Maryland – There and Here

March 18, 2023

First Cherry Blossoms of 2023

While the official National Park Service bloom watch shows the Tidal Basin cherry trees as just entering the puffy white stage today, some of our local cherry blossoms are already blooming! We found a few examples by a local road and other ones that are likely going to start opening very soon. Also in the region, we’re waiting for the cherry trees at Meadowlark Botanical Gardens to bloom, that is expected to happen at the end of the month.

October 29, 2022January 5, 2023

Catoctin Mountain Park

We visited Catoctin Mountain Park this morning to see the fall foliage. Catoctin is where Camp David is located, though of course we can’t go there! Overall, the colors were pretty good though as usual the trees were in a variety of conditions from completely green to completely without leaves. Still, it can be summarized as at peak or beyond.

October 22, 2022

Great Falls and Meadowlark Botanical Gardens

We started our day at the Maryland side of the Great Falls, a section of rapids on the Potomac river that separates Maryland and Virginia. This area is part of the C&O Canal National Historic Park. It was foggy when we arrived but rather nice when we got to the viewpoint in the middle of the river. Afterwards, we headed to an early lunch and then onward to Meadowlark Botanical Gardens. We were there to see what birds were around and to check out the fall foliage. But it seems we’ve missed much of fall already!

July 3, 2022

Middle Patuxent Environmental Area

We were in Howard County, Maryland today and decided to visit the Middle Patuxent Environmental Area. It covers a large area along the Middle Patuxent River and contains various trails. We ended up doing the Wildlife Loop Trail by the main parking lot. It was a bit wet and muddy at places but we got through it.

June 5, 2022June 15, 2022

Rural Howard & Montgomery Counties

I originally wasn’t going to write about our trip today to Western Regional Park in Howard County, Maryland, and the Brighton Dam Azalea Garden in Montgomery County. While nice places to take a walk, we didn’t see too much and the azaleas were already gone. However, we saw our first ever male Baltimore Oriole! So definitely worth writing about!