I chased the sunset tonight for the first time in many months, and for the first time ever in Maryland. It was not the most spectacular sunset I’ve ever seen, but it was an overwhelmingly positive experience. An adventure, even, since, unlike in Central PA, I don’t know anything about Maryland geography.
A general rule: if you don’t know where you’re going, leave early. This doesn’t apply to sunset chasing.
Another rule: the sooner you leave, the sooner you’ll get back. Also does not apply to sunset chasing. If you leave a full hour before the sun is going to hit the horizon, you can be very far away by the time you’re ready to start meandering back east.
I, for example, made it to Waynesboro, PA, before I decided it was time to start looking in earnest for a return route.
On the way to Waynesboro, though, I passed through Catoctin Mountain Park, which I have wanted to visit for some time. It was gorgeous. I need to go back sometime when it’s not, you know, dusk.
On the way to Catoctin Mountain Park, I passed through seemingly endless farmlands and a handful of cute little towns that are probably a lot less cute if you live there. The farmlands were also beautiful, and somehow subtly different from PA. The proximity to the mountains made the land even rolling-er than the rolling hills I love in Central PA. There’s also something just a touch more southern about it, maybe simply in terms of the architecture, but I had to remind myself a few times that I wasn’t really that far from home.
My deadline for what I’ve been calling “become a human being again” — being ready to re-enter the world after recuperating from the semester and reassembling my life in terms of things like vacuuming the floors, doing laundry, etc — was this weekend. I still need to mop the kitchen floor, but other than that, I’m pretty much human again. Last night, on my way home from my parents’ house, I thought I was going to be able to meet the deadline perfectly with a sunset chase. Alas, I was a few minutes too late. Doing it tonight, from my pseudo-home, may have been even better.
cool. a return to yr roots.
waning suns & waynesboro.
whadda great idea.
I love Catoctin Mountains. i am sure you know camp david is there. There is a lake, that you can swim in fed by a mountain stream, in which there are what looks like native brook trout. There are trails for hiking too also near by are several orchards.
This is a favorite day trip for the Family snow and we will combine shopping at gettysburg outlets or a trip to Frederick with the mountains. There is a zoo but overpriced and small. I hope you make it there again.