seeking seashells by the seashore.

    For the next day of Fourth of July weekend, Jason and I were reunited with the beach in Ocean City, Maryland. It’s been almost a year that’s come and gone without tanning on the sand or walking through the surf. It was good to be back. There was a bizarre, thick fog hanging over the water so we decided to hit the boardwalk first. We walked through the Jolly Roger, a small carnival like area, with games to win stuffed animals and a Ferris wheel. We didn’t really know where to start and wandered in and out of shops as we continued along the boardwalk. 

The Pepsi Ferris wheel

Ocean City's pier

    We bought soft served ice cream from the Kohr Brothers and ignored a vendor who tried to sell us a hermit crab. Further down the boardwalk we encountered Pastor Hoffman’s sand sculptures of Christ on the cross, Moses and the 10 Commandments, and the Last Supper. We admired the incredible detail along with everyone else and kept on walking. 

Jason knows the way to my heart: ice cream

Danie's got the directions

I guess we didn't need to buy a postcard, but we did anyway

Handpainted hermit crab shells   

Jason called this The Last Sandper, get it?

    In the distance, Jason thought he saw tons of flags waving in the air for a sale. As we got closer, we realized that they were a mass of kites. I’ve never seen so many different kites floating on there own and so high up in the sky. It was definitely worthy of a picture.

Let's go fly a kite

I've never seen so many kites

    As Jason and I were walking along the boardwalk, we were looking for a place to lay our beach towels on the sand, but we thought it was odd that even though the beach was swarming with people, nobody was swimming in the ocean. Jason usually would have rolled his eyes at my mention of a ‘shark’, but this time he believed me. We went down to the water to check it out for ourselves and it turned out that the water was just freezing. This certainly did not stop Jason from getting in the water to search for sand crabs and shells. I put my sunglasses on and basked in the sun from a distance. When Jason got too cold, we packed up our things and made our way back to the boardwalk. We actually walked the entire 2.4-mile boardwalk and ended up taking a tram back to where we started and headed back to our hotel in Salisbury.

Even dipping my toes in the water was too much!

Jason's on the search for shells

    The next afternoon we met up with one of my good friends, Betsy, her husband, Steve, and their two adorable girls. It was so awesome to see her and catch up over Mexican food at Plaza Tapatia. After enjoying a great lunch, we parted ways and Jason and I headed to Assateague State Park. This state park is supposedly known for having wild horses run along the beach. Total let down. We saw just two horses as we were paying for parking, which honestly made us think wow—the first 2 of many! Unfortunately, these were the only horses we saw and of course, we didn’t take a picture.

It's weird to think horses can be wild

    While walking along the beach waiting for the rest of the horses to show up, we went shell hunting—Jason in the freezing water and me on the sandy shore. This beach had handfuls of the most colorful and different seashells that Jason and I have ever seen. Along with seashells, I found a tiny crab's claw that I had fun playing around with.

Assateague Beach was filled with seashells

I found a crab claw

    We walked for a couple hours collecting shells and spotting the sideways walking crabs peek in and out of their holes. Jason even found the shell of a horseshoe crab. I told him he would get a disease if he picked it up, but he just had to pick it up. Overall, it was fun walking the secluded beach with Jason and taking a decent haul of seashells

I'd be more creeped out if I saw a live one of these

Our own private beach

Mr. Crab, you can't hide in that hole forever!

Just one of the many seashells we took home with us

    Before I left, Jason showed me the University of Maryland campus and where he walks to his internship. We both agree that the Terrapin is the most awesome mascot. Visiting Jason was so much fun, even if it was for a few days. I don’t know how people do this long distance/being alone thing on a regular basis. Even though I’m proud of everything he’s accomplishing in his internship, I can’t wait until Jason comes home for good and my life goes back to normal.

Kermit the frog here

Did you know Jim Henson graduated from UMD in 1960?

Jason told me that it's tradition to rub Testudo's nose for good luck

Saying goodbye to my boy at the McKeldin Mall Fountain

red, white, and boom.

    After what seemed like the loneliest 6 weeks of my life, I was finally able to visit Jason and spend the Fourth of July weekend with him. Since Jason and I have been together we can’t remember celebrating a true Independence Day with the traditional BBQ and fireworks, so we were excited to take the metro into Arlington and change that.

I'm glad Jason knew where we were going

The DC Metro is so clean and cool like a space station

We took a subway through 2 states and 1 province, no big deal

    Before the day's festivities, we made a quick stop to Rockland's BBQ and ordered some delicious pulled pork sandwiches with mac and cheese. We both definitely overloaded on amazing barbeque food and were ready to have some fun! 

    We planned to escape from the crowds of people in Washington DC by staying on the other side of the Potomac and visit Arlington National Cemetery. We may have been able to escape from the crowds, but we could not escape from the heat and humidity. We walked slowly in the shade of the trees, first visiting President Kennedy’s grave and then his brother Robert’s small, white cross.

I'm thankful that it was such a beautiful day walking through Arlington

He was only 46 when he was shot and killed 

The Eternal Flame  

Robert Kennedy's Grave

    We continued up a hill to the Arlington house, which use to be the house of Robert E. Lee. The park ranger explained to us that during the Civil War Robert E. Lee abandoned his house and joined the Confederate Army. During that time, the house was used as a barracks for the Union and later a burial plot for those who had died in the Civil War to spite Lee’s choice of fighting for the South. It was fun taking the tour inside the house and then taking a moment to look at the gorgeous view of Washington DC across the River. Right now, the Washington Monument is covered with scaffolding and looks more like a spaceship than a monument, but it’s still pretty to look at.

Learning about the Lee's house and enjoying the air conditioning 

The original knocker of the Lee's house 

A Lee Family heirloom

    We stopped by the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier just in time for the changing of the guard. This is Jason’s favorite thing he’s seen in the DC area. We are both always impressed at the discipline of the soldiers and how they march and handle their gun in unison. It’s a somber scene and the words “Here Rests, In Honored Glory, An American Soldier, Known But To God”, are always very moving.

Stopping in the shade

Guarded 24/7 and 365 days a year

    As it became closer to sunset, we made our way to the Marine Corps. Memorial or what I always refer to as the Iwo Jima statue. I was so excited that this was going to be where we were going to watch the fireworks because it is my favorite memorial in the DC area. We laid our blanket out on the grass a few hours before the show and ate the perfect American food: hot dogs! As it got darker, more and more people started to set up their chairs and blankets, but we really had a perfect seat centered on the view of the monument.

Nothing like a Big Gulp to refuel

It's slurpee time

    The show was incredible! The fireworks were kind of far away, but it was so gorgeous how they lit up the Memorial of the 5 soldiers raising the American Flag—you forgot that you were watching fireworks instead of witnessing American heroism during World War II. During a big moment of the show, three squiggle fireworks that popped up one right after the other confused the whole crowd. Eventually, someone discovered they were letters and shouted: “Oh, U-S-A!” We all started cheering and chanting: “U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!” It made both of us proud to be Americans. I only wish I could've heard the music that went along with the fireworks, but that didn't stop me from singing patriotic music in my head.

"And I'm proud to be an American, where at least I know I'm free"

"And the rockets' red glare"

"From sea to shinning sea"

an annapolis adventure.

    After many applications for summer internships, Jason was finally accepted with the National Consortium for the Studies on Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism or "START". He is very excited to code and write case studies for chemical and biological terrorist attacks. Unfortunately, the program is in Maryland, near Washington DC—so Jason and I will be temporarily separated until August. Luckily, the drive is only 3.5 hours by car or train, so we’ll be visiting each other whenever possible.

    I drove down to Maryland with Jason to get him settled into his new apartment, but if you know us well enough, you know that we made an adventure out of it. We went a little out of our way to stay the night in Annapolis. We were there on the most gorgeous day with the sun shining and a refreshing breeze.

If only I loved being IN the water this much

Story of my life

    Just driving into the city was like another world. We entered the city from a giant roundabout where the Maryland State House stood in the middle. The busy city streets eventually ran alongside the Chesapeake Bay and we waited 15 minutes for the Spa Creek Drawbridge to go back down. I am crazy for ocean side cities. They seem to say to me, “Come and relax, put your feet up, and enjoy your stay.” We had to park very far away, but we did not mind the walk especially since we could look at the sparkling water and all the names of the different yachts and sailboats. Walking back over the drawbridge, Jason wanted so badly for the drawbridge to lift with us on it.

Gorgeous drive into the city

Walking into Downtown Annapolis

    Downtown was hot and busy. The cobblestone sidewalks led to many stores that I instantly wanted to go into to shop. Annapolis is well known for being home to the United States Naval Academy, so we decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather and go on a 40-minute boat ride of the backside of campus and wander the Chesapeake. I wasn’t really paying attention because I was too busy relaxing and soaking up the sun.

All aboard the Harbor Queen

I'm going to miss that cute boy's smile

    After the ride, we walked around and visited some of the cute stores and bought t-shirts and of course, a postcard. We followed the road up to the State House. I seriously fell in love with this beautiful building. So far we've seen the State Houses of Idaho, Utah, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania, but this was by far the most amazing. The Maryland State House is the oldest state capitol still in continuous legislative use in the US. We had fun posing for photos in front of its gigantic columns and enjoying the view from the top of the stairs.

I should have bought that hat for Jason, it's so cute on him

Maryland Statehouse

Maryland Statehouse

The other side of the statehouse

    We walked around a little more, stopping by the Maryland Inn and headed back downtown for some ice cream. From the moment we had arrived in Annapolis, there was a line out the door of the Storm Bros. Ice Cream Factory, so we figured it must be worth the wait. I think what draws people in is that it has been around since 1976. We ate our ice cream near Ego Alley watching yachts come and go in a narrow slit of sea.

Jason loved the look of the Maryland Inn

Even more gorgeous as the sun starts to set

Gotta have my ice cream

    To end our fabulous day, Jason’s one wish to see the drawbridge lift came true!  We kind of freaked out because we were practically in the middle of the bridge when the alarm started and the barrier gates came down.  We weren’t really sure if where we were standing was okay, but it turned out that we had front row seats to see the boats sail passed us. It was so nice to be able to have one last adventure with Jason before I see him again in July. 

At the start of our day. . .

By the end of the day