June 19-21, 2008, DelMarVa Chicken Festival!

Off to the Eastern Shore to help celebrate the Chicken Festival! About 90 miles from Washington, it was a nice easy drive. Got to campsite at last-light Thursday evening.

Trap Pond State Park, just across the Maryland line in Delaware. Nice campground!

Kathy & Lee have been traveling around in the Barth for five years, but this trip had a new twist to it......Their first camping weekend with a grandkid. Raegan, 3-1/2yrs, made her maiden voyage with Bampa & Grandmom. Gotta tell ya, THIS trip had its own set of dynamics to it!

The "pond" in Trap Pond State Park, a few miles outside of Laurel DE. Lot's of local fishing boats, so it must be good fishing........

The Delaware, Maryland, Virginia peninsula (ie: DelMarVa) is known for it's chicken raising.

The annual Chicken Festival promotes this industry - kinda hokey, but fun! It's biggest claim to fame - World's Largest Frying Pan!..........

....and here it is today, still in use (60 gallons of peanut oil!)

No doubt about it......We got ourselves a future astronaut here!

Raegan & Grandmom......(Bampa doesn't do Ferris Wheels...........)

Not chickens, but ya still gotta watch where you step.............Trap Pond, DE

Major accomplishment - Raegan comes within a nano-second of holding a chick!

June 13-16, 2008 Gettysburg/Antietam/Harpers Ferry

After a couple years of "talking about it", Lee and his boyhood best friend Tom Palen finally got together for a trip. Tom is a recently retired high school government & history teacher from Michigan and a very knowledgeable Civil War buff. The itinerary included Gettysburg PA, Antietam MD and Harper's Ferry WV - about 270 mi full circle. Artillery Ridge Campground in Gettysburg is a good choice, being 1/2 mile from the new museum & visitor center. Other than supporting opposing presidential candidates and Tom's obsession with his carb intake, the trip was greatly enjoyed by both of them!

Tom at the entrance to the new museum & visitor center. So new, the grass hasn't come up yet!

The new Gettysburg Visitor's Center just opened in the spring of '08. It's an awesome building with great displays. Plan on about 4-5 hours to read & see all that it offers.

Here's how a major newspaper of the day described Lincoln's Gettysburg Address shortly after it was delivered.......Time has a way of changing things, doesn't it?

Lee with Gen. James Longstreet, CSA. One of Robert E. Lee's most valued leaders. Reluctant but loyal in carrying out Lee's orders for the ill-fated Pickett's Charge, giving the victory to the North.........The beginning of the end for the CSA, although the war would last two more years.

Antietam National Battlefield, Sharpsburg MD, about 60 miles from Gettysburg PA. Site of the highest single-day casualty count in the Civil War - after 12 hours of fighting, over 23,000 troops killed, wounded or missing. (Bloody Lane is in lower left corner)

The Sunken Road, in the middle of the battlefield, became a Confederate defensive position.

After being overtaken by Union troops, it became known as Bloody Lane.

Bloody Lane as it looked shortly after the battle. Books say "bodies stacked like cordwood".

Harper's Ferry WV......In the 1800's, a busy industrial town at the confluence of the Potomac and Shenendoah Rivers...Site of John Brown's raid on the U.S. Armory in hopes of starting a slave rebellion. Today, the whole town is a national monument. We camped at Brunswick MD, about 6 miles away and biked into Harper's Ferry on the C&O Canal towpath........

Cheat River Valley, WV - June 6-8, 2008

Destination: Cheat River Valley, known for it's Class 5 whitewater
and great scenary in the mountains.......about four hours from
home. 9% grades coming down the mountains makes for some
interesting driving!

Rowlesburg WV....little town on the Cheat River. We set-up
camp on the riverbank there, until the owner showed-up and
asked us to move on. :(

Cheat River - a more tranquil portion.............

The kayak crew, really nervous that they might find some

real whitewater..............

Railroad trestle destroyed in the flood of 1985.......

Good video at: http://youtube.com/watch?v=A-ZRF7xolL8

Jon & Terry - the Ohio clan..............

Lee & Kathy - Ever see "Deliverence"?............

We had the campground to ourselves..............

Always the morning fog......................

The Barth and its right-seat driver/navigator........

We thought we had located the cheapest gas in the U.S.

in Kingwood, WV......and we were first in line!......

......but nobody showed up to sell us gas........Maybe they

close early on Sundays? :)

1955 Corvette - "West Virginia" style......

The 2008 Polish Job is Done!

Historic tags = $26/year....Can't beat the price!

Sure glad polishing time comes only once a year !

Point Lookout State Park - '08 Season Opener !!

The LOVES of Lee's life (especially the non-shiny one.....)

On this particular day, at this particular time, Lee can officially report that the Chesapeake Bay and all its tributaries contain NO fish........Zero....Zip......Nada......Great weather though !......

Great campsites, with plenty of privacy!

Chesapeake Bay, with relatively unspoiled shoreline & miles of good biking roads & trails.

As you drive around the area, somehow you just know that you're in Southern Maryland !

Monument at the mass-grave site for Confederate soldiers - now a federally owned cemetery.

Point Lookout is a state park today. But in the Civil War it served as a POW camp to intern Confederate soldiers. Poor living conditions and epidemics killed thousands...........

The original Point Lookout lighthouse....decommissioned in the 1960's........

Point Lookout is about as far south as you can get in Maryland. It's at the tip of St. Mary's County, where the Potomac River joins the Chesapeake Bay, about a 90 mile drive from the Washington DC area. We left College Park in the drizzle on Friday afternoon (5/16), beat the traffic with no problem and had a leisurely two hour drive.

Our 2008 Travel Itinerary !

Here's our travel plans for the 2008 camping season - Let us know if you're gonna be in the area at the same time and we'll throw some extra vittles on the grill!

May 16-18: Point Lookout State Park, at the very tip of St. Mary's County MD, where the Potomac River meets the Cheasapeake Bay. Hiking/Biking/Kayaking.
http://www.dnr.state.md.us/publiclands/southern/pointlookout.html

June 6-8: Rowlesburg, WV, a little town deep in the mountains, on the banks of the Cheat River, known for Class 5 whitewater. Biking/Kayaking/Fishing/Scenic Drives. Plans are to meet Jon & Terry Holland from Akron OH area. Hopefully, won't hear a young boy on a porch playing a banjo :(
http://www.rowlesburgguide.com/

June 19-21: Salisbury, MD, the annual DelMarVa Chicken Festival !! Who could pass up seeing the world's largest frying pan in action?! Crafts/Booths/Stage Entertainment/ & Fried Chicken!
http://www.dpichicken.org/index.cfm?content=news&subcontent=details&id=302

July 11-13: Hargerstown, MD, Jellystone Campground & WaterPark. Meeting Katie & Lorri and families for a weekend of "family bonding" (Essentially, a place where the kids & grandkids have all the fun and Grandmom & Bampa get stuck with the bill).
http://www.jellystonemaryland.com/

July 25-27: Boiling Springs, PA, a little town surrounded by spring-fed lakes. We're told it's the best trout fishing East of the Mississippi. Lee will verify or refute that claim........
http://www.boilingsprings.org/

August 1-3: Berkeley Springs, WV, the famous mineral-bath spot for the rich & famous during its heydays in the 1930's & '40's. Biking on the C&O Canal towpath & typical tourist activities.
http://www.berkeleysprings.com/

August 15-17: Denton, MD, Small Eastern shore town celebrating Summerfest, a two day event of exhibits, food & entertainment with a local flair. We'll be staying at Martinak State Park on the Choptank River, about 2 mile bike ride away.
http://www.carolinesummerfest.com/index.php?pageID=PG260524104059433
http://www.dnr.state.md.us/publiclands/eastern/martinak.html

August 28-Sept. 4: Five day loop around the lower half of Chesapeake Bay. First stop is Annual Crab Festival in Crisfield MD, ferry boat trip to Tangier Island, kayaking at Janes Island State Park. Then on down the VA coastline through Chincoteague (Misty the Pony country), crossing the Chesapeake Bay Bridge/Tunnel (20miles), into Norfolk VA. Boat tour of US Navy complex in Norfolk, then on to Williamsburg & Jamestown VA. Up through VA's Northern Neck to see
Strattford Hall (Robt. E. Lee), George Washington's birthplace site, overnight at Westmoreland State Park on the Rappahanock River, across Potomac River on Rte 301 bridge & home.
http://www.crisfieldchamber.com/crabderby.htm
http://www.tangierisland-va.com/
hhttp://www.norfolkvisitor.com/norfolknavy/ttp://www.dnr.state.md.us/publiclands/eastern/janesisland.html
http://www.visitwilliamsburg.com/index.aspx

Oct. 3-5: York PA, Factory outlets, tours of Peppermint Patty, Harley-Davidson & Utz potato chip factories !! (OK, it's not Paris or London, but the tours are FREE!)
http://www.yorkpa.org/

So if ya see an old (but very shiny) Barth motorhome screamin' along at 52 mph, give us a wave!

See Ya in 2008 !!

"I will build us a castle, fit for you and me,
For green days in the forest......
....and blue skies at the sea."
-Robert Louis Stevenson