C & O canal at Edward's Ferry

The weather is cooling off, but there is still time to enjoy the outdoors. On Thursday I decided to walk along the C & O Canal and see how the leaves were changing.

I went to Edward's Ferry, it is about 45 minutes from Bethesda, MD, but isn't nearly as crowded as the canal around Great Falls or Swain's lock can be.  Edward's ferry is right at lock 25.  The lockhouse has been maintained and you can even rent it for the night.

There used to be a small community at the ferry, there isn't much left, but this building has been partially re-built.  I went here a number of years ago and at the time, this was two-story ruins.  It is hard to say how much of the brickwork is original and how much is rebuilt, but I think a lot of it is rebuilt.

If you walk north along the canal for about a mile you get to a place where the canal went over a stream called Broad Run.  The stone work is all still here, and the creek flows across the canal and under the tow path.

Here is how the trail looks north of Edward's Ferry., lots of greens and yellows this time of year.

Just a little south of Edward's ferry is what is left of the Goose Creek river lock (Goose Creek in Virginia enters the Potomac on the other side of the river). This is actually a combination of two locks, this picture was taken from the lower one looking up at the upper one.

Here's is the Potomac river looking north. If you look closely you may be able to see the boat launch ramp at Edward's ferry on the right.

Another view of the river lock right where it connects to the river.

Just a little further south is the Chisel Branch hiker/biker campsite.  It has a picnic table, grill, and port-a-potty.

While on my walk I saw a nice deer crossing the trail and this red fox.  He was a bit suspicious of me and kept his distance.

I also drove to the next access spot at Sycamore Landing.  There is a soybean field right next to the parking lot, and of course, miles of towpath to walk on.

Go visit Luray Caverns

 If you have never been to Luray Caverns (in Luray Virginia), you should go.  Especially if you have kids (bring them along of course).  Luray Caverns is one of the most impressive underground cave systems in the country, and certainly the best one within a days drive of Maryland. It is less than two hours away from Bethesda so you can easily make it a day trip.

 It isn't the biggest cave system, actually, it is fairly small.  It's claim to fame is the plethora of impressive stalactites, stalagmites, and flowstone.  They have guided tours that go through the cave following a paved path that is suitable for both wheel chairs and strollers.  The tour itself takes about an hour, but there are other things to do on the property such as seeing the Luray valley museum or the antique car museum.  The car exhibit is surprisingly good, the pack a large number of examples of early automobiles in the exhibit and it is well worth the time to walk through it.

One of the more unusual formations is called "fried eggs" because it resembles two sunny-side up eggs.  They say that the centers used to be yellow like egg yolks but the color wore off from people rubbing them.

This isn't a place you go back to year after year.  It doesn't change much.  However, going there every 20 years or so is well worth the effort.  If you have already been there, you should consider going to Skyline Caverns too.  I don't think it is quite as awe inspiring, however, it does have some types of rock formations that Luray doesn't have, so if you like Luray, you'll probably like skyline too.  I have some more pictures of Luray Caverns if you want to see them.

Starry Night in Bethesda

 

Next time you are on Norfolk Avenue in Bethesda, MD, look for this art installation by Union Hardware.  It is a rendition of Vincent van Gogh's "Starry night" except it is done with different types of kitchen/bath hardware.  Lots of various kinds of handles and metal plates.  It's really neat, I walked by it a few times before going by on the same side of the street and getting a close look at it.

Chop't Salads is open in Bethesda

Chop't salads just opened in the Wildwood Shopping Center on Old Georgetown Road in Bethesda, MD.  They specialize in salads, after you choose which one you want off the menu (or build your own) they assemble it right in front of you, then spread it out and chop it up.  This well-mixed salad is what goes into your bowl.

I went their on Wednesday, the opening day, and tried the Cobb salad [670 calories, $9.49] (and the person I went with got the Palm Beach Shrimp salad [240 calories, $9.99] so I got to try that too).  Both were quite good, the bacon on the cobb was cut into very small pieces, but was thick and crisp.

There were some things that stood out in comparison to other salad chains.  The first thing that I noticed was that the salads on the menu didn't all have sweet stuff in them.  I don't really like sweet salad toppings, so this is appreciated.  They also have a large selection of salad dressings, with calorie counts. They also ask you if you want the dressing put on light, regular, or heavy so you don't end up with a salad swimming in dressing if you don't want it. They have some unusual seasonal salads that are only on the menu for a short time, right now there is some sort of thanksgiving dinner salad and several others.

Too bad they have a stupid flash website instead of a real one.

Replacing the curb cuts yet again

 Here in Bethesda they have what seems like a yearly tradition.  Go to every intersection and dig up the curb cuts for the crosswalks and replace them.  It seems like they just got done with it earlier this year (though looking back at some pictures I think it may have been last year) and they have started it again.  Today they were out jack-hammering the brand new, handicap accessible crosswalk entrances.  Unbelievable, what could possibly be wrong with them, and why are they spending so much tax money doing this?

In the top photo, you can see they have finished digging up the one on the right, and have started jack-hammering the one on the left.  In the bottom photo they are using a concrete saw in preparation for the inevitable destruction.

This intersection is Old Georgetown Road and Edgemore Lane, right in the heart of Bethesda, MD.  I saw they had white arrows painted on the concrete to show where to dig, walking around at lunch I saw other intersections with white arrows so they are doing this to a bunch of them.

More Montgomery County Fair photos

 Here are some more pictures I took at the Montgomery County Fair (which runs through Saturday).  I posted other pictures and more information yesterday.

First, a video of one of the pig races.

 Lots of people go to the fair just for the rides.  They have rides for all ages of kids, here is the merry-go-round and the dizzy dragons (below)

 Before being judged, most sheep get a very close hair cut.

 

Small animals get their place too.  Here are the chickens.  They also have an incubator full of eggs, some of the chicks have already hatched, but the rest will over the course of the week.

  

  

Old MacDonald's barn has some cute baby ducklings.

 

They also have a birthing center with half a dozen pregnant cows, due to give birth during the fair.  Last year I got to see a birth in person.

 There is a flock of dressed-up geese wandering around the fair.  The geese drink gatorade to keep themselves hydrated.

 Towards the top of the fair you can take a camel ride.  Not something I have ever done.

 One booth near the kidzone had live birds sitting on perches.

I got to see Michelle's magical poodles for a second time.

Go visit the county fair

The Montgomery County fair in Gaithersburg, MD runs from August 9th to the 18th.  There is tons to see and do there, especially if you have kids.  The first can't-miss event is the pig/sheep/duck/goat races.  These little critters race around a track to the cheers of the crowd.  Lots of people go so plan on getting there 5 minutes early if you want a good view.

Right next to the race track is a stage where they have different shows.  I saw Michelle's magic poodle show (suprisingly, not a magic show) and Agricadabra (not surprisingly, a magic show)

Old MacDonalds Barn is another great place to go, they have various animals such as a lama, an alpaca, sheep, goats, horses (including two miniature horses), baby ducklings, and piglets.  This year the piglets are really small and cute.

In the evenings at the grandstand there are events such as tractor pulls, demolition derbys, and monster truck shows, there are also numerous free events throughout the day.  Take a look at the schedule of all events.

Bethesda, MD storm damage

The evening of June 29th started out like most others. Around 10:30 though it changed. Huge gusts of wind blew through Bethesda followed by heavy rains. By the time it was through hundreds of thousands of people were without power and branches and trees had fallen by the hundreds.


I drove around Bethesda on Saturday to see the damage for myself.  Here is some of what I saw:

There was a tree blocking the two northbound lanes of Old Georgetown Road.  police had set up cones directing traffic around it in the center turn lane.  As of Sunday afternoon it was still there but there was a highway truck on the scene.

This was probably the worst damage I saw.  A tree had fallen across the front of this house on Old Georgetown Road, smashing through the roof.  I went by again in the evening and the tree had been cleared but you could still see the gaping hole in the roof.  On Sunday the roof was covered with a huge tarp.  I didn't know they made tarps that big.

On Fernwood road a tree had fallen, but was high enough up that cars could drive under it in both directions.  While I was there a firetruck drove under it as well.  On Saturday evening the tree was still there, but it was cut down by Sunday at noon.

Right near there,  Fernwood road between Greentree Rd and Bradley Blvd was closed with trees and power lines across it. As of Sunday at noon, still closed.

This unfortunate person had two large pine trees break and fall across the road.  One of them crushed the back of their car.

Here is the same road from the other side.

There were too many trees fallen across roads for me to take a picture of them all, but here is a nice example of Stoneham Dr. being blocked by a tree.

Here's a tree in someone's front yard that had split in half with one half falling one direction (and taking out pwoer lines) and the other half falling another direction.

On Saturday there were only two gas stations open in downtown Bethesda, MD.  There were really long lines at both.  By Sunday at least one of them was out of gas, so if you need gas for your car or generator don't expect to find it in the downtown area.

Many traffic lights are still out in and around Bethesda.  Notably, Arlington Rd and Bradley Blvd as well as the five way intersection at Old Georgetown Rd, Arlignton Rd, Wilson Ln, and St Elmo Ave.

 

A great place to go on a hot day is the National Aquarium in Baltimore.  They have a huge ray tank (If you look closely you will see some people scuba diving in it). As well as a large tank with sharks and other fish that forms a circle around you as you walk down through it.  If you plan on going more than once (and there is so much to see you probably want to)  you can join the aquarium and visit as many times as you want in a year for free!

Here are a couple of the smaller rays in the ray exhibit.

This is a really big eel in the shark tank.

They have lots of colorful tropical fish in the many tanks.

As well as non-colorful ones.  This one is a Jack.

The upper level has a snack bar with a great view of the inner harbor.  You can rent paddle boats and float in the harbor.

Right across from the aquarium are a lot of restaurants and other places to see including Hard Rock Cafe and Phillips Seafood.