Hampton Mansion - National Historic Site

On Sunday, the folks drove to Towson, MD to visit the Hampton Mansion which is a national historic site.  Admission is FREE.  The estate was owned by the Ridgely family for seven generations, from 1745 to 1948. The Hampton Mansion was the largest private home in America when it was completed in 1790 and today is considered to be one of the finest examples of Georgian architecture in the U.S.

Hampton Mansion

A ranger gives visitors tours of the mansion. It is scheduled to last an hour, but the folks' tour lasted 1 hour and 20 minutes.  At one time, the estate had 25,000 acres.  There were also 350 enslaved people working here.  They use the word "enslaved" and not "slaves" on the tour.  The enslaved people were not just African Americans but also people from Europe who signed a contract to work for the "master" for a number of years.  The ranger said that all the enslaved people were mistreated and abused. 

It was a little confusing keeping track of all the "masters" as they were all the same family and some had the same names.  The curator decided to decorate one room for each "master" so that visitors could see what it would have looked like during the time period that he lived there.

The ranger said that the slipcovers were removed during the summer months as were the carpets and heavy curtains. They don't do it now because they don't have the staff.

A greyhound!  The ranger said she used to have a greyhound.  Well, you know that Mom had to chime in on that.  The whole tour agreed that greyhounds are good dogs.

The foyer.

The family dined on pineapple and oranges.  Very uncommon for this area.  They had a green house.

The blue color shows that they were a wealthy family.

This is their furniture not just period pieces.

This was the kitchen which was connected to the house.  Most kitchens were not connected to homes during that time due to fear of fire.

Very unusual according to ranger.  This was basically a modern day crock pot. The picture is looking down into the crock pot.

Oven

Original floor.  You can see how it is worn down by people walking on it.

Master bedroom.  We all decided that the baby crib would not have been there. The ranger said that she and the curator disagree on this.  The mother would not have been the one feeding the baby in the middle of the night not with all the enslaves they had. This family had 11 or 12 children.

Another bedroom

Women's riding coat is on the bed.

 

Dad walking into the ice house.  Mom stayed above ground.

The mansion as seen from the Lower House and the slave quarters.

Slave quarters

The slave village was made to look nice so that the mansion owners had a nice view.

This is the Lower House.  The Master lived in this house while the mansion was being built.  The final owners of the mansion lived here because they could no longer afford the upkeep of the mansion.  The wife of the final master lived here until 1978.

 Tours of the Lower House are given, however, the ranger was not available when the folks were there.

Mule stable

 There are also gardens to explore as well as the cemetery.  The folks did not do that as they were hungry and wanted to eat lunch.

The folks ate lunch at the Rec Room in Towson.  It is a family-owned restaurant/bar.  They started their meal off with Rockfish Tenders.  Mom was surprised that Dad ordered fish as an appetizer, but it was good.

Rockfish Tenders

Their meals came with a salad.  Mom said it was really good.

 Mom ordered the Hungry Man.  Are you ready for this?  It is thinly shaved pit beef over waffle fries smothered with au jus mushroom gravy.

Hungry Man

 Dad ordered the Rasta Pasta. It is char-grilled jerk chicken with bowtie pasta, sundried tomatoes and a red onion in a light spiced jerk cream sauce.

Rasta Pasta

So, what did the folks think?  They loved it!  They ended up taking half their meals home and ate them for dinner.  Mom said they may be returning.

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Is Happy His Corn Was Removed This Morning

A Quick Visit To Lancaster, PA

Saturday morning the folks decided to visit Lancaster, PA.  Dad said there was an outlet mall there that had a VF Outlet store.  Mom shopped at the one in Foley, AL when we stayed there last winter.  She found that they had the jeans that she likes as well as Dad's work pants.  She can't find them anywhere else. She thinks they have stopped making them and that is why she finds them at the outlet store.

I stayed home and rested.

Lancaster, PA is known for being an Amish community, but Mom said it seemed to be a very touristy area too.  She said she would enjoy staying there for a while because they had some great shopping.

Their first stop was to an Amish restaurant, Good N Plenty Restaurant.  The restaurant lets you decide if you want a family dining experience or just ordering off the menu.  If you order the family dining, it is $22 a person and you are seated with other people.  The family is served in bowls that are passed around and it is all you can eat.  The folks decided $22 for quite a bit to spend for lunch, so they decided to just order off the menu.

Mom ordered the fried chicken, mashed potatoes and coleslaw.  It was $9.99.

Dad ordered the sampler.  It has sausage and sauerkraut, meatloaf, chicken, corn on the cob and a side salad.

All the dinners come with a dessert.  Mom chose the cherry crumble and Dad had the cracker pudding.  The folks said the food was bland.  Dad said the sauerkraut was sweet.  He didn't care for it.  They are glad they tried it, but they will not be back.

After lunch, the folk headed to the outlet mall.  Mom found her jeans and bought three pair.  She also bought two pair of shoes.  Dad bought two pair of work pants and a pair jeans. They normally don't buy that much at once, but since they haven't found the clothes they like elsewhere, they splurged. They spent under $150.  They were pleased, but it sounds like a lot of money to me.  Think of how many treats I could have bought with that much money.

Mom was thrilled that they have a QVC outlet there.  She used to be a big QVC fan when we had a house.  If you don't know, QVC is a shopping channel on TV.  Mom enjoyed going through the store.  She didn't buy anything because we really don't need anything and as we mentioned in our last post, if you don't have a place for it, you can't buy it.  She was amazed at the amount of items that the store had.  The prices were good.

Dad told Mom that there was a huge pet store nearby, so they stopped there.  It is really a big fish store, but they also carry dog items.  Dad insisted that they buy me a new toy.  Mom was really surprised because Dad usually doesn't initiate buying me anything.  They picked me out a very long bunny that crinkles and has three big squeakers in it.  A Great Dane puppy was there and she decided that she wanted one of the bunny toys too.  Mom said she was as big as me and she was only seven months old. 

The folks made one more stop on the way home and that was for dinner. They stopped at Mission BBQ.  Mom said the beef brisket was the best she has ever had.  Dad liked his food too, but said he prefers Dickey's BBQ better.  According to the folks, Dickey's is a better value because the sides are included and they taste better.  I got a few fries and I thought they were good.  I guess I need to try Dickey's fries again to decide which one is better.  :::hint, hint:::

They finally arrived back home and gave me my new toy.  I like it.

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Used His New Toy To Wake Dad Up On Sunday

What Are The Must Haves?

We have been asked several times in the past few months what are our "must haves" for our RV.  My list is pretty small.  I need a few toys, bully sticks, frosty treats, my boot and my bed.  I'm pretty easy. 

Oh wait....I need a couch.  Definitely need to include couch on my list.

 

Mom's list is somewhat larger.  She actually got rid of a few things and re-purchased them while on the road.  A few things that she has re-purchased are: iced tea maker, electric can opener and a food chopper. She bought the Ninja 3 in 1 and got rid of her old slow cooker. 

So, what are the items that Mom thinks are necessary?  Well, they may not be necessary, but she finds some items just make life easier.  Here is her list in no particular order:

Kindle -  She upgraded to the Paperwhite last year because it has a built in light and she loves reading at night.  She gets most of her books from the library, but also finds free books online.   She has been on a reading binge lately.  I think she has been reading something like four to five books a week since we have been here. 

Laptop - She has a tablet, but she prefers her laptop.  The tablet used to be used while we were on the road for the travel apps, but now she has a smart phone. Basically our tablet doesn't connect well with our Mi-Fi and it gets stuck a lot.

Mi-Fi - what is it?  It is a device that connects us to the Internet.  Our service is through Verizon.  We only have 5 GB a month, so we can't watch many videos and we definitely cannot stream movies.  The folks are pretty happy though because Mom's cell phone service was upgraded to 4.5 GB a month for free and the unused data is carried over.  Mom uses her cell phone as a hot spot when she needs the additional data.  Some campgrounds have fee Wi-Fi but many times it doesn't work well, so we prefer to have our own.

Mi-Fi

Smartphone - She really didn't think she would use it that much.  BOL!  She finds it is a huge help even when the folks go sightseeing for the day.  There are times that the GPS doesn't work and the phone has saved them.  She also looks up restaurants and attractions while they are driving.  Basically, she uses it all the time.

Satellite - Dish has a pay as you go program for RVers.  If we decide we don't want to use it, we can just stop and when we want to start it up again, there are no fees. We just tell them and it is turned on again.  In the beginning, we were using the cable that most campgrounds provide.  We found that most did not have a guide to tell us what was on and every time we moved to a new place, we would have to learn all the channels.  Mom found it frustrating.  Dad likes HBO and that wasn't included at most campgrounds.  They are happier using Dish.  When we arrive at a new location, Mom tells Dish where we are and they turn on the local channels for us.  Our satellite with this rig is located on the roof and all we do it turn it on and it finds the satellites for us.  So far, we have had sites without trees so our satellite has worked great. 

Ninja 3 in 1 - This is a slow cooker, cooktop, steamer and oven.  It is the size of a slow cooker.  Yesterday, she used it to bake a frozen pizza for lunch, roasted garlic and then fixed a meatloaf in it for dinner.  It doesn't heat up the kitchen.  (The frozen pizza was a half a pizza.  A full one will not fit, but Mom doesn't need to eat a full one anyway.)

Collapsible bowls, measuring cups. strainers, etc.  Basically, anything that is easy to store, she likes.

Printer - yes, we actually use our printer quite a bit.  It is also a scanner.  Mom prints off her Emeals menu every week.  Yes, she could use her smartphone, but she prefers to have the paper copy.  It is not uncommon for her to need to print something.

We have found that we can be quite happy without a lot of "stuff".  Our rule is that if you don't have a place for it, then you can't buy it.  When it comes to clothes, you have to get rid of something if you buy something new. 

Mom created an Amazon link to some of her favorite items. They are on the column on the right. (Above Jack's photo)  It is almost like you are peeking into our RV to see what items we own.  BOL!

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Loves Living In A RV

The Flag House and Someone Is Now 50

I am a happy guy this morning.  My Dad has been away on a business trip since Sunday, but he came home last night.  I wish he didn't have to work today, but he will be home tonight.  Mom and I did fine while he was gone, but I sure hated seeing him walk out the door with his luggage on Sunday.  Mom had the pleasure of picking him up at the airport last night during rush hour. She was thrilled about that since it was her first time driving to that airport.  Oh and if you are wondering, I did not hold a peaceful protest like I did last year.  You don't remember that?  Check it out here:  Peaceful Protest

Saturday, the folks drove to Baltimore to visit The Flag House.  The Flag House is the house that Mary Pickersgill lived in.  She is the lady that sewed the Star Spangled Banner Flag.  It is the flag that flew over Fort McHenry.  We told you about that last week.   Here is the post if you missed it: Visit To Fort McHenry.

The Flag House was built in 1793.  Mary began living there in 1806.  Visitors are allowed to take a tour of the house.  There is also a museum on the same property which includes a short video about Mary and the flag.  Admission is $8 a person.  Mom didn't consider that bad because it includes a parking permit.  The folks would have had to pay to park if they hadn't parked next to the museum.

The Flag House

This is the museum.  The windows represent the true size of the flag that Mary made.  The flag originally measured 30 by 42 feet.  Each of the fifteen stripes is 2 feet wide, and each of the stars measures about 2 feet in diameter

The flag was sewed by Mary, her mother and her daughter.  They actually had a flag making business, but this was the biggest flag that they ever made.  It took them six weeks.  The flag was so large that it had to be assembled in a warehouse.  They lost money making this flag, but in the end, they gained more business.

Scraps of material from the actual flag.

Dishes that belonged to the family.

This flag is a re-creation.  It was made out of wool though and when it was put on the flag pole, it bent it.  It now just sits on a table collecting dust.

This was the office in the house.  Mary and her mother were both widows.  It was rare for women to work during this time period and even more rare for a woman to own a business.

The kitchen.

The master bedroom which also served as the room where they made flags.  It was on the 2nd floor of the house.

The folks thought the house was interesting.  Some of the items in the house belonged to the family, but many were just period pieces.

After they toured the house, Dad wanted to eat at a restaurant that he really liked when he was in Baltimore last winter.  The decor needs updating, but the food is good.

Since it was his 50th birthday, he decided to splurge and order two meals.  He ordered a crab cake and also blackened scallops.  He said both were excellent.

Crab Cake

Blackened Scallops and coleslaw.  Mom ate the coleslaw.

Mom can't eat seafood and they didn't have a lot of selection for land lovers.  She thought they would have fish and chips, but they didn't.  She decided to go with just a cheeseburger.  It was good, but pickles and onions would have made it even better.

Cheeseburger

The folks went to a Chinese buffet for dinner.  They seek out Chinese buffets. Some are good and some are really bad.  I usually get the fortune cookie.  This last one was okay, but probably will not result in another visit.

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Is Happy To Have His Dad Home

Miss Scout Is Home

Friday night, we drove to the vet's office to pick up Scout's ashes.  It is the first time that the folks have had a private cremation for a pet.  Mom wanted to do it this time because we live on the road now.  She said she couldn't bare to leave Scout behind in a strange city. 

Mom is very happy with Paws To Heaven, the company that did the cremation.  The box that was included with the cremation is very nice and has Scout's name on it. The ashes are wrapped in a white cloth with a seal on it.  They also made a paw print.  It has a few of Scout's hairs on it.  Mom asked Dad if he thought they included the hair on purpose and he said no.  Regardless, Mom likes that it is there.

At first, Mom didn't know if she would display the box.  She asked Dad if it would bother him and he said no.  So, she has it in the bedroom with a few of our photos around it.  She said the bedroom was Scout's favorite room and that is where she would want to be.  

Mom put Scout's collars and tags inside the box.

Private cremation is not for everyone, but Mom is very happy that she did it. She feels much better now that Scout is home.  She promised Scout she would not leave her behind and she didn't. 

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Is Happy His Sister Is Home