The first few weekends back, I noticed that Frederick was wooing us shamelessly. We had been so in love with the U.K., it seems as if our city was turning a little green with envy. The summer weather was cool and if we were walking for an hour outside it did not result in a sweat-soaked shirt. The first Saturday back in town we stumbled upon the Army's "pageant" (called the Twilight Tattoo) in Baker Park. Men and women of our armed forces donned uniforms representing each American campaign from the revolutionary war to Iraq and Afghanistan. The red coat band played patriotic tunes heavy on the flute. Cannons were fired. Rifles twirled, thrown, spun in the air and caught. And overall patriotic fervor swept across the park.
The next weekend was July 4th, and our city was ramping up the activities in full force (with quite the impressive firework display in the park). My brother and his girlfriend, Amber, came to visit the next weekend and when we could tell they were smitten by the historic homes, the quiet walkable downtown streets, the shops and cafes, we decided it was worth spending another year here, in Frederick. We renewed our lease and thanked the heavens we didn't have to pack all of our things and move.
And so, with at least 12 more months to go here in Frederick, we took another look at our unwritten list of things we wanted to see and the places we wanted to go while we lived in this area.
We spent one Saturday sitting in horrific traffic on our way to a Delaware beach, only to arrive at the beach hours later and spend yet another hour looking for a place to park. At the very least, we had a great time being slammed and pushed around around by the huge crashing Atlantic waves, and we checked the "beach" off our list (and subsequently crossed it out, promising we'd never ever do it again!).
Another "to do" we had talked about before we even moved to Maryland, was driving the 4 hours to New York City. We found, what we thought was, the perfect opportunity to do so. Bogdan's mom was flying in for Bogdan's graduation, so instead of buying her a ticket into DC, we bought one into JFK. The money "saved" on this proved not to be worth it (a delayed flight, ungodly long customs line, and arriving back to Frederick a 4 am after going through horrendous thunderstorms on the drive home), but our day trip to Manhattan was a huge success. We rented bikes and spent the day covering nearly 20 miles of Manhattan quickly and efficiently seeing the major sites.
The next weekend, the three of us got on a flight to New Orleans, to attend Bogdan's graduation with his Ph.D. and to have a much wanted visit with family and friends. The Louisiana weather was at its finest during our trip (high 90s and even higher humidity), but great company and good food more than made up for it (not to mention spending most of the time in my parent's pool!).
Interestingly, almost the moment we flipped our calendars from August to September we've had a corresponding 10-15 degree drop in temperatures (with a few exceptions). We enjoyed a long and lazy Labor Day weekend in Frederick and said goodbye to summer, welcoming autumn with open arms.
The next weekend we had our friends Justin and Erin, who live in Colorado, come in town for a visit. Despite a few setbacks (rain, traffic, a dead car battery) we got to show them a lot (Annapolis, Harpers Ferry, DC, Georgetown, and of course Frederick) and enjoyed their company.
As the days grow shorter, I constantly keep my eyes peeled for the changing leave colors, and while some are getting there, we still have a few more weeks to go. Now that I've experienced all four seasons of Maryland fully, I can positively report that I love living in a place where the weather/temperature/nature is constantly changing.
The next weekend was July 4th, and our city was ramping up the activities in full force (with quite the impressive firework display in the park). My brother and his girlfriend, Amber, came to visit the next weekend and when we could tell they were smitten by the historic homes, the quiet walkable downtown streets, the shops and cafes, we decided it was worth spending another year here, in Frederick. We renewed our lease and thanked the heavens we didn't have to pack all of our things and move.
And so, with at least 12 more months to go here in Frederick, we took another look at our unwritten list of things we wanted to see and the places we wanted to go while we lived in this area.
We spent one Saturday sitting in horrific traffic on our way to a Delaware beach, only to arrive at the beach hours later and spend yet another hour looking for a place to park. At the very least, we had a great time being slammed and pushed around around by the huge crashing Atlantic waves, and we checked the "beach" off our list (and subsequently crossed it out, promising we'd never ever do it again!).Another "to do" we had talked about before we even moved to Maryland, was driving the 4 hours to New York City. We found, what we thought was, the perfect opportunity to do so. Bogdan's mom was flying in for Bogdan's graduation, so instead of buying her a ticket into DC, we bought one into JFK. The money "saved" on this proved not to be worth it (a delayed flight, ungodly long customs line, and arriving back to Frederick a 4 am after going through horrendous thunderstorms on the drive home), but our day trip to Manhattan was a huge success. We rented bikes and spent the day covering nearly 20 miles of Manhattan quickly and efficiently seeing the major sites.
The next weekend, the three of us got on a flight to New Orleans, to attend Bogdan's graduation with his Ph.D. and to have a much wanted visit with family and friends. The Louisiana weather was at its finest during our trip (high 90s and even higher humidity), but great company and good food more than made up for it (not to mention spending most of the time in my parent's pool!).
Interestingly, almost the moment we flipped our calendars from August to September we've had a corresponding 10-15 degree drop in temperatures (with a few exceptions). We enjoyed a long and lazy Labor Day weekend in Frederick and said goodbye to summer, welcoming autumn with open arms.
The next weekend we had our friends Justin and Erin, who live in Colorado, come in town for a visit. Despite a few setbacks (rain, traffic, a dead car battery) we got to show them a lot (Annapolis, Harpers Ferry, DC, Georgetown, and of course Frederick) and enjoyed their company.As the days grow shorter, I constantly keep my eyes peeled for the changing leave colors, and while some are getting there, we still have a few more weeks to go. Now that I've experienced all four seasons of Maryland fully, I can positively report that I love living in a place where the weather/temperature/nature is constantly changing.
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