To Solomons Island MD

View Larger Map Type: Day Trip. Distance: 118 miles round trip Riding Time: 2hr 35min according to Google Map.
You know, I really like outdoor sculpture garden. Something about walking among artworks makes me relaxed and joyful. During my last business trip to Tokyo, my co-worker and I took a little stroll in Ueno Park. There is a museum with nice small sculpture garden there too. I throughly enjoyed it. The same co-worker recommended me to go to Ann Mary Garden in Solomons Island. It sounded like a good place. It turns out Solomons is a somewhat popular destination among DC metropolitan people. There are few places to visit, including a small brewery, a large Tiki bar, and a maritime museum with a light house. It's a short ride, but I decided to make a whole day out of it.  

Point A (F):
It was a bit chilly in the morning. The sky was overcast. (I just hoped it wouldn't rain.) I wasn't in a hurry so I took time enjoying breakfast with my family and upped the kick stand at 9:30.

It's pretty easy to navigate from Bowie to Solomons. Ride on US 301 and turn to MD 2 after about 20 miles. That's it! There is really only one turn here. To the tip of the Solomons, you just ride till MD 2 disappear into the ocean. (Of course, my first destination was not a tip of the Solomons so I had to turn to the Ann Mary garden. ) It was a beautiful ride. I just enjoyed lush green forest and pastures. East Coast spring has a beauty different from Colorado. (BTW, they just got a foot of snow in Boulder last week.)

Point B:
I got to the Ann Mary Garden around 10:30. Besides the sculpture garden, they have a good size gallery space.

They happened to have an exhibit of "Fairy Houses". Artists and community people contributed to make some houses for fairies. They were about to be brought outside in the sculpture garden for all the fairies to enjoy for summer season. I took a lot of pictures for my daughters inspiration. She would enjoy them. May be I would bring them over here some time.

They had a large collection of sculptures out in a 30 acres of forest. You get  to walk around on and off the paved walkway. It is a very nice setting. I enjoyed it.

I spent about two hours in the garden and the gallery and left for lunch. The Ruddy Duck Brewery is conveniently located near the garden. My lunch was a Crab Cake Sandwich.

There was a quote posted by my table;

Here's to a long life and a merry one

A quick death and an easy one.

A pretty girl and an honest one

A cold beer and another one!

I'd drink to that.

Point D:
After lunch, I strolled around this small island.

Point C:
I also stopped by at the Calbert County Maritime Museum. It's a small museum exhibiting the history of the Chesapeak area, starting from pre-historic (dinosaur age) to war of 1812 to present day. They had a good looking old lighthouse outside. It was decommissioned in 1962 and moved there in 1975.

From D to E:
I chose to take MD-2, MD-235, MD-5 and MD301 route on my return leg. I usually like to avoid tracing back the same route if I can help it. The highlight of this leg was right in the beginning of the trip. This rather impressive looking bridge. 1.5 miles long and 135 feet tall. You have a great view from the bridge, but it was a kind of thrilling at the same time. The way it keeps going up to the top was somewhat like being on an upslope on a roller coasters. You know, when you feel that anticipation of what to come after the upslope? It has two lanes with no shoulders. Man, I would hate to cross this bridge on a bike in a windy weather.

Point E:
The ride wasn't too bad until I turned to highway 301 in Waldorf. From then on was just kind of a commuter's traffic. There weree many cars, with notoriously bad DC drivers. Overall, I enjoyed the outbound leg much more than the return trip.   

Point F:
I got home around 4:00. My wife then reminded me that it was a Cinco de Mayo. So we went out to a neighborhood Mexican restaurant to celebrate. BTW, there aren't too many Mexican restaurant around here. Well, there just aren't too many Mexicans/Hispanics. Back in Denver, Cinco de Mayo was a pretty big celebration.