A trip to Oxford and Cambridge (MD)

A beautiful day that just beg you to go on a trip somewhere.

Reading my new Virginia and Maryland book, I finally settled on St Michaels which reminded me of a book I read, actually 4 books of a trilogy (the Chesapeake Bay Saga) set on the Chesapeake Bay shores, written by Nora Roberts. Unfortunately St Michaels is very near Oxford, MD and Cambridge MD, and having lived in Cambridge we could not resist prioritising those places. In the summer there is a ferry from Oxford to St Michaels, the Oxford-Bellevue ferry,  but we were too early. That would have made it a nice loop around.

First we went to Oxford, MD which is a tiny little village on the shores. Some photos below:

The Clock

The Library

The Beach

Jetties to park your boats

and a Museum

There were also village stores, which we for some reason did not visit (so no postcard) a boat sales place and an Inn. We could not find anywhere to eat lunch, which was probably because the tourist season had not started and the ferry was not running across the bay. 

After Oxford we headed off to Cambridge, as you do. I drove the car for the first time, it took about 20 minutes and was not too bad, but I don't like driving new cars in unknown places. It seems a nice car though. 

I wanted to eat seafood, especially crab as the area is famous for their crabs, so we drove around a bit. Cambridge is much bigger than Oxford and eventually we found a nice seafood place overlooking the bay where we had crab-cakes and potato-skins filled with cheese and crab-meat. 

An after-lunch walk around town was interesting. The Highstreet was going through a re-generation project where it was very nice in some places and run down in other parts. Some buildings were being knocked down.

 I found some interesting looking rocking chairs outside a pub and after a quick Internet search also found out that they sell them in the local Lowes store in Easton, which we would pass through on the way home.
I now have two of these to put on my front porch.

Road trip No.1 - Day 4 - No new countries, No new States or Provinces BUT 1 new Hurricane glass (Baltimore)

Toronto (ON) - Westfield (PA) - Baltimore (MD) - Home (DC)

Day 4 we left Toronto early as we were expecting queues on the border getting back into the U.S. The weather was awful on the Canadian side, which did not really help either. However, crossing the bridge at Buffalo the sun came out and there were only 4 cars in-front of us at the border. No problem at all getting through a very painless process compared to Dulles Airport in Washington.
We drove on in search for breakfast. The problem with driving across rural areas is that there is limited choice. Neither of us were happy with the food at the small place we found, but at lease it filled a gap whils continuing our drive.
The next stop was Westfield (PA) where one of my friends spent a year as an exchange student in high-school. A very sleepy little town, but well worth the 30-minute detour.

A few more hours of driving south took us to a decent diner for dinner, before heading on home. Alastair found out that the route would take us within a 7-min detour of Hard Rock Cafe in Baltimore, so suggested we stop there as well. Baltimore felt a little bit rough in the dark so we parked nearby, and made it a quick stop.

Home around 10 PM after a just over 500-mile drive for the day!

Road trip No.1 - Day 3 - No new countries, No new States or Provinces BUT 1 new Hurricane glass (Toronto)

Day 3   - Niagara (ON) - Toronto (ON) - 80 miles:

Day 3 was spent on quick breakfast at IHOP and then a short drive through to Toronto. 

Checked in and some basic shopping, then off to collect this trip's 3rd Hurricane glass. 

The bartender was very helpful and gave advice for where to walk around and also Dinner suggestions, which was quite surprising. But perhaps she was clear we were not interested in eating at Hard Rick, but was merely collecting Hurricane glassed. Off we went to the street she recommended where we dropped a dinner table reservation into the mailbox of a nearby recommended Italian restaurant (as they were not open yet) and had a quick lunch at a pub.We were probably quite lucky as when we left the pub, there were some staff around at the Italian restaurant.

They were not open yet, but as we explained that we had dropped at reservation note in the mailbox, they invited us in to make a proper reservation. After arriving in the evening, wen they were full and turned away several people, I doubt they would have been happy with our little note.

Toronto as such was a pleasant town. Quite small (downtown) but a great place to move around. There were some kind of arts festival going on which was a bit strange, and cause a bit of noise during the night (especially for Åsa , who had some disturbance right outside her hotel door for a long time - which is not acceptable at a Sheraton - so we will complain!). Evening finished with drinks in the lobby as the sky bar closed at 11pm !!!

Road trip No.1 - Day 2 - 1 new Country (Canada), 1 new Province (Ontario), 2 new Hurricane glasses - Niagara (NY and ON)

Day 2 - Warfordsburg (PA) - Niagara (NY) - Niagara (ON), Canada - 300 miles

Day two started with grabbing myself a coke out of the fridge at the Days Inn and leaving money on the unmanned motel counter. We then drove on up the I-70 in a hunt for breakfast.

Not too far and we ended up in Breezewood. That was a proper over-night hub, with several open gas stations, several motels and diners. I doubt anyone lives there but it was lively and a great place to stop. I bought a map to be able to track the route (which explains now that I am looking at the map - why I did not make any markings before then). Breakfast at Denny's in a traditional diner "trailer".

We drove on across rural Western Pennsylvania. No much traffic, not may people around. Stopped for gas - very cheap - saw lots of churches!!! and some very beautiful Victorian style houses:

Mid afternoon we arrived at the US side Niagara Falls, the walked around the various viewing spots. We did not do the touristy thing to go down and get all wet under the falls, but took our time to watch them from the various view spots around:

We thought about a boat-trip but the weather was not so good. I must say I was not that impressed. I had expected larger or bolder or more - I am not sure. On the way back to the car I spotted, by coincidence, a Hard Rock Cafe. As I collect the Hurricane glasses I somehow managed to persuade my travelling companions to make a pit-stop.
We then went off to the Canadian border crossing. The queue was not great but nowhere near as bad as Dulles Airport in the afternoon.

The hotel was a pre-booked Best Western and was just that. Nothing fancy but miles ahead of the Days Inn from the night before and did the job. As it was getting dark - we decided to watch the falls from the Canadian side as well before dinner. As I am quite clumsy it was probably not that clever to sit on the fence (no Health and Safety measures in place, which were surprising):

As Alastair had to drive over the border he did not get a Hurricane at Niagara US, so we checked if there was one in Canada, preferably Toronto. But we were surprised - there was one at Niagara, ON, Canada. So off we went for a pre-dinner Hurricane!

Dinner was at a chain steak-house which was not great. Too loud and too average. Unfortunately the whole place is very touristy and flashy with Casinos and game-halls and similar things. We really wanted to go somewhere after dinner, but could not find a nice place - so early evening unfortunately.

Road-trip 1 - Day 1 - 1 new State (Pennsylvania)

First long road-trip done! Final destination Toronto.
Home (DC) - Hancock (MD) - Warfordsburg (PA) - 100 miles

We (myself, Alastair and my friend Åsa, visiting from Sweden) set off Thursday evening in a very nice rental car - Thursday upgrade special. The route went out of DC through Maryland on I-270 and I-70  towards rural Pennsylvania. Just before the border we found a nice bar / restaurant near Hancock for dinner, which really looked the part - Jimmy Joy's Log Cabin Inn (I can't past a link as they have no website) - Food was OK, huge portions as expected, but friendly service and a pleasant "rural bar" atmosphere.

After dinner we went off to find a motel. I would not recommend Hancock for that. The choice was pretty grim. The only real motel (a Super 8) only had smoking rooms, and although we were really tired the smell of stale smoke was just too much, so back out on I-70 continuing north for 30 mins or so. There we found an abandoned town with a basic Days Inn. There was nothing else, just a boarded up gas station and a closed restaurant stating "God Bless America". Assume he missed Warfordsburg!