Maryland, USA: Swimming wild horses camp on the island

State of Maryland

WHe travels through Maryland by car, often getting stuck in traffic. Anyway, if you are in the center of the East Coast State, it is very disconnected on the map. Baltimore and neighboring Washington DC feels like a constant interstate between states, with many shelters for tens of thousands of travelers.

But if you still drive domestically, you will be amazed at the completely different Maryland named after the English Queen Henrietta Maria: farm vacations, cozy bed and breakfast houses, many horse farms, farms offering forests and lakes.

The biggest outdoor adventure begins in the beautiful capital Annapolis and underwater with less than 40,000 people on the Gulf of Chesapeake: in the summer, when countless boatmen come out and there are about 212,000 recorded leisure time. Boats, 12,500 jet skis and countless small boats in the 425 public marinas on the Atlantic Bay. If you prefer, you can rent boats or kayaks and paddle the secluded beach. Windsurfing, fishing trips on cutters and evening trips on large sconces are also popular.

Potomac estuaries have excellent flying fishing spots; For whitewater rafting, try Rapids at the Great Falls. Sandy Point State Park and Calvert Cliffs State Park, where you can collect fossils, are considered the best beaches in the bay. Continues east through the swamp Atlantic The drives end at the bustling seaside resort of Ocean City with a 16km long sandy beach.

One of the most popular camps in America

A maximum of 154 campers with family or friends are allowed to stay overnight on the uninhabited wild horse hill island of Azadok in the Atlantic. The island is one of the most sought after pitches United States: From March to November by booking only, up to six people, $ 30 per night, often fully booked up to six months in advance.

The island is under nature protection. Only half of the island owned by Maryland is allowed to stay overnight. Here you can enjoy a special kind of robinsonade: camping in the dunes, barbecue in the fire ring, sunrise on the beach.

There are bike trails through coastal jungle and kayaking tours, but most visitors come for swimming horses: 150 wild horses, in brown and white, prefer to swim or swim on the beach grass. Attracting them is forbidden. In the campground controlled by the Rangers, all food must be locked because the ponies are wild but eager.

Double bridge across the bay

Everything here is around water. At 311 kilometers long, on the Chesapeake Bay, the largest estuary in the United States, freshwater from 150 rivers and streams mixes with salt water from the Atlantic Ocean. This divides Maryland in two.

At its narrowest point near Annapolis, the bay is only four miles wide; It is bordered by the majestic Chesapeake Bay Bridge, a double suspension bridge. Those two underwater highways – 10-minute tolls to the east – were written by author James A. As Mychner puts it in his classic The Bay, Maryland is “out of sleep.” 80,000 cars go here every day and a third bridge is planned.

Old Traditions of England

Although only a half-hour drive from the Capitol in Washington DC, one feels far removed from current political events. Maryland continues to maintain nostalgic traditions from the UK, with even chief justices wearing red throughout the United States.

So it is not surprising that Maryland Cricket, which has been playing in the Gulf since the 17th century, has become a state sport. Two cavalrymen spear a small ring through a spear or ring piercer, and they do so in medieval costume.

From May to October there are juggling competitions with ring riding everywhere, as well as parties and exhibitions such as the “Medieval Times” in Baltimore. The largest Maryland Renaissance Festival is celebrated in the village of Duterte, a replica English theater, with Justing and Craft shops.

Tip: A boat trip to Smith Island, where 200 of the inhabitants are descendants of the first English. They speak an ancient dialect from Cornwall, often called Tyler or Evans – and have been baking Smith Island cake since colonial times: the twelve-layered buttercream sponge cake, reminiscent of the Prince Regent cake. The cake, of course, was elevated to the state dessert of Maryland.

Seafood in summer

Chesapeake crabs, with their bright blue claws, are beautiful to look at, but most importantly, tasty. They are one of the specialties of Maryland – especially after their shell change in the summer, when these blue crabs are very tender, you can boil them and peel them completely.

The Marylanders then go to the “crab” and collect them by the buckets on the shore for a barbecue. The Gulf is rich in seafood, known as the “Natural Protein Factory”. Of Crab and oyster path Seafood leads to restaurants, markets and seafood festivals. There is also plenty of shrimp here for soup, cake or fried snacks. Alternatively: oysters slurp or bag.

Quote

“Fatti maschii, parole girl”

Maryland is the only American state to have the royal motto in Old Italian. This was the goal of the English Calvert family, who founded the colony of Maryland in 1634. Official translation: “Male verbs, female words”. Not all Marylanders are happy anymore. That is why there are attempts to change the motto of “strong actions, soft words” in a gender-neutral way.

Strange, record-breaking, regular: Many parts of our regional geography series can be found here.