Bickfords on Tour - Chesapeake Bay & NJ

Before going to visit my relatives in Trenton, my dad, Auntie Ellen, sister Sarah and I all went on the traditional Bickford vacation, that is, a drive. This time it took us around Chesapeake Bay. Well, just the east side that is, and we didn't get all the way down to the bottom either... Saying you're "going to Chesapeake Bay", which is what I told everyone here is where I was going, is like saying you're going to the Pugeot Sound or to the Black Forest. It's really huge and there are lots of different places to go, not all of which can be seen in a one week driving trip.

I had never been to Deleware before, nor Maryland for that matter, in fact I had never put much thought into the existence of either of these states. Having now been, I can say that I was pleasantly surprised at how nice they both are. I was actually so taken by the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland that I went as far as saying that I could see myself living there. Now I'm not making any plans, but it really was beautiful. The Chesapeake, although much more of a fresh water body than the Pugeot Sound, is in many ways similar, except that it has more of a New England feel to it and isn't surrounded by mountains and there are no islands... Ok, so it's really not that similar, but for my sea deprived self living in land-locked Freiburg, it was refreshing and enough of a reminder of home to suffice to make it similar in my mind.

We started off at the JFK Airport where Sarah, Dad and Auntie Ellen's plane arrived one hour before mine giving them ample time to pick up the rental car, which turned out to be an enormous tribute to American automobile engineering - the Lincoln town car, and have it waiting at the curb when I strolled out of customs (did I plan that? maybe ...). Sarah met me on the other side of the "nothing to declare" door on crutches, she had been in a rolling skating accident a few days before, and guided me to our boat, I mean car. We were off. It was already dark, so we didn't get much of a view of NYC as we drove by, but I wasn't concerned considering that I was coming back after the memorial with Dana and Sarah. We didn't get very far that evening, only south Brunswick, New Jersey, where we stayed in one of those generic American hotels, where once inside, the only distinguising factor between this one and one in say California is what you see through the windows. It was clean and comfy though with a pool and excellent breakfast, so I'm not complaining.

Wanting to get to our real destination as quickly as possible we took the famous New Jersey Turnpike (when my mom would talk about this, as a kid I would also get some strange ideas in my head about what it was supposed to be, none of which were close to the truth - its just a freeway with the added bonus of having to pay to drive on it). We stopped and ate in Wilmington, Deleware and then continued on to Easton on Chesapeake. This was a cute little town, remeniscent of La Conner. We did some shopping and walked / hobbled around town. I got some lovely yarn that I intend on making into new mittens and my dad some polarized sunglasses at the local hunting store. We went on an exploratory mission in our cruising unit out to the tip of the penninsula where we discovered a bed & breakfast with cabins that just couldn't be passed up. Granted we would have to sleep three in a king size bed with Dad on the futon sofa, but it was definately worth it. There's something about cabins on the water that I love.
That evening we went out on a cruise in a oyster dredgine sail boat. Unfortunately there wasn't much wind, but I did learn some interesting facts: Maryland belongs to the south (who would've guessed?), there is a bitter rivalry between Maryland and Virginia over - amoung other things - resources in the Bay, introduced Nutrias are pushing out the native "mush rats" (I'm pretty sure "musk rats" was meant here) and how to steer a 40 foot sail boat.


We went into Anapolis for a day, another pleasant surprise. It's a cute little town perched on the Bay with a rather large historical center. Again we went on a boat tour, this time of the harbor.


After leaving the Bay the next day, we drove up to Lewes in Deleware where we took the ferry over to Cape May, New Jersey. I had actually wanted to apply for a job as a migratory bird counter at Cape May that would have started the next week, but I have to take some classes here this fall which made it impossible - sigh - maybe next year. It was so nice to be on the ocean again. We took our lunch on the beach in Deleware where we saw my favorite birds, sand pipers, running in and out to escape the surf on their little legs. It was already dark when we got off the ferry, so we continued on to Wildwood, which turned out to be a beach resort town developed in the 1950's, which was made evident by the hordes of cheesy themed hotels. We stayed at the "Safari Inn" which was next to the "Aztec Inn". True to its name, there were plastic palm trees and animals around the pool. Although it was rather cheesy, I loved it! The next morning we rented bikes and rode down the board walk. Later Sarah and went for a swim in the Atlantic. Then it was time to get to my uncles and so ended our road trip.