Towson, MD (USA)

[got up early to enjoy the great weather - left the house a little before 0800 and drove (via I-495, Baltimore Washington Parkway and I-695) to Towson to visit Hampton National Historic Site - arrived around 0900 and took a self-guided walking tour of the 18th Century Georgian plantation - the site is well preserved, with lots of ingenious methods that the colonials used to maintain the modern conveniences (a green house for citrus fruit throughout the year, an underground ice house for ice cubes in August, a creamery house that took advantage of a cooling spring and shady trees, etc.) - there were lots of great interpretive signs throughout the park - to get from one end of the other, I had to cross a busy road-race street (brought back some memories) - met up with a small group at 1000 and enjoyed a house tour provided by a volunteer - for more than an hour, we learned about the history of the Ridgely family, who occupied the property for over 200 years - the reason everything was so well preserved on the property was because it never left their hands before the site was purchased by the government - for all the family's riches, the site is actually heavy handed on the guilt - most of the signs and much of the tour expressed how many people slaved (literally) to make the Ridgely family wealthy - I was not turned off by the effort to paint the excess as ill-gotten, but it appears that the site is much less worried about offending anyone about the subject because the owners were not officially Founding Fathers - perhaps this could be compared to what a tour of Bernie Madoff's (vice Steve Jobs') home would be in 200 years... - after the tour, I paid my respects at the impressive family cemetery (including crypt) - gas tank almost completely empty and iPhone saved me (irony) with a gas station location - got back on I-695 and drove back to BW Parkway (noticed several signs left by friendly Maryland DOT workers that said "to get to Baltimore Washington Parkway, use I-95" - wonder if the tourists know which one is free...) - stopped for a sit-down lunch (Wendy's) before getting back on the Parkway - saw backed up traffic going the other way (early bird again...) - got off in Greenbelt to check out the Park there (another NPS site) - it is a nice green place with campsites and hiking trails - saw lots of deer (no fear) - it was getting a little overcast, so I got back on the Parkway and headed towards DC - switched to US-50 and drove south towards I-295 - finally located RFK Stadium... - wary of traffic cameras - crossed the Potomac and got off at Telegraph Road - home by 1400 - glad to have the chance to experience another great slice of Americana!]