...And The Rain Keeps Pouring In Corning NY

Today's photos were taken at the end of June and beginning of July, during the week my son was visiting. We'd all hoped for clear weather so lots of short trips and grilling could fill our days. It didn't happen that way. Every day featured some sunshine, but also included rain at some point or other.

If you enlarge and look closely at each picture, you'll see raindrops, even on the leaves of the flowers above.

Too much rain is not good for the benches.

Four trees were cut down in between downpours. Now the homeowner, friends, family and village workers clear up the branches.

I rode back to the State of Maryland with my son on July 6 and am here for a couple of weeks. Would you believe, no rain (except for a couple of 2-3 minute sprinkles) until last night and today it continues, on and on. We've stayed close to home. He's been working an average of eleven hours a day and I've got a leg that's giving me trouble if I use it too much.


A Vacation Glimpse of Maryland and DC


We love to eat out and have many, many choices between Washington D.C. and Baltimore MD ~ Annapolis, Alexandria, Laurel, Columbia, Silver Spring and many others. So far this year we've concentrated on the nearby Waugh Chapel Towne Centre. What a fancy name for a shopping mall! I've noticed that this mall, as well as others in the area, have huge multi-story apartment complexes built right next to them. Out your door and you're in this new mall. We've eaten at Wegmans Market Cafe and Elevation Burger. (I originally said we ate at Red Robin, but realized after a couple of days that we checked out Red Robin and they weren't open yet, so we went next door to Elevation Burger.)


More Vacation Photos From Maryland


Saturday's prediction is for 85-degrees Fahrenheit and low humidity, so we might travel to D.C. Stops may include the U.S. Botanic Garden to see the blooming Titum Arum (corpse flower or stinky plant). Also, I have a gift for Koomo--manager of Chocolate Chocolate in downtown Washington, D.C. and serious collector of shot glasses.


Maryland Vacation

More Vacation Photos from Maryland

My Maryland vacation continues and today I’m bringing you photos of Columbia Wegmans, Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, Vigilance Park, and our most recent trip to Washington D.C.


WEGMANS

Why, you ask, am I including photos of a supermarket. It’s Wegmans, that’s why. We have a Wegmans in Corning, and I absolutely love to shop and eat there. When I heard about the new Wegmans in Columbia MD, I knew it had to be on the list of stops during this vacation.

That was no hardship for my son ‘cause he’s a Wegmans fan, too and is happy to have one closer to him now. Come October 2012, he'll have another, even closer!

Parking at Wegmans is in a two-story garage. Didn’t seem like near enough spaces, but I asked and found out there are 874 parking spaces. No parking for employees. They park at a lot elsewhere and are shuttled in. Speaking of employees, I’ve already recognized and spoken to two former Corning NY employees who are relocated to Columbia. They told me there are three more, but I haven’t spotted them yet.

Wegmans’ escalator ~ for humans and for grocery carts…

NATIONAL VIGILANCE PARK

The National Vigilance Park stands near Fort Meade and, according to the NSA: “Dedicated on 2 September 1997, National Vigilance Park and its Aerial Reconnaissance Memorial stands to honor those "silent warriors" who risked, and often lost, their lives performing airborne signals intelligence missions during the Cold War.”

BALTIMORE’S INNER HARBOR

We took this trip while my daughter and her two boys were here. A really fun trip for kids!


Ripley’s Believe It or Not

Paddleboats

WASHINGTON D.C. AND THE BOTANIC GARDENS

Because of the extreme high heat, I stayed away from D.C. all last week. Sunday I agreed to go with my son to the Library of Congress and the U.S. Botanic Gardens. The Library of Congress, we found, is closed on Sundays.

Our Nation’s Capitol Building

This was my second visit to the Botanic Gardens and I’m still amazed by the plants and flowers grown there. By the way, it was hot and it was humid!


Coconuts on a very tall, indoor coconut tree

Kumquat on a very tall, indoor kumquat tree…

Catching the Metro from D.C. to New Carrollton. Sorry it’s a bit blurry, but it gives you an idea of what the underground section is like.

Taken from aboard the Metro…