The Two Towers

In Jarrettsville Maryland, about 25 miles Southeast of Bellaire, there lies a state park with lots of beautiful rock formations. Rocks State Park used to be home to the susquehannock Indian tribe, has three and a half miles of beautiful trails, in the challenging climb to the king and queen seat, a rock formation that stands 200 feet above Deer Creek below.

The main men in action: Travis in front, and me in the background.

when I climbed this rock formation, admittedly I didn't know what a wild ride I would be in for. The trails themselves were fairly easy to navigate, but climbing up to the top of the king and queen seat both required a lot of focus and energy. One false move could mean a long and potentially lethal drop. Factor this in with the cardio needed to climb up the first set of rocks, and you have a difficult like ahead of you.

when you get to the top though, you will realize just how worth it your hike was. Some of the most beautiful Forest views I've ever seen came from the top of King's seat comma because the way that the Kings seat juts out into nature makes it look like you were on the peak of the world.

All Things Considered, this like it's at least a solid 4 out of 10 on the difficulty scale. All of the trails are not very long, climbing up to see the things that you want to see prove to be very difficult. However, it doesn't get much higher over rating because it's not the hardest type that I've ever done. there are also some State high points that have yet to be seen that would provide a similar experience. there are also much more arduous hikes ahead of me.

on top of this beautiful scenery, there are two Satellite Parks nearby, as well as Kilgore Falls. This secluded location provides a nice natural getaway on one of the most peaceful waterfalls in Northern Maryland. The rushing water is blissful, and getting to it is relatively easy as long as you know which path to take.

Just look at that lovely water!

Northern Maryland has a lot of great hiking opportunities, so there is no doubt in my mind that I will be back to score some more of them.

Crabs, Birbs, and Starz

Baltimore is another wonderful city that lies close to my hometown of York. Although most people don't realize this as such, Baltimore is home to many small but important items. And, some of them are listed in the title of this post. I will now systematically review some of the things that makes Baltimore what it is.

First and foremost, it is a cultural Hub. Throughout the years, the demographic has severely shifted away from Germanic and Irish descent and become more mixed in ethnicity. There are several restaurants around owned by Indian people, African American people, Hispanic people, are there Asiatic call Sarah, and so much more. On nearly every single block, you can find a hub for a different culture or group of people.

The one downside to this, however, is that there is a lot of disputes between people, and a lot of poverty and crime in certain parts of the city. As such, if you are going to Baltimore at night, it is advisable to take at least one other comrade with you. It is the sad unfortunate truth that I must warn others about, pertaining to big cities with high population density.

Baltimore is also home to Inner Harbor, and Metropolitan epicenter of Commerce and Industry. Not only are there attractions like the Baltimore Science Museum, the Baltimore aquarium, the Baltimore Zoo, Ripley's Believe It Or Not Museum, and several excellent concert venues, but it is also home to the Chesapeake Bay. The Chesapeake Bay is home to most of the East Coast domestic crab imports, and home to several difference indigenous species of wildlife. As such, there are many environmentalist initiatives to support the Chesapeake Watershed and to preserve the surrounding area by reducing carbon emissions and waste output. The bay itself is beautiful, and there are ferries that serve the greater Baltimore Maryland area allow one to be on the water.

Aside from all of these wonderful attractions, Baltimore is also home to the Baltimore Orioles and the Baltimore Ravens, to sporting’s most prominent sports teams. Both of these teams have amassed many awards and accolades throughout the years, and their stadiums are within a 15-minute commute of one another. Many major sporting events and charity events happen if both of these stadiums every single year.

Probably one of the most important things about Baltimore is its government and American history. Many government workers and Space Engineers are employed in Baltimore because it is halfway between Washington DC and Harrisburg, which are two major areas of government work. This was able to be initiated because Baltimore is home to Fort McHenry. When the British Invasion happened in the 1800's, Francis Scott Key was on a boat in the harbor witnessing the bombardments on Fort McHenry, which inspired him to write the poetic piece that would later become America's national anthem. The Fort is still open and accessible for visitors to this day, and small tours around the surrounding area and Proving Grounds are often lead.

So this being said, if you are ever in northern Maryland, check out Baltimore and the surrounding area. There are lots of things to see and do, is this entire area and several square miles have been industrialized quite efficiently.

Have You No Backbone

The aptly named title for this post comes from the name of Maryland's highest location, which actually straddles Maryland and West Virginia. At 3000, 662 ft, it manages to pass the next highest stand-alone Peak in Maryland by about 70 feet. In all honesty, a lot of State high-points I've looked at or much like that, being very close to the next smallest integer but not quite there. By the way around, when I took an adventure to West Virginia, the next part of the trip to get home was to stop here. This little hill in the middle of an intense solar farm; who would have ever guessed?

This time, when we departed from our car, we realized that the tables had turned since West Virginia. Instead of driving up the mountain, we actually had to make and model on track to get to the top of the high point, it was a straight away shot, but about 90% switchbacks the whole time.

But yet, we made it.

After walking through the forest to get to this state High Point, we came to a rather noteworthy finding: no High Point bench, but instead, a sign and a guest book inside a mailbox. On top of the mailbox post was a small stone tower that somebody it started, so I added they headed to the silhouette there was building. I've been for the sign the guestbook to say that I made it to the highest point of Maryland, and also saying it was my third High Point at the time. Surprisingly enough though, there was a fair amount of individuals that let this be there 19th or 20th High Point.

With some fairly okay-ish views, compared to the others.

At this point in the game, I was still novice when I came to constructing plans for tackling problems and getting Solutions. But so, I did have to learn it quick. After planning this trip with my friend Travis, I then went and planned a couple of trips on my own, and used what I've learned to improve my planning abilities for the future. This concluded my overnight trip through West Virginia and Maryland, and I really learned a lot about humility in the way people live their lives. This is specially came when we drove 7 miles through private property because there was no maintenance Road that we could have otherwise taken to get from one state Highpoint to the other. We saw broken down Shacks that people had been presumably living in for a long time. And, for the first time being outside of Maryland and Pennsylvania, we saw wine being sold in a gas station, just before our home States finally changed their liquor laws. And, we also learned that we needed to hike on treadmills a whole lot more before we were to tackle bigger high points such as Ranier, Katahdin, Marcy, and eventually, Denali.

America's Capital City

When I was halfway through college I took a day trip to Washington, D.C. I had been here before in middle school, but this time, I came with just two other friends to enjoy the city and some museums. For this post, I'm going to reflect upon past experiences in the city, as well as my trip in my twenties.

When I first went in 8th grade, I was socially awkward. I had like three good friends, and I was constantly trying to mack on the pretty girls in my 8th grade class. Unfortunately, all of this was to no avail. I did, however, make some friends, see a lot of the major monuments, and managed to get lost once or twice. This was my first experience having a cell phone as well, so I had my best friend's number on speed dial for this reason. Seeing the Washington Monument and Jefferson Memorial and Natural History Museum were all quite entertaining, and the Air and Space Museum blew me off my feet as well.

But I returned later in life, I learned that it made more sense to take the subway everywhere instead of driving through crazy traffic, and to plan time for two or three really excellent museums. And so, that's exactly what I did. I hopped in the car for my friend’s house in Westminster Maryland, and from there we headed for the nearest DC subway stop. We got a special deal on cost of parking (which always comes in handy, mind you), bought a day pass for the subway line, and headed for center city.

Upon arrival, we were blown away by the sheer amount of stuff that there is to be found in the city. I came back a few months later to experience the National Zoo and see their beautiful pandas again, but even this was not quite as awesome as being lost in the big metropolitan DC. We staggered around, eventually stumbling upon the Native American History Museum. We thenceforth went to the Space Museum, learning about astral science and whatnot.

At both museums, there were massive gift shops, and a plethora of history lessons. If you are reading this, understand that science is an important part of our evolutionary past, and that it is important to understand the world around us. Also understand that if you're looking to understand the world around us and the science behind it, going to the Smithsonian museums in Washington DC is a perfect way to do so. They are fun, competitively inexpensive (with most of them being free), and also very relaxing. In actuality, I would argue that the museums and history are probably the number one reason to visit Washington DC.

If you're still not sold, know that there are plenty of clubs and bars, good restaurants, movie theaters, concert venues, and other exciting things. I can personally attest to the National Zoo and concert venues there, as I've been to both and give both very good feedbacks. The capital of America is a city to be experienced for and by yourself, and absolutely worth a day trip. I am lucky that I only lived about two hours away from the state capital, so it was pretty cost-efficient to spend a day there.