Southern Maryland

Trip down to Southern Maryland today - first stop was in Lusby (just north of Solomon's Island) to see my mother's friend Deb, who lives down there. We met up at her house, and went for a walk on her local beach, which is just south of Calvert Cliffs.





There were tons of shells, especially these conical ones, which apparently are fossil ones which have fallen out of the clay cliffs as they erode and which have washed onto the beach in thousands.





The chalk cliffs are very similar to those at Calvert Cliffs; I imagine the whole coastline there is like that.





After some lunch with Deb at a cafe inside a gourmet supermarket & cafe in Solomon's (yeah, I know - gourmet supermarket in Southern Maryland!) we went down to the campus (St Mary's College of Maryland), which is literally twice the size (if not bigger) it was when I went there (admittedly, I did graduate 20 years ago) and had a poke around. It was really really hot, so we didn't go look at the Living History, instead just poked around campus, going in and out of a few buildings, as well as spending a little time in the new St John's Museum, which I liked a lot (and not just because it was air-conditioned, though that didn't hurt any). The view above is looking out across the pond (St John's Pond) & Rt 5 to the River. I was standing (and I'm sure all you alumni can picture this perfectly) where the paths come together as you come down the hill from the Bell Tower. If only I'd had a frisbee in my hand...

We then drove down to Point Lookout, where we looked at the lighthouse and the view from the end of the land across all that water - and even better than that (the lighthouse being, admittedly, not all that exciting) on the way down through the park to the Lighthouse, we spotted this guy. Luckily, there was no one behind us on the road, so we just stopped the car and watched until he flew away. We saw him again later, on the way back, mostly in flight. Wow.



One of my kids read some trivia fact the other day that Bald Eagles live in every one of the 50 states except Hawaii, but somehow you don't expect to see one quite so casually. As it happens, we saw another one later at Calvert Cliffs, but only briefly, and in flight. This guy had been on the grass by the side of the road when we drove up, startling him (or her, who knows) up into the tree - and although he flew off after a while he was back at the same spot later, so there was obviously something in the way of dinner down there on the ground that he was trying to get at (if only all these stupid cars would stop coming through!)...

On the way back north, we stopped at Calvert Cliffs, as the kids wanted to try to find some fossil shark teeth on the beach there. We didn't find any, unfortunately, though we did find some nice shells and rocks, and of course, we saw another bald eagle.





You aren't allowed to walk along the cliff bottom any more, so unfortunately, that makes it a bit harder to find good fossils.



Given the precariousness of some of the trees at the cliff top, it's probably just as well that you aren't allowed to walk along the cliff bottom. Though I admit, I did walk a little way along, as I like looking at the cliffs. I did stay right at the water's edge, though, rather than directly up next to the cliffs!





Gotta dig all the barnacles on this log!