Hitting the road!

Our stay in Washington inevitably drew to a close all too soon, but with the weather holding-up it was with good to dust-off our spirit of adventure and link-up with our hire car. The Holiday Inn Capitol Hill had been an excellent stay in all respects, except that it was almost compulsory for all meals taken there to be covered in melted cheese! That apart, it has set the bar for the remainder of our acommodation on this trip. Making an early start proved the sensible option, as our cab driver dropped us at the back of Grand Central Station 'to save us time'! ....... we followed the signage for 'Car Rental Pick-up' and soon arrived at the Alamo garage, only to discover that the check-in desk was in the main hall of the station! Anyway, having wheeled our way around the station and up and down between its varios levels, we eventually took possession of a full-size Hyundi ...... complete with Sirrus XM Radio!! Making our way into the Washington traffic rekindled memories of previous trips and its good to have freedom again. We exited the city without a hitch and were soon at the Bay Bridge in the Chesepeake Bay area (Maryland).

The scenery was dominated by a green and pleasant agricultural landscape and the traffic thinned considerably as we moved away from our point of origin. Our first stop, the 'Old Wye Saw-mill', was reached within the hour and whilst it was an historic sight to behold, the absence of coffee was a real downer!

Moving on, we headed for Easton, a town famous for its part in organising the rebellion against us Brits! The town is a perfect picture of Georgian architecture and boutique shopping. It would be easy to mistake it for somewhere in rural England.

We had lunch at The Doc's Bar ..... Caeser salad and fresh crab cakes .... the best! Then, we drove out to St. Michaels, a town famous for its misleading of the British forces during the rebellion. Its a beautiful place and its harbour enjoys great views of the bay. (Of course we had to call at the very classy ice-cream parlour!).

With the outside temperature approching ninety, we made our way to the Best Western motel and checked-in. Storms threaten this evening .... watch this space! My musical memory today is an instrumental track, inspired by having listened to Sirrus XM again ..... 'Sleepwalk', by the great Les Paul.