Washington DC - Maryland Countryside

This, is part one of a two part series of blogs, on my visits to Washington, DC and surrounding Area. This blog is about my visit to the beautiful Chesapeake Bay in Maryland about 2 hours drive from Washington DC. Janhavi and I spent a day on the bay during Memorial Day weekend this year - a welcome and relaxing break from fast lane and ‘monuments’ of the city.

We started around 10am from Alexandria, VA for Oxford, MD and were there by 11:30am. Along the way we passed the Bay Bride, longest & highest bridge I have been on. It’s pretty cool riding this one. As we headed closer to Oxford, the scenery got prettier and greener.

About 10 miles from Oxford, as we turned onto the local roads from the highway, the scenery transformed into something similar to ‘B Roads’ in outskirts of Banbury, UK, which is my way of saying: it was as good as any British Country side. Roads were lined with tall leafy trees on either side on the road forming a tunnel.

Behind them, lush green farms and fields. Many small by-roads which connect to the main road are even more picturesque. While some are lined with thick vegetation on either side, others curve around farms & farm houses fenced with tall trees until they end in unfinished gravel roads. Very scenic indeed! The only dissimilarity from British country side is that the houses here they are large colonial style with colonial colors – yellow and blue where as in England they cottage style hay stacked roofs. I was driving below the speed limit of 35MPH, which is saying something about the scenery. Read my Hawaii blog to know my frustration with roads with low speed limits.

Finally, after traversing a few by-roads, a big sign welcomed us into the city of Oxford. The town which houses less than 1000 people was established in 1669. It has just one main road – Morris St – about 3 miles long that leads straight to the bay. Along the street are old houses and small parks. The buildings in Oxford are primarily of the old style usually smaller structures but some modern homes also exist. Now, make no mistake. These are not hilli-billies living in this town. These are well to do folks. The reason I know that is because the locals had far more expensive cars than the ones most visitors were bringing into town, so you get the idea.

In Oxford, the most convenient and fun way to get around is on a bike. There are some bike rentals in the city. We preferred walking. We strolled around the town checking out buildings and homes with manicured lawns, narrow alleys and water fronts. An interesting feature of the town is that it has many chairs in the parks and lawns facing the river. They are everywhere. I read somewhere that the people to chair ratio is undisputedly highest in Oxford! We rested on one of the many water facing chairs watching boats sail by in the bay. A cool breeze constantly blows over the bay.

By now we had worked up an appetite. We had lunch at Madheast Restaurant - probably the best restaurant in town for outdoor seating - right on the bay. The 180 degrees view from the restaurants deck is breathtaking! We saw countless motor boats, sail boats, water scoters just crisscross the river. The most advertised food here is crab. The chefs have added crab into everything to meet all pallets – burgers to salads to pizza. This is real crab though – not the synthetic kind. Be warned, if you are looking for cheap eats this isn’t the place. At $15.95 for a burger or salad, this is anything but cheap but that’s the price of enjoying a chilled beer by the bay on a warm spring afternoon.

Lunch done and still half the day ahead of us, we took a ferry across the river to the nearest town – St. Michaels. On the other side, more of the same - Narrow roads and lanes, thick forest, colonial style houses, large lush green plains and farms - until you turn into St.  Michaels, that is.

St. Michael is bigger town, much bigger than Oxford boasting its own gas station, super-market, bank and public parking. It seems older than Oxford but its really not. There are many stores, boutiques, pubs and restaurants. Naturally, there is more traffic, more people. Justins is a popular place for deserts where, on a warm spring day, lines often snake out the store.

A short walk from the main street is the Marine time museum which is actually not a building but an area. There is a light house, a watch tower and an old port. Ticketed admission into the museum gives access to these attractions. We didn’t go in since there is enough walk to be had along the river. There is even a river cruise but we didn’t look into that either.

A few more strolls later we returned back to Virginia. If you have an extra day in DC Area, I would highly recommend visiting the Chesapeake area for a one day get away. You can even make a weekend out of this by staying in St. Michaels and visiting other town such as Cambridge. All these cities are within 30min driving distance of each other. The entire Chesapeake Bay region is quaint, picturesque, laid back and a throw back in time AND it’s just two hours away from DC.