First Stop 2012

Thursday, January 12, 2012, Naples Florida



We arrived here in Florida last night and it looks like we headed out of town just before winter arrived. In a text this morning from Jed, he said the kids had a snow day.



When we left Dixmont on Wednesday, January 4, we planned a two day stop in Massachusetts to visit some of my family there. It seems like every year we encounter some sort of glitch during our exit from home, and this time was no exception. The trip to Mass was no problem until John Miles called, when he arrived in Florida Wednesday evening. He called to tell us the truck keys, we thought were on his counter down there, were not anywhere to be found. Since they were the only set we have to the camper, which was stored in Florida, we had a problem.


I was sure he would call back later and say he found them, but we did not want to take that chance so at 4 AM Thursday, we piled in the car and drove back to Dixmont - 250 miles north - searched every shelf, cupboard, drawer, and pocket for the missing keys. After an hour search Marlin said, "I think I will look in the car glove box." End of story. We had them with us all the time!


We drove back to Randolph, MA to have my favorite Lynwood pizza along with a good Thursday night visit with family. Friday morning we headed for Maryland and a weekend visit with former Dixmont residents, the Baldwins.


The Baldwins are always our first stop when traveling south. Frederick, MD, although an ever expanding suburb or D.C., is surrounded by farm land, the Monocacy River, which is a tributary of the Potomac River, and the Catoctin mountains.

This part of Maryland is close to many major Civil War battle sites. Frederick is, in fact, famous for a skirmish called "The battle that saved Washington D.C." Although the small untrained Union force of 3,500 men was pushed back and defeated by the Confederate's 15,000 advancing soldiers, the resistance the small number of men provided slowed the Southern troop's advance toward the capital long enough for Union reinforcements to reach Washington and protect the city.

The statue is in honor of the New Jersey 14th regiment volunteers, which was part of the Army of the Potomac present that day.

During our stay, we hiked to Cunningham Falls State Park. The falls are part of Hunting Creek, which flows into the Monocacy Rover and on to the Potomac. Beautiful day, great company, and magnificent falls.



Judy, Glen, Marlin and Bob

Cunningham Falls

Our wanderings took us on a short road trip to visit Frederick's covered bridges. Of the 8 remaining covered bridges in Maryland, Frederick boasts three of them. They are all well documented and well cared for. Made me think of the covered bridge Vermont lost in hurricane Irene last fall.

The Utica Bridge was moved from its original location over the Monocacy after a flood in 1889 destroyed half its length. The remaining half was moved to Fish creek and repaired. I was excited to see the three different types of support at each bridge. The use of massive wood beams during the 1800's made me think of the construction of the Dixmont Town House.

The next bridge, Loy's Station Bridge, is a one lane, 90 foot road that was built with multiple king post trusses. This bridge crosses Owen's Creek and is used by local traffic daily.

The Roddy Road Bridge was constructed with a single king post truss design. It is the smallest bridge with a 40 foot single span and a tin roof. It was built in 1856.

We were in the neighborhood of Camp David and since we were not invited for lunch we stopped at the Cozy Restaurant for a snack. This establishment has greeted many famous people who visited Camp David at the invitation of U.S. Presidents, beginning with Franklin D. Roosevelt. FDR originally called the compound "Shangri-La" but Eisenhower, thinking that was a bit too fancy, changed it to Camp David.

The small museum contains lots of photos and newspaper clippings telling of restaurant employees working at the Presidential retreat as well as highlighting the famous visitors the Cozy had served.

We packed some interesting tours into this weekend as well as some great card games. Leaving the Baldwin's is always sad. We will see them next in the Outer Banks for Ben's wedding in March.