Hello everyone, well we’ve made it through another week. I hope it’s been a good one wherever you’re reading this from today. Mine has been really good – probably the best I’ve had since returning home to D.C. now 2 months ago. After a positive start to being sheltered in place and having some free time to catch up on some work and try some fun stay-at-home hobbies, I really hit a downward spiral there for a while as claustrophobia and cabin fever kicked in. With the extended and indefinite closure of my industry (travel and tourism), I found myself staring out at an uncertain and challenging future. I usually keep my anxiety levels in check by being in control of certain aspects of the situation and then allowing the rest to unfold as it will. Under these circumstances, my environment is more controlled than usual, but there are thousands of moving pieces around the world that I have no control over, but which will help shape my near and distant future. I find that to be incredibly frustrating, and with limitations on how I normally deal with my frustration as the gym is closed, travel is limited and my camera is gathering dust.
I’m the kind of person who usually turns inward to sort things out, dealing with them in my own head with little or no outside influence. This week though, I’ve had a lot of outside influences help pull me up out of the mud. First I got some nice messages from some of y’all which is always appreciated. Believe me, I love to hear from you so don’t hesitate to comment or message me. Second, I met with a couple of different friend groups over Zoom which is always good. Third, I went to see some of my friends in person – masked and 10 feet apart, but it was still great to actually see people in the flesh. I hate the fact that I’m home and can’t see my friends or their kids, and this was a chance to at least pop around and say hello. And lastly, my mom came up with a plan to get us out of the house and provide some outlet for being stuck at home indefinitely.
Last Thursday, we went for a walk in Rock Creek Park, the large green space which surrounds its namesake creek through the middle of the city. We took a look at the earthworks that were once Fort DeRussy which was part of the Civil War Defenses of Washington. There’s not much left of it these days, but it’s cool to see the old breastworks and also to see the area being reclaimed by the forest. From there, we descended down to Rock Creek itself and wandered along the bank for a while. We crossed over for a look at the Miller Cabin, an 1880s cabin which had been relocated to the park some time ago. Finally, we checked out the old Milkhouse Ford, a shallow place in the creek which cars used to cross it until the 1950s. It was a wonderful walk with some great local history, and it was nice to get some fresh air and exercise.
Friday we had our weekly “party” where we don’t talk about viruses or news or politics, but just get together and have some food, drinks, fun and music. This week we had “College Night”, where my mom put on her University of Wisconsin gear, I put on my Penn State gear and we listened to fight songs, played some games and had some delicious bar snacks. It turns out spinach and artichoke dip is unbelievably easy to make, and mine tasted much better than it does in the bars.
Over the weekend, we spent time out back in the yard, barbecuing up some great meals and enjoying the warmer but not yet hot weather of late spring in Washington. Monday we celebrated Memorial Day with a time-honored family tradition of staying-the-heck-home. We did go downtown in the morning so my mother could put some flowers at the World War II Memorial, something we haven’t been able to do for a few years due to crowds and road closures. We then headed home and had a rousing Frisbee game, a sausage sizzle, watermelon and my grandmother’s strawberry pie. It was a fun day and felt like the holiday it was.
Tuesday we decided to get at the real meaning of the weekend though by traveling north and west to Antietam National Battlefield at Sharpsburg, Maryland. These battlefields feel like good choices for an escape as there is hardly anyone there and we can maintain a safe and comfortable distance. We spent most of the day retracing the battle, which was the bloodiest single day in American history with over 23,000 casualties. We hit the major landmarks at the Dunker Church, the Cornfield, Bloody Lane and the Burnside Bridge and finished the day at Antietam National Cemetery. It was an amazing and moving day, and great to spend time with my mom and to be back on the road and taking photos. It was a beautiful day for all of those things. My mom packed a delicious picnic lunch, and we had thrown dinner into the slow-cooker before we left so it would be ready when we got home tired and hungry. We also managed a quick dip down into Shepherdstown, West Virginia since we were just a few miles up the road. Shepherdstown was where I spent Day 4 of this journey, way back in November 2017. It was nice to see it sunny and warm and under blue skies as it had been a cold winter’s day back when I was there before. We got home in the daylight, and enjoyed our slow cooked Irish stew before calling it a day. I’ve got some nice photos from the day in this post, and hope to put more up later this week. It was great to be out and taking pictures again.
Today has been a quiet one. I need to catch up on some things and get ready for the week ahead. I talked to my mom and we’re going to keep going along the Civil War trail, and continue to trace the battles in chronological order. This is something I’ve always wanted to do as it makes so much more sense and is easier to follow what was happening. This coming week we hope to head south to visit and learn more about the battles at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville.
This week I’ve started a new series I hope to continue at least as long as I’m here at home. It’s called 1000 Words and each post tells a story associated with one of my favorite photos. I started out with an oldie but a goodie from Grand Canyon (read it HERE), but the second one is a newly written story about my last summer in Alaska (HERE). It feels good to be writing in storyteller form again, and I hope to continue this series in the weeks to come. I hope you’ll give them a read and let me know what you think.
And that’s about it for this week. As I said at the beginning, it’s been a good one. I hope I can keep that going this week, but I’m still taking it a day at a time. Thank you all for your continued support and, as always, for following along. Have a great week and we’ll see you right back here next week.
-Mike