Week 2: (Not Hurricane) Irene Goes Through Maryland

Results for Week of August 21^st

The scale reads: 144.5 lbs. Goal: 127 lbs.

Miles this week: 33.04 mi.

ADT Progress: 65.91 mi.

Hurricane Irene wasn't the only Irene that started along the East Coast and made its way to Maryland. At least I wasn't destructive in any way or form along my virtual path. OK, maybe some mosquitos were slapped in the progress and I may not have realized there were some ants or other creepy crawlers that perished by "accident."

Week 2 Results. Yay, the first 1up!

I'm proud I reached 10k steps on 6 days out of the week. I'm surprised I conquered so many miles this week. There were more meetings this week that required me to be sedentary. My relatives are in town and that typically means more eating adventures. Where did I find the opportunities to sneak in these steps?

Virtual Beer Tour

Image courtesy of Great Brewers

I should have taken a 7 mi. detour on the first stretch of my virtual walk to the Dogfish Brewery and Restaurant in Rehoboth Beach, DE to settle the mental score of blueberry beers I've tasted. For the longest time, I had forgotten if I had tried Dogfish's Black & Blue or Sea Dog's (which is based out of Maine) Blue Paw. Facebook pictures show the latter. I need to try this Dogfish blackberry/blueberry concoction to augment my list of savory, fruit-infused brews I've experienced.

The Next Stretch
Maryland's stretch of the American Discovery Trail expands across 270 mi. Like Delaware, the first glimpse of Maryland is all open farmland in an unincorporated city called Hobbs (Supposedly, it's an area called "Ringgolds Green, a former community rich with folklore and ghost stories." I have yet to find any internet resources discussing these tales. Maybe it's such an isolated part of the U.S. that its residents don't want tourists flocking there and irking them with inquiries of paranormal activity?).

Image courtesy of Caroline County Office of Tourism

Trails and concrete sidewalks lead you to the town of Denton, MD, which is the county seat (I guess this is East Coast-speak for governmental administrative center for a county. From my limited travels, they call them "parishes" in Louisiana. From what I recall of Los Angeles, we just call them "the county.") of Caroline County.

Random factoids to the max: Texas has the most number of counties at 254. Good ol', little Delaware has the least number at only 3.

Caroline County is pretty intriguing and historically signifcant in my book:

• Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass lived in the county for some time.
  • Freedom seekers passed along the Underground Railroad through here to Delaware.
• It is one of the few counties in the U.S. that existed for more than 300 years being solely dependent on an agriculturally-based economy.
  • The county government is fighting to preserve the rustic quality of the area in response to the exploding growth (due to Chesapeake Bay folks wanting to retire here).
  • It is only 1 of 3 MD counties that do not have an interstate or U.S. highway.
  • It's the only Eastern Shore county that's land-locked - it does not touch either the Chesapeake Bay or Atlantic Ocean.
• The eastern border of the county is the Mason-Dixon line.
• John Smith took a look-see here during his 1608 voyage up the Nanticoke River.

Image courtesy of Wikipedia.

OK, I had to throw in something musical about walking through Caroline County. Blues/rock vocalist/guitarist George Thorogood of "Who Do You Love" fame (pictured right and singing the tune in a Chevy Camaro commercial) played Caroline County bars while in college at the University of Delaware before making hits that are "B-b-b-bad...bad to the bone."

To whet my museum and foodie appetites, I need to highlight The Lily Pad Café. This Gothic style structure was built in 1883 as a primary school and was accepted onto the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. The school operated until 1925 and was purchased by the Women’s Club of Denton who owned and maintained the property until it was purchased by The Lily Pad Café and Catering in 2007. The menu is eye-catching because:

1. The California wrap does not include avocados, but include ingredients that does not make you think of California at all (Maybe the grapes may make you think of Napa Valley and all the vineyards in California?)
2. You can rent the facilities for a crab feast. (I guess this is the East Coast's equivalent to the south's crawfish boil or the answer to a really formal gathering at a place like The Boiling Crab or Joe's Crab Shack, but more dignified and proper?)
3. What?! No regular Reuben?
4. Their beer garden does not have a variety of local MD brews and a clam bake is involved
5. There is a 20% discount for active military - wow, I haven't heard of a restaurant doing that. Bless their heart!
6. The Pomegranate Spritzer is the most expensive beverage at $3.50 - huh! It makes me want to try it because it's almost too random even for me.

Let's see where my feet, taste buds, ears, and virtual eyes takes me next week.