The Goods in MD — letters from a Good friend

For a short time in the fall of 2015, Mr. Good and I lived in Germantown/Sandy Spring MD. The last half of our stay we got to live in a super cute little studio loft apartment in Sandy Spring that I found on Airbnb. The first half we had to live in an extended stay hotel in Germantown (which I hope to never have to do again anywhere, and that’s all I’ll say about that!) We enjoyed our short while in Maryland, but upon leaving we both agreed that MD is probably not a place we would want to live. Gosh it’s EXPENSIVE to live so close to DC! Traffic was always a nightmare (we had always lived more of a "If I'm gonna hit a traffic jam, well it better be a tractor man!"), and the drive from there to Ohio was something we dreaded (although in the fall it’s a very pretty drive.) We definitely didn’t get to do a lot of things that we wanted to do while we were in Maryland, but during our brief stay we had some really fun adventures that I won’t be forgetting any time soon!

I wanted to share with you some of our favorite adventures/spots from our short time in Maryland! Be sure to check out the links to everything at the very end!

ALSO, be sure to check out my next travel post about our trip from MD to PA where we stayed in the most adorable little cabin and hiked on the Appalachian Trail!

MATAPEAKE PARK/DOG BEACH:

This little stretch of beach has a really nice area where you can bring your pups for a swim. We went here a few times and enjoyed ourselves each time. Everyone was very friendly and welcoming of the occasional approach and sniff of our two hounds. I’m not sure of the rules, but we (along with everyone else) let our dogs off-leash and they had a blast running around with the other dogs, fetching sticks and toys in the water, and rolling in the sand. Make sure you go to the restroom before heading there, there were not any nearby that I saw. The dog-beach area does butt up next to the public area (for the humans) so make sure to bring a leash so you can walk your dogs down that way, too. And of course, bring your poop bags and a cooler with lots of water for you and your animals!

WASHINGTON DC:

I won’t go too much into DC, because I have another blog post about a more recent trip there. But being so close, we did make a day trip to DC to see some of the monuments that we had not seen since our 8th Grade DC trip! (We won’t talk about how long ago that was) We checked out the National Mall and surrounding monuments, the White House, and then got lost trying to remember where we parked. Ended up getting to the garage about 30 minutes before it was closing (which would’ve meant our car would’ve been stuck in there until the next morning.) While lost we did walk through part of Georgetown near the University, and it is a very pretty area, although we could not appreciate it since we were hot, sweaty, cranky, and very lost. HAHA!

A few weeks later, we did go back to DC for a dinner cruise to celebrate our First wedding anniversary (planned by my sweet Mr.) The cruise was absolutely romantic, we cruised down the Potomac at sunset, got to see some of the monuments and other points of interest lite up at night, and had a really good meal. All with a band, dancing, and drinks of course. Since it was our anniversary, we re-read our wedding vows to each other and were super lovey dovey the whole night, it was pretty amazing (: We ended up being seated next to the friendliest Canadian man who we chatted with some during the trip! He was a recently retired teacher who spent his time adventuring all over. We were so happy to have met him! He even gifted me with a gorgeous bouquet of flowers! So sweet!

LARRILAND FARM:

This was one of the highlights of our time here. This farm is absolutely beautiful, and I’m so glad we went here in the fall. The farm has you-pick seasonal fruits and vegetables, as well as already-picked items in their store. The store also had locally made food items. On our trip there, we picked our own pumpkins, stocked up on apples from their orchard, picked the most beautiful bouquet of wildflowers in their you-pick flower garden, picked some fresh vegetables from their huge seasonal veggie gardens, and even just enjoyed getting to explore the grounds of the farm. Such a fun fall date-day!! *This farm is open during growing season, and has fields upon fields of seasonal fruits and vegetables for you to pick!

Black Hill Regional Park:

Walking around this park you would almost not know you were in such a populated area.It’s a dog friendly park, so this was a nice place to be able to bring the dogs to do some walking and give them so exercise. We loved walking around the paths of this park, and even came here a few times to grill out and picnic. The park has a lake where you can rent canoes etc, and a small “beach” area, as well as several playgrounds and shelter houses.

&PIZZA:

Before going to MD, we had never heard of &Pizza. Where we lived in Germantown, there just happened to be one about a mile from our hotel. If you know us, you know that our love for pizza is very deep and strong, and honestly I am sometimes wary of trying new pizza places, because the risk of having to eat sucky pizza is just scary! This was not one of those cases however, and we ended up eating here almost every weekend! Think Chipotle/Subway/Quiznos-style serving where you get to go down the line and pick your ingredients (from the kind of crust, sauces, cheeses, toppings, and MORE!) and then they pop it in the pizza oven. Minutes later you have a freshly made, crazy-delicious pizza to munch on. We always each got our own pizza (we have such different tastes) so we always had leftovers (which I never complain about.)