2012 Photo Challenge: Week 14

Week 14 of our 365 Photo Challenge. This week marks the 100th photo posted for the year.

As I mentioned, we were on vacation last week for the kids’ Spring Break. We flew across the country to Maryland and stayed near where I grew up. Last year, our daughter and I did the American History tour through her school and this year, our son decided he didn’t want to do that. Our daughter is very interested in history and totally geeks out over the Civil War. And since that’s part of the next section that the boy will be studying in school, it seemed a perfect opportunity given where I grew up to steep them in it for the week.

Sunday, we snuck up on the airport and flew across the country to Baltimore, MD, where our first stop was lunch: for some good ol’ Maryland Crab Cakes.

Monday, we went to Harper’s Ferry, WVa., home of John Brown, the abolitionist’s Fort. This historic town is all of about 15 miles from the house I grew up in. We also stopped off by my old high school on the way. Lots of additions, but much of it is still the same.

Tuesday, we went to the Antietam battlefield in Sharpsburg, MD. It was the scene of the single bloodiest battle in American history with 23,000 troops killed that day. My dad was a Civil War buff and I remember Antietam as the “Land of Obelisks” because of the monuments. Turns out, there aren’t quite as many as I remember. Distance from my mom’s house: 20 miles.

Wednesday, we drove part of the way to Washington, D.C. and then took the metro the rest of the way into the city. We got off late enough we didn’t get to do a bus tour of the city to see all the monuments, but did stop in at the exhibit “The Art of Video Games” at the Smithsonian’s Museum of American Art and National Portrait Gallery. We also made a stop at the Newseum and I managed to see more of it than 2 floors this time as I wasn’t the only chaperone willing to take a bunch of 8th graders out on the observation deck overlooking Pennsylvania Avenue. About 50 miles from where I grew up. Can we say all my major school trips went there?

Thursday, we went to Gettysburg, PA and took a guided tour of the battlefield after watching a movie narrated by Morgan Freeman and experiencing the cyclorama. Another 50 miles from my mom’s house. Getting the sense that I grew up in a historically rich area? It’s funny, Gettysburg was always the “Land of Cannons” to me, but they have WAY more monuments than cannon. They’re also doing an impressive job restoring the land to the condition/uses from the time of the battle. This means clearing trees in some areas and planting new ones in others.

Friday, we took the kids down to Chestertown, MD on the Eastern Shore, across the Bay Bridge for what was probably our longest trip of the week: 116 miles. Our destination was Washington College, where my husband and I met 22 years ago. I used to make that drive every week after I graduated and my husband was still in school until I gave up and moved back to the town. I’m not sure if the kids were impressed or not, but we did get to run into a few professors and staff that were still there. Which was a good thing since we won’t be able to make it back for his 20th reunion next month.

Saturday, we pretty much didn’t do anything at all. I dropped the family off at my mom’s and drove about 6 miles to meet another writer at a small coffee shop and spent about 2 hours chatting.

Sunday, we had a lovely Easter Brunch with my mom and then drove back to Baltimore to catch our flight home.

Anyway, that’s just a little bit of the history behind these photographs.

What you see below are links to my flickr set for the photos I’m posting for this challenge. Click on any photo below to go to flickr and then you can navigate through the set with the “Previous” and “Next” arrows at the top.

Sun: Apr 01, 2012		Mon: Apr 02, 2012
Tue: Apr 03, 2012	Wed: Apr 04, 2012	Thu: Apr 05, 2012
Fri: Apr 06, 2012		Sat: Apr 07, 2012