

After the tour we had a delicious lunch on the third floor deck of the Lewis and Clark restaurant. It was followed by ice cream and more shopping.

I am rereading Undaunted Courage about the Lewis and Clark expedition so we walked over to the Boathouse to see a replica of their keel-boat. This riverfront was the spot where Lewis caught up with Clark and the crew and started their exploration of the Louisiana Purchase. Lewis had recently witnessed the official transfer ceremony in St. Louis. We walked to the center of Frontier Park to see their Monument. We like that Lewis’ big Newfoundland (Seaman) is also honored. We used the Katy Trail to return to our car.

July 3, 2021

July 3, 2021

From the Louisville, KY area, we drove west across Indiana and Illinois past the Gateway Arch in St Louis to suburban St Charles, MO and the the home of my sister Jeannie. Aimee and I both need a little vacation from our touring. My brother-in-law greets me with a nice Schlafly Milk Stout and BBQ ribs. We may never leave.

July 2, 2021

July 2, 2021

From Knoxville, TN we drove north across the Appalachian Mountains into Kentucky to visit two newly established Civil War parks. Our first stop is Mill Springs Battlefield National Monument. Just before arriving we cross the Cumberland River which runs through a steep sided canyon. Although Mill Spring claims to be the first big victory for the Union in the West, It hardly rates a mention in most Civil War timelines. Nevertheless Aimee and I both found it interesting, giving us the opportunity to learn a little about the early days of the Civil War, especially as it applied to Kentucky. Interestingly, since it was so early in the War, the adjacent National Cemetery is one of the oldest and helped begin the system of interning soldiers.

At the onset of the Civil War, Kentucky remained neutral. The Confederates moved troops in anyway and the Union quickly countered. A rebel force crossed the Cumberland and attacked the Union force here in January 1862. The Confederates lost the battle essentially because they were mostly still using obsolescent flintlock rifles that failed to fire in the damp conditions. Most Union soldiers had the more modern percussion cap rifles that fire reliably in any weather. Forced to retreat, they escaped in the dark, by ferry, back across the Cumberland, but not before abandoning all their arms, cannon, and supplies.

We hiked around the main battlefield site. The grass was dewy just like it probably was during the battle. To make matters worse for the rebels, their general was killed during the opening stages of the battle.

We drove north an hour toward Camp Nelson National Monument. Traffic came to a dead halt for a half hour, a mile short of the park, and just as we were crossing the bridge over the Kentucky River. It is steep sided just like the Cumberland. We learned that is why Camp Nelson is here.

Camp Nelson was a supply depot for the army pushing into Tennessee and Georgia. Because of the criticality of the supplies, this site was chosen because the river cliffs provided a natural defense against a Southern assault.

This site was proclaimed a National Monument in 2018 for its black heritage. During the War, Camp Nelson became one of the main recruiting sites for colored troops, most of whom were slaves fleeing the South. At war's end the North had more colored soldiers than the South had total troops. I found it interesting that a new Federal holiday of Juneteenth was enacted to mark the end of slavery. But it wasn't. Slavery continued in Kentucky until ratification of the 13th amendment six months later in Dec 1865.

After watching the park film and perusing the museum, we hiked around the Depot Trail reading the many storyboards describing what this camp produced and stored. In some ways this park is the Civil War equivalent of the WWII Rosie the Riveter Park. The North won the war partly because it could out-produce the agricultural slavery-hampered South. Successful armies need gobs of supplies. Even Napoleon commented that ‘the army marches on its stomach’. Camp Nelson was the epitome of industry. Today the terrain is mostly rolling Bluegrass surrounded by scenic farms.

From Camp Nelson we drove north to Lexington, then West to Louisville, staying on the Indiana side next to Clarksville. One might think these two towns are named after Lewis and Clark. Clarksville was actually founded by William's brother George Rogers Clark at the site of the Falls of the Ohio. He named the opposite side in 1780 after the French King Louis XVI who was a major ally during the Revolutionary War.

We had a nice dinner outdoors in downtown New Albany, IN. Since we spent the day in Kentucky passing by many distilleries, I ordered a Bourbon cocktail with our meal. 

July 1, 2021

July 1, 2021

From Woodstock, VA we continued southwest one hour through the Shenandoah Valley to Staunton, VA, home of the Statler Brothers. It is also the birthplace and presidential library of Woodrow Wilson. The museum on his life was rather small and disjointed with large gaps. The best part was his presidential car in the attached garage. The son of a Presbyterian minister, it mentions he attended several colleges (did he graduate?), and then suddenly he is president of Princeton.  Wilson is elected governor of New Jersey in 1910, and then runs for President in 1912. The Republican vote is split between Taft and Teddy Roosevelt letting Wilson win with only 42% of the vote.

Wilson runs for a second term on the basis of peace and proceeds to get us into WW1 only a couple months later. I have to chuckle when one of the storyboards about civil rights has been papered over because this section has been reinterpreted. It now acknowledges Wilson was a southern racist who expanded segregation in the government. There is nothing on the stroke and incapacity Wilson had in the final year of his presidency. While the museum is disappointing, in all fairness it would also have had to be double or triple the size to be more comprehensive. There would have to be a lot more interest in this controversial president to justify that investment.

Since we have seen so many old houses in the last two weeks, we chose to forego the house tour. Plus Wilson only lived the first two years of his life in the Manse (a Presbyterian minister's home). From Staunton, we continued southwest spending the night outside Knoxville, TN.

June 30, 2021

June 30, 2021

From Fort Belvoir, VA we drove into DC and stopped at two sites. Mary McLeod Bethune Council House National Historic Site and Carter G. Woodson Home National Historic Site. Both are urban homes off Logan Circle. This area is full of old Victorian mansions built when DC expanded after the Civil War. In the 1940’s, it became a neighborhood for prominent blacks. In recent years, with continued DC expansion, the area is undergoing gentrification and these grand homes are being renovated.  Both Bethune and Woodson were heavily involved in the Negro history movement. Woodson was the founder of Black History Month.

After these brief stops, we drove to the Peirce Mill Visitor Center of Rock Creek Park. This urban park straddles the little stream that flows through the heart of DC into the Potomac at Georgetown. This part of the park was owned by the Peirce family that, like Washington, operated a mill and distillery. The Visitor Center is closed so we decide to do a hike along Rock Creek and then uphill to the park office in the Peirce-Klingle Mansion. It is surprising to have such a backwoods experience in the heart of the city.

Back in the car we drove to the Fort Totten Metro station, parked and took the subway to the National Mall. On the south side of the Air and Space Museum, a section of Maryland Ave has been replaced with the Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial. This Frank Gehry designed space opened last fall. Gehry has some famous designs (like Dancing House in Prague) but this is not one of them. It consists of three widely separated statues from three times in his life. Behind it is some kind of large screen supported by huge cylinders that is supposed to resemble the D-Day Normandy cliffs of Pointe du Hoc. It is barely visible and unrecognizable. We met a very nice young ranger who gave us the rundown on the memorial. This is his first permanent posting, just having come from Lincoln’s home in Springfield, IL

We have a few hours so we walked over to the Capitol but were shocked to see it still off-limits and entirely surrounded by fencing. George Washington would be horrified. America is a government of the people, by the people, for the people. Only third world governments make laws behind razor-wire. We went to the nearby Supreme court and Library of Congress. Both were also closed to visitors. We punted, had a delicious BLT lunch and took the Metro back to our car.

From Fort Totten, we drove to the nearby President Lincoln and Soldiers’ Home National Monument. It is inside the secure Armed Forces Retirement Home. We are very early for our tour of Lincoln’s Cottage, but that doesn’t seem to be a problem. We spend some time in the small museum and then walk over and get a tour inside the Cottage. Lincoln spent most summers here because it is cooler than the swampland that was DC. With the hundred thousand soldiers camped in DC, the Potomac became a cesspool of typhus. One of Lincoln’s son died as a result. Lincoln would commute daily between here and the White House on horseback, usually alone.

After we finished our tour, I looked at Aimee and said we are turning for home. She got a big grin on her face. We left DC in almost continuous highway construction. There can’t be any more workers available for additional infrastructure spending. After two hours we made it to the beautiful Shenandoah Valley. We spent the night in Woodstock, VA. During our Italian dinner, we had some excitement with another patron needing 911 EMT help.

June 29, 2021

June 29, 2021

From Fredericksburg, VA we drove a half hour north in DC rush-hour traffic. Our first stop was Prince William Forest Park. This is another of FDR’s Depression-era Civilian Conservation Corps parks that became a national park. I am guessing because it abuts the FBI and Marine Corps Quantico facilities. Contrary to the website, we found the Visitor Center closed. Aimee and I decided to do the Crossing Trail. This trail intersects with the historic Telegraph Road. This was the main north-south road. George Washington marched his army on it on the way to Yorktown. We missed the cutoff and ended up doing a longer hike than we planned. Even though it is still early we are sweating when we finish.

Just down the road is the National Museum of the Marine Corps. We decided to pop in to enjoy the air-conditioning. Instead we find a fantastic museum and end up staying two hours. I had to breeze through the majority of it. It covers the Marine experience and every war/action they participated in. Each is done well with artifacts and dioramas. Part of the Korean War section is refrigerated to reinforce the coldness of the war environment. My favorite part was the early history. Marines started out as the sailors who used guns.

I was astonished to learn how many military actions we have been involved with around the world. For example, the Korean War of 1950 was not our first; we invaded Korea also in 1871! We had lunch on site at the Tun Tavern. It is named after the colonial inn where the first Marines were recruited.

We left Quantico continuing north. Just south of DC, we exited at Mount Vernon, where George Washington had his plantation estate. After entering this large complex we go directly to the main house for our timed guided tour. It is a very large house that is kept in the 1799 time-frame, the year of his death. Like Robert E. Lee’s Arlington House, it is framed in wood that is painted to look like cut stone. We sat on wooden chairs on the back porch for a while to cool down and enjoy the beautiful view of the Potomac and Piscataway Park on the opposite bank.

We then visit the dozens of out buildings devoted to different needs and crafts of a large slave plantation/city. This includes, laundry, weaving, shoemaker, garden, stable, smokehouse, ice-house, greenhouse, slave quarters, overseer’s house, blacksmith, kitchen, and storehouses. It is incredible. No wonder these ‘rich’ plantation owners were always on the verge of bankruptcy. It would have been cheaper and less complicated to have employed hired help. Slavery was not the most economical choice.

After visiting the tomb of George and Martha Washington, we ducked in the air-conditioned museum. It is quite extensive and well-done. It reinforces how lucky our country was to have George as general and first president of our new country. There is even a whole section on George’s teeth.

On the way to our nearby hotel, we stopped at Washington's industrial size Grist Mill and Distillery. We walked around it; unfortunately it is only open for tours on the weekend.

June 28, 2021

June 28, 2021

From our Fredericksburg, VA hotel we drove across town to the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park. This park consists of four separate battlefields. The Visitor Center exhibits are cordoned off (for no good reason) so they have an information booth setup outside. A very knowledgeable and delightful ranger volunteers to give us the rundown of the history and strategy of the Fredericksburg battlefield and an intro to the other three. I would love to pack him in the car and take him with me on our tour.

After continued frustration with the lack of action out of General McClellan, Lincoln finally fired him in late 1862. His replacement, Ambrose Burnside, took action leading the Army of the Potomac south to capture the Confederate capital of Richmond. The Rappahannock River here lay in his way. With much difficulty and delay he got the army across using pontoon bridges. Robert E Lee was waiting behind defensive positions on the heights. Incredibly Burnside sent wave after wave of soldiers against fortified positions to be mowed down. After losing lots of men, Burnside retreated back across the river. We walked along a short section of this walled sunken road where many were lost. We left the rest of the battlefield for later this afternoon.

We drove northwest ten miles to the Chancellorsville Battlefield Visitor Center where we got an overview from a young ranger. Burnside was replaced by Joe Hooker. Hooker had a grand plan of crossing the Rappahannock here and flanking Lee’s army. In Lee’s most daring move of the War, he split his forces in two, sending Stonewall Jackson on a long end run at night around Hooker through dense forest to surprise the right flank. Hooker could have taken advantage of the army split, but timidity and lack of situational awareness prevented that move. In the end Hooker got cold feet and also retreated across the river. Despite the victory, Lee suffered a major loss with the death of his trusted right hand, Stonewall Jackson (by friendly fire). We drove the auto tour of the battlefield.

Our next stop is at the Wilderness Battlefield. There are no Visitor Centers for the last two battlefields so we bought the auto tours. Finally Lincoln appoints the Western Theater hero, US Grant, as Commander of the Army. Grant has different ideas of how to pursue the war. In 1864, he personally leads the army towards Richmond. Lee surprises Grant here in an area called the Wilderness. It held an iron furnace that cleared the old growth open forest leaving a dense thicket of young trees, hedges, and vines. Grant fights Lee to a stalemate.

Instead of retreating back and regrouping for six months, Grant races south that night to the next battlefield of Spotsylvania Courthouse. Lee has to follow quickly to prevent Grant from having an open road to Richmond. At Spotsylvania, Lee hurriedly digs defensive trenches and the next two weeks is some of the most vicious fighting of the entire war. The most famous section is a trench corner called the Bloody Angle.

We do the driving tours of both battlefields. This four battlefield combination is the largest and bloodiest in the world. One hundred thousand Americans were lost here.

Returning to Fredericksburg, we had lunch and stopped in the old historical town center at James Monroe’s old law office. It has been turned into a museum of his life with lots of cool artifact donations from the Monroe family. Monroe came of age at the beginning of the Revolutionary War. He crossed the Delaware River with Washington. After the war, he was a representative, senator, ambassador, and our fifth president. To his credit, he ran unopposed for his second term; something only matched by George Washington. His administration earned the moniker of 'Era of Good Feelings'. Interestingly Monroe died on July 4th, five years to the day after John Adams and Thomas Jefferson.

From downtown Fredericksburg, we went just across the Rappahannock River to Chatham Manor sitting on a bluff above the river. This beautiful plantation estate has a nice large manicured garden. During the Battle of Fredericksburg in late 1862, it served as army headquarters and hospital. From this position Burnside’s artillery pummeled Fredericksburg so his engineers could finish constructing the pontoon bridge. A replica bridge section sits on the grounds.

We spent the night again in Fredericksburg, VA.

June 27, 2021

June 27, 2021

From BWI airport we drove south down the east side of Washington DC passing several federal facilities, like Fort Meade and NSA. There are also a string of National Park-managed green spaces. The first is Greenbelt Park. The entrance is under construction so we don’t go in very far.

Our next stop is Fort Foote Park on the east shore of the Potomac River. This is one of dozens of small forts that were built at the beginning of the Civil War to protect Washington from attack by the Confederates.

A few miles down river is the granddaddy of the protective emplacements, Fort Washington Park. The original fort guarding this water approach to Washington was built in 1824 in response to the British burning the White House in the War of 1812. It is a substantial fortress with dozens of gun emplacements and even a drawbridge entrance. We give ourselves the guided tour of this bluff top guardian.

A little further down the Potomac is Piscataway Park. We missed the main entrance; instead reaching Farmington Landing, a popular fishing spot on the river. Backtracking we made our way to the main entrance and National Colonial Farm. This green space was preserved to  protect the view from George Washington’s Mount Vernon that sits directly across the river. We walked out to the pier to get our glimpse of George’s home.

We also walked around National Colonial Farm which is trying to duplicate what a subsistence farm in that era would have looked like. They also grow many heirloom vegetables to preserve their seed stock.

A half hour drive south takes us to Thomas Stone National Historic Site. This park consists of the family home of Thomas Stone and his descendents, a very prominent Maryland family. The patriarch, Thomas Stone, signed the Declaration of Independence. That was a heavy decision for a wealthy family. If we had lost the war for freedom, (as was likely), all the signers would have been hanged as traitors and their property seized. The Visitor Center is closed so we walked around the main house reading storyboards.

We crossed the Potomac into Virginia on a long high toll bridge, or at least it was supposed to be. We have yet to pay any toll in the normally fee-hungry East Coast. We are guessing they shut down the manual cash collection because of the pandemic. At least there are some small benefits. Fifteen minutes later we arrive at George Washington Birthplace National Monument. This is the ancestral home of the Washington family. George was born here in 1732 but grew up elsewhere before eventually inheriting Mount Vernon.

As we pull in, we are amused to see a one tenth scale Washington Monument greeting us. Unfortunately the birth home was destroyed by fire long ago. A recreated memorial home was built in 1931. We got a guided ranger tour of this house. We learned the Washington men gained wealth and prominence the old fashioned way; they consistently married well above their status. Afterwards we walked out to see the Potomac view enjoyed by his family.

The heat and humidity is wearing on us so we quit early and drive west to Fredericksburg, VA and find a hotel. We have a delicious Thai Curry for dinner.

June 26, 2021

June 26, 2021

As I was loading our luggage into the car, I felt a stab of pain in my back. Ouch! I think all this driving and sitting in beds has caught up to me. I am now walking like an old man. And we are a long way from home!

From the panhandle of Maryland we continued east on I-70. Outside Frederick, we exited and made our way through rolling farmland and then uphill to Catoctin Mountain Park. The NPS website said the Visitor Center was closed but we found it open. You can always count on the government to be disorganized. During the depression, the US bought this marginally productive land and put Civilian Conservation Corps laborers to work making a demonstration park. Similar sites eventually became state parks. FDR liked coming here to relax. His presidential retreat (Camp David) needed a buffer, so this one became a National Park Site instead.

The park is a very popular hiking destination for Easterners. Since I am walking in pain, we chose a short historical hike called the Blue Blazes Whiskey Still trail. It follows a very buggy but scenic stream to the location of an infamous bootleg distillery that revenuers discovered during Prohibition.

Back in the car we popped north across the border to Gettysburg, PA stopping at Eisenhower National Historic Site. After retiring from the military, Ike bought this farm adjacent to the Gettysburg battlefield. During WW1 he commanded a tank training operation here and fell in love with the area. Ike's main house is still closed due to the pandemic. We tried to do the Cellphone Tour advertised on storyboards and the Internet but it didn’t work. Once again our disorganized government decided to unplug the phone because they are implementing a smart phone app instead. We walked around the farm, looked in his garage, and talked to a ranger very knowledgeable about Eisenhower. I liked the putting green this avid golfer built outside the main house.

We returned south and outside Frederick, MD found the Monocacy National Battlefield. The government paid park rangers haven’t opened the Visitor Center yet. Fortunately there were plenty of volunteer rangers available in the parking lot to get us oriented. Near the end of the Civil War, General  Grant deployed into battle most of the troops defending Washington. Robert E. Lee, sensing an opportunity, tried to take advantage. He sent Jubal Early and a small army up the Shenandoah Valley, across the Potomac to try and capture DC. Some hastily gathered troops met the advancing Confederate Army here. They lost the battle but delayed Jubal Early long enough to strengthen DC defenses and save the city. Losing Washington would have been a disaster for Lincoln’s reelection effort.

We spent a couple hours doing the driving tour of the battlefield. The union troops initially delayed the Confederate advance by blocking the two bridges across the Monocacy River. After that the battle went back and forth between two nice farm houses. The unlucky residents hid in the cellars while both armies shelled the buildings above.

We still have a few hours left, so we drove east to Baltimore to visit Hampton National Historic Site. Hampton is the site of a vast antebellum plantation. At one time this estate had an astounding 25,000 acres. The owner got rich running an iron works and built a manor house and gardens that would rival some European royal residences. We walked around the main house and then viewed the ornamental gardens. The family was obviously rich as we saw an orangery and an ice house, two very expensive rural luxuries.

We then drove downhill to view the servants and slave quarters. I am astonished to see such a large slave plantation in the North. I always thought that was a southern phenomenon. We forget that Maryland was a slave state. It was only by force that Lincoln kept Maryland in the Union. Slavery kept the South from developing economically. Free people work harder, more productively and with ingenuity. If only Democrats would learn this lesson.

We finished the day driving to the south side of Baltimore and spending the night near the BWI airport. We find a nearby restaurant that serves a great crabcake dinner. It was delicious and the size of a softball!