College Park, Maryland – we saw lots of friends!

My next stop was Cherry Hill RV Park in College Park, MD. This is actually one of the top 10 rated campgrounds in the country (or so I’ve heard) and it is easily one of the nicest that I’ve been to yet. Campsites were spread out and the place was gigantic. There is a 1.25 mile nature trail that goes around the whole perimeter that we walked a few times. The area has an extensive bike trail system, and half mile down the hill from the campground was an area that took me to University of Maryland. It was well maintained and a very pretty ride. I went down there twice during my stay. 

During this part of the trip, I got to spend time with quite a few friends. Mind you, I had originally planned to stop to see a whole office full of friends in Delaware, but it took me so long to get off of Long Island (2.5 hours from Setauket to New Jersey? We need a ferry!) that I had to skip that part of the trip for now.

First up was a visit with Erica, my friend and sophomore year RA and a visit to Wolf Trap. It wasn’t planned that way but worked out better than my original plan to go by myself to see Renee Fleming and the National Symphony Orchestra. Fred and I spent the afternoon with Erica and Odie, visiting the Ellanor Lawrence Park in Chantilly, VA for a hike and a swim in the creek. Fred stayed home with Odie and Erica’s husband Mitch while we went to the concert. For my friends from the Northeast, Wolf Trap is very much like Tanglewood. We got lawn seats and enjoyed the concert. I loved the milk box – it adorns Erica’s front stoop… I remember we had one of these back when I was a kid and the milkman delivered!

The next day we got to visit with Terry and took a ride to Annapolis, MD. The town was quite crowded, although it was to be expected on a Saturday. We walked around on a rainy day and stopped for lunch. All in all, it was a nice day out!

So there’s this attorney, Suzanne, that I’ve been working with at Chase for several years. She’s officially the first person to ever have seen Fred on video conference call, and she thought he might be a big cat (and OK she probably doesn’t remember that but it was sort of comical so I have never forgotten it). Anyhow, Fred’s been her ongoing video buddy and even though we don’t work together much any longer, it seemed just right that they needed to meet in person. Due to the difficulties associated with parking an RV in a town with narrow streets, Suzanne picked us up and we spent a couple of hours with Fred at the Shirlington Dog Park and then at dinner. A good time was had by all, especially Fred who got an extended swim time at 4 Mile Run.

The last people we saw in College Park were my cousin Sarah and her family. It’s been a very long time since I’ve seen Sarah – maybe since she was married in 1998? – but I knew she was close by and figured out how to get in touch with her. We spent a nice afternoon at her home catching up and I got to meet 2 of her 3 children. The twins, Avi and Talya, clearly are not identical 😂. As usual, Fred worked his magical powers on them.