Five reasons I like living on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, thus far...

Honorable Mention:  Beach.  Dude, just twenty minutes and I'm there with the wild ponies and seashells and the wide Atlantic.

Five:  Convenient winter.  I actually went for a jog last Wednesday on clear roads and in the sun!  We've got the bitter cold (currently, anyway) that I'm used to, but there's no snow left on the ground and it's been sunny almost every day for the week and a half that I've been here.  I suppose I miss the snow, but not as much as I thought I would, because the cold and bare trees make it decidedly winter still.  Also, I think it's hilarious that they call a snow day for one inch of snow, and they have a late start for fog at least once a week (my first was last Wednesday, unbeknownst to me when I showed up to school on time/an hour early).

Four:  Nice people.  Maryland is technically the South, and they'v got that Southern hospitality.  They've even got a bit of a drawl!  Which, by the way, I've already picked up a little, especially during the school day when I'm surrounded by all my black students and the other teachers--I don't know if at school I ever finish out a word's proper ending: "Uh'm jus' finishin' up 'ere, ah'll be down t' start plannin' in a minih.  Hey, d'you wan' me t' grab the packeh y'gave me this marnin'?"  It's downright lazy talk.  But kinda fun.

Three:  Business variety.  I love seeing so many non-chain restaurants and interesting businesses.  Not that you don't get that anywhere else, but because it's all new to me here, I notice it more.  The grocery store chain I go to is called Food Lion, and when we got pizza the other night, we had to choose between Mioni's, J & J's, and Ledo's.  It makes me feel like a local!  And I can't wait for crab season so I can cash in on what Maryland is famous for.

Two:  Old buildings.  Everywhere.  You drive down any road out here (out-in-the-country criss-crossings of Route This and That or Such-and-Such Parkway, through tiny towns, past great flat fields and chicken farms, down tunnel-like avenues of twiggy trees) and old houses will be constantly shambling by--gabled windows, wraparound porches, brick, stone, lots of little windows that indicate small but plentiful rooms...you can just feel the history in the materials and the designs.  My aunt showed me a house they had considered buying...it's called Chanceford Hall (what a title!) and it is absolutely beautiful, both towering and sprawling and displaying a million windows, with bare winter trees and vines snugly surrounding it...you could go down under the house and find the old kitchen that was once staffed by servants and a fireplace plenty big enough to roast a bear, or go up in the attic and see in the beams the original pegs that the builders used in the 1760's.  Ohh.  It's my dream to live one day in a house that full of history and memories.

And Number One:  Proximity.  You can drive to pretty much anywhere of historical American significance in the morning and return home by night.  For instance, yesterday I went on a day trip to D.C.  That's right.

Woke up like it was any old Saturday morning, then the family just decided to drive up and check out the sights at our nation's capital.  So that's what we did--packed some sandwiches and hit the road...three hours later I'm gaping out the car windows in awe at the Washington Monument and the maze of freeways and traffic lights built over top of 200-year-old roads and in between 200-year-old buildings.  We went to the Smithsonian Museum of Space and Flight (an excellent choice, considering I had as a touring companion my rocket-scientist uncle) where I saw the Spirit of St. Louis (in which Charles Lindburgh made his historic flight across the Atlantic) and Amelia Earhart's plane that made the same trip, a WWII bomber cockpit, a model of the Wright Brothers' first plane, USSR and U.S. missiles from the Cold War, huge pictures taken by the Hubble telescope and Mars rovers etc. etc., and coutless other amazing, wonderful, breathtaking exhibits.  (It's all right, I won't be offended if you call me a mega-nerd--I'm too starstruck.)  Then we trotted across the Mall to the Museum of U.S. History (glimpsing the Capitol on it's Hill down the way) to catch a few exhibits before it closed, including the original Star-Spangled Banner--you know, the one Francis Scott Key saw flying over the rockets' red glare, which inspired him to pen our national anthem.  And oh my goodness, we didn't even see half of the cool stuff in all the Smithsonians...not even a tenth!  You probably couldn't spend a month there and see everything there is to see.  And we didn't even get to visit (though we drove past) the White House and the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial...and I'm sure there's tons more to do in D.C.  Luckily, I live close enough that I can go back any time!

Three hours to D.C., three to Baltimore, four and a half to New York City, four to Philadelphia...Boston, Connecticut, Vermont for the snow, Maine for the rocky coast...it's all a day or less away.  The East Coast is thick with cities where things happen, whether they mean them to or not.  You understand why I feel like I live in the middle of America?  I can feel the presence of these centers of life and history all around me--it's all at my fingertips.  I've concluded that it's the perfect place for a single twenty-something looking for adventure and life and excitement.  Which is what I am.  And you know what, dear reader?  You can visit and share it all with me!