Yesterday, my husband and I were rolling over the hills of Western Maryland in our little hybrid. Literally over, not through, since we had made the deliberate choice to go as far as we could with the maps we had by the byways rather than the highways. We stopped at a toll booth erected on the old National Pike and climbed around the park for a bit, reading the historical plaques and peeking in the windows at the dusty recreated interior. Later, we pulled over at an incredibly beautiful mountain overlook that stood over 3 states. It was breathtaking.
I felt a little bit guilty about spending so much of Earth Day in the car, but we were returning from a visit with my family. As we stood at that incredible overlook, we could see where the Sideling Hill cut was made of I-68. And while it's really neat to be able to see the layers of rock there in the strange curve, I felt more aware of the mountain as I took the old road around. My only regret was that we hadn't packed a picnic to take with us and enjoy somewhere along the way. Unfortunately, many of the local groceries were closed.
I felt a little bit guilty about spending so much of Earth Day in the car, but we were returning from a visit with my family. As we stood at that incredible overlook, we could see where the Sideling Hill cut was made of I-68. And while it's really neat to be able to see the layers of rock there in the strange curve, I felt more aware of the mountain as I took the old road around. My only regret was that we hadn't packed a picnic to take with us and enjoy somewhere along the way. Unfortunately, many of the local groceries were closed.
Labels: hybrid car, travel
posted by Plain Foolish | 2:12 PM
6 Comments:
Now this sounds very fun and indeed a picnic would have made it a perfect moment. The overlook sounds beautiful. Pictures? I'm glad you had a nice weekend and much needed break.
The overlook was actually slightly overwhelming. Though I was back from the edge and the ground was sturdy, I had the odd feeling that I was being pulled out into the open space. It was like the feeling of looking up into the night sky and falling up. It was beautiful and incredible to be able to see so much at once, but I also admit to a feeling of relief when we were back on the side of the mountain, where the land curved around us in an embrace again.
I wonder if it's a little bit like a small child feels to be lifted up into the sky then dropped back into a loving hug. I grew up in the upper part of a valley, where the earth curved around us, and the gorge behind our house was heavily forested, so there was never such a feeling of open space, so the experience was simply... wow.
And I loved going around Sideling Hill, where I didn't have to see the raw cut for the highway, but instead feel the gentle curves that millenia have carved.
We were out of power most of the day (we thought it was Reliant Energy's incompetence but now that you mention it, it was oddly appropriate for Earth Day), so Mom and I went to a sandwich shop to get dinner. The car parked next to ours had bumper stickers:
1) Protect Texas Rivesr
2) Stop Mad Cowboy Disease (from PeaceMonger, source of much neo-hippie humor).
3) one for the Unitarian Universalists
We did a little dance.
Woot! (And thanks for the link.)
That sounds very unsettling! I'd love to see it tho'. Sounds a little like our Going to the sun road in Glacier. You just don't have the elevation, I'm guessing.
Cool bumper stickers. I just got one for our fridge: COEXIST with all the major faith symbols on it. I think it was from peacemongers too.
The elevation is 2000 feet.
http://www.dnr.state.md.us/publiclands/western/greenridge.html has a picture from a nearby scenic overlook -actually, looking at one of the rivers and mountains we saw from the historic overlook (the first car travel station on old route 40 in Maryland), but this one was less developed and higher. (and there was basically nothing between me and the rest of the mountainside.)
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