A Day in Baltimore, Maryland

Before I tell you about our day in Baltimore, I want to back up just a little and tell you something about the drive into College Park, Maryland, where we are staying for the next several days. As we were leaving French Creek State Park, I looked out the window of the truck and noticed that the leaves were just beginning to change in Pennsylvania. The weather was gorgeous while we were there...sunny and warm.

We passed a few barns along the way.

And it wasn't very long before we passed into Maryland. Sorry for the blur, Maryland.

My friend Robin told me that we would cross the Mason-Dixon Line shortly after crossing the border. I was busy looking for it on the map, but it wasn't marked there. Finally, I looked at Google maps only to realize we had already crossed. If there was a sign, I missed it. Bummer. Oh well...another trip.

It wasn't a long day of driving, but I was spending a lot more time looking at the map and discussing options for our next several days, and so I didn't take many pictures. When we crossed the Sussquehana River, however, I needed to look up and take it in. It's a big river...at least as big as the Columbia River back home. This was the view from my window.

Here's how it looked out Mike's window. Beyond is the Chesapeake Bay. I read Michener's book, Chesapeake in preparation for this trip, and so I have a greater appreciation for its history, fictional though it may be.

Not too much farther on, the city of Baltimore came into view. We were passing it by for this day, on our way to College Park.

 

We thought the bridge over the Sussquehana might be a toll bridge, but it was not. Never fear though...they collected $12 from us when we passed through the Fort McHenry Tunnel. We always like a good tunnel, but when we've paid $12 for the privilege, we sit up and take notice.

It was long...maybe a mile or so?

And there it is! It's the light at the end of the tunnel. Yeah, I tell that joke every time.

So yesterday morning, we made good on our promise to visit the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Museum. We waited a little while in the morning, hoping to avoid the worst of the going-to-work traffic. The traffic wasn't too bad, and we even avoided driving through the tunnel again and paying another toll.

When I visited Baltimore for a professional conference around 20 years ago, I met up with some dear friends of my parents who showed me around Baltimore for several days. One of our stops was the train museum, and I knew this was a must-see for Mike. Approaching the museum, it looks like this. It had its own parking lot, mostly abandoned on this Monday morning.

We walked along more cobblestones getting up to the entrance. These were spaced farther apart and harder to walk on than the ones in Philadelphia.

Here's a little bit of information about the railroad's history.

We paid our admission and walked first into the roundhouse. What a magnificent structure.

The man there in the foreground was the museum docent. He was very attentive and took a shine to Mike who asked lots of questions. He was very knowledgeable and wanted to share what he knew along with his passion for trains. The image above is going into my sketchbook. My one word for this One Word Wonder is "Cavernous." The docent, Peter, informed us that in 2003 the roof of the roundhouse had caved in from 6-8 feet of snow. It has since been repaired. The uprights supporting the roof are the originals, but the crossbeams were updated from iron to steel during the repairs.

The roundhouse was where trains came for maintenance and repair. It was a huge structure with a hand-operated turntable in the center. Trains came in on a single track, where they were moved lazy-susan style into a bay for maintenance.

Looking up, the ceiling looked like this.

Here's some information about how it worked.

In the center of the roundtable there was a pivot. It was covered with plexiglass, and so the reflections you see are from the ceiling.

Here's a scale model. The hand operator who turned the table is circled in red.

And this was much more than a train museum because trains played an important role in our nation's history. Before trains, overland passage was by horse or stage coach.

Or my personal favorite, the Conestoga wagon.

The first "train" cars were pulled by horses.

And I could have taken thousands of pictures in here because it was all worthy of mention, but for the sake of brevity, I'm just highlighting a few things. You'll have to visit yourself, and you should! There were mannequins all around in period dress. These were modeled after actual folks seen in pictures. Some were famous, but most were just plain folks.

Trains played a very important role in the Civil War, and so there were displays and photographs from that era. Some of these photographs were simply amazing. I'm surprised such photos are even in existence given the era and the state of photography.

Who hasn't wanted to make one of these hand cars go at some point? It was all we could do to keep from jumping on and taking a ride.

And I love a good caboose.

Inside the rear door was a stove for warmth and cooking.

Right beside it was a sink.

Directly opposite was a table and chairs. We likened this to the original RV, albeit a little less comfortable than the one in which we find ourselves.

In the middle, one could climb up and sit in these chairs and watch out the window. Mike and I have actually done this when we took a ride on the historic Mt. Hood Railroad that travels through the Columbia Gorge.

Toward the front of the car were "bunks" on both sides where someone could lie down.

This was also a windows and walls place of sorts.

That last window was a part of a separate structure where some big locomotives were housed. I took a few pictures, but really, you need to see it for yourself. Nevertheless, I did catch this picture of the cat that lives there. He was not happy about being photographed or seen.

In another display was an HO scale model train...very elaborate. This was the train station.

Of course, I knew you'd want to see the grain silos.

There was a farmer out in his field. I dearly wanted that to be his cat, but no. It was a dog.

The display had animals of all kinds: dogs, cows, sheep, even bears. Finally, I found a cat sitting next to a garbage can. This seems very disrespectful to me. I inquired of my friend Smitty, and he agreed.

From the other side, this is what the roundhouse looks like. It's a beautiful structure.

And I needed to share this sign about the role of women working for the railroad.

Of course, I picked up a refrigerator magnet.

And lucky me...a shot glass too!

From there, we had lunch here. We each had a blue crab cake sandwich.

The sandwiches were so delicious they vanished before I could get a picture. My friend, Robin (a different Robin), mentioned that the eating of blue crabs is a rule in this area. I'm actually familiar with blue crabs from when my family lived in North Carolina. We used to tie raw chicken parts to a cord and lower it into the water from a dock. The blue crabs would hop on to enjoy the chicken, and we'd pull them up and knock them off the chicken into a bucket. We'd come home with buckets full of blue crabs. Yum. I can't even really remember how my mother prepared them, but I do remember the crabs in the buckets. We're still on the hunt for some oysters from the Chesapeake Bay, but one meal at a time, right?

We had in mind to visit the Historic Ships in Baltimore. We drove by, and parking was going to be an issue, and we were kind of worn out on the city and traffic and all of that, so we decided to forego the ships and headed back to the trailer. There, Mike made an afternoon of taking the kitchen in the RV apart. He hadn't told me he was going to do this, but sometimes he just get a bug to fix something, even if it means he has to break something else in the process. There was nothing broken here, however. He just disassembled the room. The microwave goes where he has his hand, but it's on the floor there behind him. Honestly. Men.

He wants to change out that light fixture above the dish drainer from one that requires electricity to one that will run on the trailer's battery. It makes sense since it's the best light in the kitchen, but I can't use it when we're not hooked up to electricity (or running the generator). So he found a place nearby that is ordering the part, and that should be here today. Oh goodie...something else for him to do. He just needs the part. And, yes, he did put the kitchen back together. Even Mr. Fix It has to eat.

Today we're braving Washington, D.C. We've both traveled the Metro (public transportation), and we've both visited in the past. We feel a little less angst about it than we did in New York City. There are some new memorials we'd like to see since our last visit, and mainly, our plan is just to get to the Washington mall and then walk along bumping into things as we come to them.