August 11 - 14, 2019: Queen Anne, Maryland
Our next stop in our travels was to Queen Anne, Maryland. We choose Queen Anne because it was in a good central location for us to hop into Washington, D.C. and do some exploring.
To get to Queen Anne, we drove through the Lancaster area of Pennsylvania which is Amish country. What meticulous large farms, a TON of corn, and of course, I absolutely love the buggies. Below are a few pictures of the drive , a variety of buggies to show the differences, and some cool bridges (draw bridge).
In Queen Anne, we stayed at Tuckahoe State Park. What a cool park! It was very wooded and out of 54 sites, there were only 5 campers in the entire park! They also had great shower houses with nice hot water!
The next day we drove to the closest Metro Stop which was in Largo Town Center (roughly 58 miles). We crossed the Chesapeake Bay Bridge which was VERY cool, what a great piece of art!
From there we took the Metro into the National Mall and visited the Smithsonian Castle and the National Museum of American History. It was really hard to decide what to visit because the area has so many great museums and Craig and I have both been to D.C. before. We wanted to visit things we had not done before since we only had two days. We also figured we could stop back through again since we will be traversing the East Coast North to South between August - October.
I will try to arrange for a visit to the US Capitol during the next few months since we'll be in the area.
The Smithsonian Castle which contains the crypt of James Smithsonian who established the Smithsonian Institution. We did not tour the entire building, but had a chance to explore the first floor. Love the architecture and brick work!
The National Museum of American History. Holy cow, we spent about 5 hours in here and still could have explored it for a few more hours. The building is huge and actually had trains, automobile, and even a house inside of it!
Some of our favorite artifacts at the museum were:
- The Star Spangled Banner the picture of the Star Spangled Banner if off the internet. Due to the significance of the flag, it was in a very dark area with low lighting and pictures were forbidden. This is the original flag that was raised over Fort McHenry on the morning of September 14, 1814, to signal American victory over the British in the Battle of Baltimore; the sight inspired Francis Scott Key to write “The Star-Spangled Banner”
Then you have items like the ones below that we loved also!
Notice where the dog Bud was acquired...Idaho! And then notice the Moon Motor Car Company ornament. They even had a room called The Value of Money (for Craig) which was a vault featuring more than 400 objects (some of the rarest in the world). It included a storied 1933 Double Eagle, a personal check signed by President James Madison in 1813, a 1934 $100,000 dollar note, and a depression-era one-dollar clam shell.
After reading this, I don't think I will ever buy anything silk again.
After visiting the National Museum of American History we stopped on our way back to the campground at the Red Hot & Blue BBQ and Old Mill Creamery in Annapolis, Maryland. What a cool place with 'drums' as their light fixtures and great ice cream! Also, notice the size of the drink...now THAT is what I call a drink (even if it was water and an Arnold Palmer)!
The next day we headed back into DC via the Metro and visited the National Air and Space Museum. And...again...we spent about 4-5 hours wandering around in here. The only bummer thing was that the museum was undergoing a major renovation. A lot of the exhibit rooms were closed and this also caused the bazillon people to be concentrated in smaller areas. The crowds were ridiculous and took some of the fun out of it because you could not get close enough to see or even read the signs. If you plan to visit here, check and make sure the renovations are completed first. Aside from the crowds, it was a GREAT museum!
After visiting the National Air and Space Museum, we stopped for dinner in Annapolis again. Since Annapolis is the capital of Maryland, we wanted to see the downtown area and walk around, so...that is what we did. We ate dinner at Dry 85 and I had the best hamburger I have ever had! And...of course, across the street was Annapolis Ice Cream Company.
Annapolis is a really cool town. There is a ton of colonial architecture, it is home to the The United States Naval Academy, and is known as the “Sailing Capital of the World” right on the Chesapeake Bay.
We had an awesome time in this area. If we did not have a commitment of August 14 at Assateague Island National Seashore, we would have stayed longer. However, after Assateague we are coming back this way to see some fall colors in the North and then head South again for the Winter. So we will be in the area and definitely come back again!