1,000 Places to See in the U.S.A. & Canada Before You Die (24 page)

Hot dogs may be the average baseball snack of choice, but true “Birds” fans know that the best sustenance in Camden Yards is at Boog’s Barbecue. John Wesley “Boog” Powell, all-star Orioles first baseman from 1965 to ’71, traded a baseball cap for a chef’s hat and now serves up the city’s favorite pit beef during home games.

Although he made his mark on history with the New York Yankees, George Herman “Babe” Ruth was one of Baltimore’s most famous sons (together with Edgar Allan Poe). He was born here on February 6, 1895, in a modest brick rowhouse just three blocks—one long fly ball—from Camden Yards. Two rooms in his grandparents’ house have been turned into a museum-cum-shrine to the baseball legend, filled with memorabilia, photographs, films, and taped radio broadcasts from his unparalleled major league career. A part of the museum’s collection was spun off in 2005 into Sport Legends at Camden Yards, an interactive museum next door to the stadium focusing on the Orioles and other Baltimore pro teams.

O
RIOLE
P
ARK AT
C
AMDEN
Y
ARDS:
333 W. Camden St. Tel 888-848-BIRD or 410-685-9800;
www.theorioles.com
.
When:
games Apr–Oct; tours Feb–Dec.
B
ABE
R
UTH’S
B
IRTHPLACE AND
M
USEUM
: Tel 410-727-1539;
www.baberuthmuseum.com
.
When:
daily, Apr–Oct; closed Mon, Nov–Mar.
B
EST TIMES
: during Orioles home games, and on Babe Ruth’s birthday (Feb 6), when the Babe Ruth Museum offers free admission, a champagne toast, and birthday cake.

Oriole Park at Camden Yards became the official home of the O’s on April 6, 1992.

Timeless Corner of the Chesapeake Bay

Maryland and Virginia

The Chesapeake Bay’s mouth opens into Virginia’s Hampton Roads, one of the biggest, best, and busiest natural ports in the world. Up at the Maryland end, though, things are decidedly quieter. The sleepy town of
Crisfield sits on a peninsula at the southern tip of Maryland’s Eastern Shore and has long been called the “Seafood Capital of the World.” Things come alive during crab season (April to October), when the docks are busy and crab-packing houses along the waterfront do a brisk trade. Together with nearby Smith and Tangier Islands (the latter is part of
Virginia), it’s a time-warp kind of place where life revolves around the fruits of the bay, and boats seem as common as cars.

In the language of the Susquehanna Indians, Chesapeake means “great shellfish bay.”

Set up base on terra firma, and revel in the rural bliss that pervades the Waterloo Country Inn in Princess Anne, about 30 miles north of Crisfield. The brick manor house was built in 1750 and offers just six elegant accommodations. It is surrounded by acres of its original farmland overlooking a tidal pond.

Leave everyday life even farther behind by heading just a few miles into the bay from Crisfield, to Smith and Tangier Islands. Each has been isolated for so long that residents still speak with the faint but distinctive Elizabethan broguelike lilt reminiscent of their forebears. Most visitors just take a ferry over for the day, but B&Bs and homestyle restaurants can be found on both islands and encourage visitors to linger and unwind. Tylerton, on Smith Island, has only 60 local folks, and the owners of the very special Inn of Silent Music are the only nonfishermen. Stay in their old-fashioned farmhouse surrounded on three sides by water, and you’ll long remember the serenity, the breakfasts of German apple pancakes on the screened-in porch, and that sinking feeling that comes with the thought of having to leave it all for the real world.

W
HERE:
Crisfield is 147 miles southeast of Baltimore.
W
ATERLOO
C
OUNTRY
I
NN:
Princess Anne. Tel 410-651-0883.
Cost:
from $125 (off-peak), from $145 (peak).
S
MITH
I
SLAND
C
RUISES:
Tel 410-425-2771;
www.smithislandcruises.com
.
When:
May–Oct.
T
ANGIER
& C
HESAPEAKE
C
RUISES:
Crisfield. Tel 800-863-2338 or 410-968-2338;
www.tangiercruise.com
.
When:
May–Oct.
I
NN OF
S
ILENT
M
USIC
: Tylerton, Smith Island. Tel 410-425-3541;
www.innofsilentmusic.com
.
Cost:
from $105; dinner $20.
When:
Mar–Nov.
B
EST TIMES
: in Crisfield, 3rd Wed in July for the all-you-can-eat J. Millard Tawes Crab and Clam Bake, and a weekend in early Sept for the National Hard Crab Derby and Fair.

The Youghiogheny and the Great Outdoors

Maryland

The far western tip of Maryland packs more outdoors options into one single county (Garrett) than any other in the state. Grab your gear and start at the top with rafting on the Youghiogheny (YOCK-uh-ganey) River, the hallowed
birthplace of commercial rafting in the U.S. From Sang Run to Friendsville, the Upper Yough boasts a heart-pounding succession of 19 Class IV and V rapids in a 10-mile stretch, with rightfully intimidating names like Bastard, Lost and Found, and Meat Cleaver. You can breathe again when you hit the milder, but no less beautiful, Middle Yough, running from Confluence to Ohiopyle, whose Class I and II rapids are perfect for beginners and families. The Lower Yough,
from Ohiopyle to Bruner Run, is the busiest section of white water east of the Mississippi, with Class III and IV rapids that are challenging without becoming overwhelming.

More serene waters beckon at the 3,900-acre Deep Creek Lake, Maryland’s largest freshwater lake, with 65 miles of shoreline to explore. Vacationers flock here in the summer and enjoy the chance to revel in the lake community’s old-time charm. Boating, naturally, is the most popular activity at this time of year, and it’s also the fastest and easiest way to get around: You can go shopping, to the movies, and even to church by boat. Hiking, camping, fishing, and mountain biking are excellent here as well. Seven state forests and parks also fill Garrett County, including Savage River State Forest, Maryland’s largest, and Swallow Falls State Park, named for the state’s highest free-falling waterfall.

Rockies veterans might laugh at Maryland’s only ski hill, the 700-foot-high Wisp Resort, but it proudly offers 32 slopes, some supplying handsome views of nearby Deep Creek Lake. Backbone Ski Farm, a working 530-acre organic farm in Oakland, at the foot of Backbone Mountain, offers 15 kilometers of maintained Nordic ski trails. Spend the day immersed in deep, pristine forests. Then collapse at the cozy Arts-and-Crafts Lake Pointe Inn on a private slip of Deep Creek Lake’s shoreline. All of the comfy guestrooms have views either of the lake or of nearby Wisp Resort.

W
HERE
: 180 miles west of Baltimore.
R
AFTING
: Precision Rafting (Tel 800-477-3723 or 301-746-5290;
www.precisionrafting.com
) offers trips on the Upper Yough.
Cost:
daytrips from $110 per person.
When:
Apr–Oct.
B
OAT
R
ENTALS:
Deep Creek Lake Boat Rentals in McHenry (tel 301-387-9130;
www.deepcreeklakeboatrentals.com
) rents power boats from $175 per day.
When:
late May–early Sept.
W
ISP
R
ESORT:
McHenry. Tel 301-387-4911;
www.skiwisp.com
.
Cost:
lift tickets from $30.
When:
Nov–Mar.
B
ACKBONE
S
KI
F
ARM:
Oakland. Tel 301-334-5633;
www.backbonefarm.com
.
When:
Nov–Mar.
L
AKE
P
OINTE
I
NN:
McHenry. Tel 800-523-LAKE or 301-387-0111;
www.deepcreekinns.com
.
Cost:
from $158 (off-peak), from $173 (peak).
B
EST TIMES
: Jan–Feb for best skiing; Apr–Oct for good rafting; mid-Oct for the 4-day Autumn Glory Festival.

One State’s Thoroughbred Passion

Maryland

Maryland’s zeal for all things equine dates back centuries. The first hunting hounds arrived from Europe in 1650, the Maryland Jockey Club was established in 1743, and the state sport—jousting—has
also been a fixture here since colonial times, although the event itself has evolved from a bone-breaking collision of horsemen to a honed test of speed and skill.

Laced by white-painted fences along rolling green farms, northern Baltimore and Harford counties are unquestionably horse country. “Point-to-point” or steeplechase races start on weekends in April at private farms in the area. The third Saturday of the month is saved for the Grand National Steeplechase in Butler. The following Saturday is even bigger: the Maryland Hunt Cup at Worthington Farms, which holds the claim as
the oldest steeplechase race in the country. Along with the English Grand National, it’s considered one of the two greatest in the world, and is widely thought to be the most difficult. Advance tickets are key to attending the 4-mile, 22-fence race and the attendant tailgate parties, where everyone seems to know everyone else and the bonhomie belies the money invested in these equine athletes.

The Maryland Jockey Club runs the Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, the state’s oldest and most prestigious Thoroughbred track. It was here in 1938 that Seabiscuit made history by beating Triple Crown winner War Admiral. Thoroughbreds thunder down the one-mile, 70-foot-wide track from spring through fall, but the season peaks early, in late May, during the much-heralded Preakness Stakes, the middle jewel in the Triple Crown, sandwiched between the behemoth Kentucky Derby (see p. 413) and the Belmont Stakes in New York. The preceding week is one big party, kicked off by the Preakness Parade and the black-tie Triple Crown Ball, a virtual who’s who of Baltimore high society. On Wednesday, Charles Street is closed for the Flower Mart, with 200 vendors selling food, crafts, and, of course, meadows’ worth of flowers. The race itself is a raucous mix of T-shirts and beer in the infield and fancy dress and all manner of millinery in the grandstand. Over 150,000 fans ensure that even the standing-room-only tickets are in high demand.

M
ARYLAND
J
OUSTING
T
OURNAMENT
A
SSOCIATION:
Tel 410-820-7751;
www.geocities.com/marylandjousting
.
M
ARYLAND
S
TEEPLECHASING
:
www.marylandsteeplechasing.com
.
P
IMLICO
R
ACE
C
OURSE:
Baltimore. Tel 410-542-9400;
www.pimlico.com
.
When:
races Wed–Sat, Apr–Sept.
P
REAKNESS
S
TAKES:
Pimlico Race Course. Tel 877-206-8042 or 410-542-9400;
www.preakness.com
.
Cost:
from $20.
When:
3rd Sat in May.
B
EST TIME
: Preakness Week, the 2nd week in May before the Preakness Stakes, with concerts, fireworks, parties, and the Flower Mart on Wed.