MARYLAND!!
Last week, Stephen and I made the drive up to his hometown of Snow Hill, MD. It's on the eastern shore of Maryland, very close to Virginia after you go through 2 tunnels through the Chesapeake Bay. It took about 8 hours but it really didn't feel that long! The town is exactly like my sister-in-law's one stoplight hometown of Red Bud, IL. Lots of farm land, wide open spaces, stars as far as the eye can see, and lightning bugs in such a large number it looks like a firecracker fizzling out falling to the ground.
We stayed in MD for 4 days before driving to Baltimore to hop a plane to Denver. During our stay, we went to Stephen's friend Seth's house (probably the coolest house I've ever been to--it had a secret room behind a bookshelf just like in a mystery movie!). Seth's backyard was an oasis! He built 2 Koi ponds partway under a gazebo with wisteria growing around it, he had a saltwater pool, a parrot named Walter, and 2 pet bunnies!!! Seth took us out on his boat in the bay and brought us to a little island you can only get to by boat. There we found some of the prettiest, complete conch shells on the beach and Stephen and I took a "few" to add to the growing collection at my house. I also learned what a Mendanite was....there was a group of them on the beach- apparently they are like Amish people! Stephen decided to snap some pictures of them if you're curious what they look like haha!
We drove to the beach which, much to my surprise, had white sand and clear water. I almost felt like we were in Florida, especially when a pod of 8 or so dolphins came swimming up near us!! I was standing in the water when I saw a dark cloud...first thought was a whale, but I quickly dismissed that and realized it was a very large school of fish. I knew something was probably pushing them to shore so I got everyone's attention and we spotted the first 2 dolphins! It was really neat to see them that up close. His sister Lauren and her fiance Louis, met up with us and we went into one of the hotel pools...and I made a poor life decision: Tequila. After a few drinks, we decided to go on the nearby roller coaster that shot you forward into some loops, then took you backwards through the whole thing again. GREAT idea!
On our last day before flying to Colorado, we went to a family get-together at his aunt's house to celebrate father's day. I LOVE his family! ESPECIALLY their food!! It was so great seeing where Stephen came from, where he grew up and who he hung out with...even seeing the naked baby pictures ;) Watching him with his family made me appreciate him even more than I already do. I look forward to visiting MD again soon, hopefully again before the year is over!
To view pictures, click here:
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