DELMARVA
We hit the road again, a few days back, with only two items on our agenda. The first event was to get to a Hokies football game in Lane Stadium, and the second was a bike race at Woodberry School just outside of Orange, VA. These two events, separated by 7 days, both involving stays at Doug's home in Blacksburg, gave us a few days to wander around the countryside.
ALERT: There are pictures involved in our travel. There are courthouses in small towns begging to be recognized and and photographed, there are places to stay, and a part of the country that neither of us had traveled before.
Our main focus was Delmarva. The Eastern Shore of Virginia, the Chesapeake region of Maryland, and the whole state of Delaware. Get out your Atlas and ride along with us as we explore a new-to-us part of the US.
After football and Lane Stadium (read the prior blog for this great adventure), we were Presbyterians for a day with Doug and family, then left on Monday for Yorktown, VA to visit Carolyn's good friend, Louise. After a short time with her, we began the exploration of Delmarva, driving the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and Tunnel system 17 miles over to the Eastern shore.
The construction of this tunnel and bridge combination was an engineering feat. Built back in the 1960s it connected the Norfork, VA area with the Eastern Shore. Lots of water out there.
Our first Airbnb stay was in Onancock, VA, a picturesque town about midway up the peninsula on US Hwy 13, the main, and only, road north toward Maryland.
One room in an older home, with no other guests for the night, also with a restaurant, rated well but closed on Mondays. Quiet as was the whole town when the sun went down.
We thought we were in trouble, as we arrived in town and found our home stay for the night. The only person around in the Inn/Restaurant spoke no English. But after some sign language and finger pointing, she asked Blue Room? Nodding my head and answering in her native tongue, she led us to the second floor front room, and we unloaded our bags. Turns out we had missed a communique from our host that gave instructions on what to do, but we had a good nights rest after an eventful day.
Next morning we got up kinda early and caught the harbor just as the sun did.
Tuesday, a "courthouse day", with our first one just a few minutes up Route 13.
As we move up US 13 into Maryland, the courthouses will take up most of the rest of the day. Evening will find us spending the night in another Airbnb in Wilmington.
First we go to Princess Anne, county seat of Somerset County.
Next, north on 13 to Salisbury, county seat of Wicomico County.
Moving over to US 50, and still heading north, we come to Cambridge, county seat of Dorchester County.
Still on 50, next stop for lunch and a courthouse is Easton, county seat for Talbot County. We discovered a nice travel tip here as we used public parking downtown and looked for a place to eat. At the end of the lot was a small building containing the Chamber of Commerce. We walked in to find the one employee getting ready to eat also. Looking for information on eateries, she suggested Soup and Greens, right up the street where a delicious peanut soup and spinach salad with bacon dressing filled us up. In the same area was the courthouse and the public library.
Inside the Library were clean rest rooms and free Wifi. Along with information on the town and environs, these two amenities were welcome as a place to rest a minute in air conditioning, and use the Internet to plan the next part of our route north.
North on 50 we come to Centerville, county seat of Queen Anne's County. The courthouse grounds featured a likeness of the Queen complete with pedestal. This county was founded in 1706 and named for the lady who ruled Great Britain and Ireland from 1702 to 1714.
The last courthouse of the day, and yes they were beginning to run together as they might be for you readers also, was in Chestertown, county seat of Kent County.
Wilmington, DE was the chosen place to spend a couple of nights before we headed back south again toward Virginia and a Saturday bike race. We had chosen a room in the townhouse of a single young lady. Heather made us feel at home right away, and since she was leaving Wednesday to visit her boyfriend over in Lancaster, PA, we had the run of the place.
Wilmington is the county seat of New Castle County, Delaware. The older courthouse is in the foreground and the newer one is behind it and looming over it.
We parked our car about a block from the courthouses, and found an sidewalk cafe with good food close by. When we parked at the meter, we did not know how long we would be in the area so we put in just what change we had. Then we located a convenience store and got enough quarters to take up 2 hours.
After a delightful lunch, we headed back to the car. Another car had just pulled in behind us, and the couple were standing at their meter discussing the situation. We told them that we had 45 minutes left on our meter, and, if they waited just a minute, they could pull up into our space with the time already paid for on the meter and not have to worry about all the change. They were appreciative, and we got in our good deed for the day.
Heather's place was in a townhome development that boasted a wooded area with a walking trail in the back of the dwelling. We walked a mile or so, drove to the Acme supermarket to get supper fixings, ate, watched a little TV on our laptop, went to bed, slept great, and got ready to go south on Thursday morning.
(Let's take a break from traveling, sit a while and digest all the images and words, and pick up the journey in the next blog post.)
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