eastern shore of Maryland

Tim and I went away this past weekend to Maryland.  More specifically, we went to St. Michaels, Easton, Cambridge, Vienna, and Salisbury.  It was nice to get away from city life as even Arlington can be a little too busy for me.  D.C. is definitely too busy for me outside the quiet of a museum.

As a kid, one of my aunts and her family lived in the country (or what we considered to be "the country").  I remember thinking how scary it would be to have a house surrounded by woods and only a few neighbors (chalk that up to my short-lived horror movie phase at age thirteen!), how inconvenient it would be for grocery stores and restaurants to be further away than a ten or fifteen minute drive.  Fast forward 30 years, and now my dream home would be something on a plot of land big enough to prevent me from having to see other houses, with loads of trees, a long driveway, and tons of privacy. 

Anyway, we spent the night in Salisbury after exploring some of the smaller towns.  On Sunday, we drove through quite a bit of the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge.  As expected, we saw plenty of birds.  Bald eagles, gulls, herons, mallards, Canada geese, some shorebirds too far away to identify, a pileated woodpecker, and plenty of turkey vultures.  We heard and saw others, but sans binoculars, we found it tough to identify them.  For those of you who like the birdies and may take a trip to Maryland, you should check out the refuge's bird list.

Here are a few photos of the scenic and avian splendor.