Seamless Segue from Lowlands to Mountains

Journey from Sub-Tropics to Snow

The guy above us decided to use his hot-tub at 2:30 a.m., Thursday morning. It sounded like a tornado was going through our suite.
I shot up like a bolt to Joe kinda slurring his words, "Wassa matter?" What the hey. Might as well consider departing earlier than planned, even though we'd only had a few hours sleep…

Long story short, we were on the road by 4:30 in the morning. Turns out the middle-of-the-night bather did us a favor. We landed in Washington's "loop" by early afternoon, when traffic was already heavy but moving. Not the case on our trip down, when we spent hours getting from DC to Fredericksburg, VA, only 35 miles away.

Maryland Horse Farm sans Mr. Ed

Oooh-kay. Next up was Maryland and its truly gorgeous farmlands, with heavy concentration on horses and black angus cattle. I was bound and determined to stop for the night, before we hit Pennsylvania. We crashed in Frederick (no joke), MD, at a Hampton Inn that was pet friendly. Chinese food by 5:00 p.m. and asleep within the hour… till the next morning at 6:00, with just one interruption...

We both awakened before midnight, thinking it was morning. Talk about the early-bird special, eh? Before dozing off again,
I had a laughing fit, thinking about the 30-pound pet limit. There was Mambo - all 140 pounds of him - sprawled out on the rug. Seems that Alex at the registration desk forgot to tell us this little detail, instead looking the other way when Big Dog pranced through the lobby.
I must digress here for one more Mambo story:

Joe stopped at a cooperative carwash, after the beach on Wednesday. By "cooperative", I mean that about 20 guys were scrubbing tires, vacuuming interiors and polishing paint. They pointed me towards an area in which to wait. Joe stuck with the car. I took a seat. Big M, like the good boy that he is, plopped himself right next to me. When I looked up, all 20 were in a semi-circle, snapping cellphone cameras like crazy to capture our adorable pooch. 'Tis a pity, but I don't have a pic of THEM. Next came the explanations about the
Black Russian Terrier breed…. too funny. Now…

RealTime: Home, Sweet Home

Back to our trip from sub-tropics to snow. We were home by mid-afternoon on Friday (yesterday). Bri had taken great care of the Old Homestead and all's well. What an awesome time we had! Now, though, we've a long wait till it's time for al fresco dining in our neck of the woods.

Georgetown Al Fresco