Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Seven more US quaters to a full set

I have been collecting US quarters since 2006 after noticing there were different images representing the 50 states of North America.

The 50 State Quarters® Program began in 1999 and ends in 2008 where every 10 weeks, a new state's quarter will be released in the order states were admitted into the Union.

I found it interesting to see what each state choose to represent itself. The designs included state flora and fauna, state landmarks, landscapes etc.

The state I am residing in chose the familiar dome of the Maryland Statehouse which is the country's oldest state capital building still in legislative use (since 1772).

Presently, I am lacking quarters from Alaska, Arizona, Hawaii, Michigan, Minnesota, Louisiana and Ohio.

Thursday, May 08, 2008

Cylburn Arboretum

Cylburn19 Located within the city limit of Baltimore is a 207-acre nature reserve and city park, Cylburn Arboretum.

The Cylburn Mansion is Baltimore City's horticultural headquarters and home of the Cylburn Arboretum Association. The association is run by volunteers whose mission include working with the city to
preserve Cylburn's historic grounds and buildings by its horticultural and educational activities.


Cylburn Mansion began as a summer home for Jesse Tyson and his mother. Construction started in 1863 with gneiss quarried from Bare Hills, Maryland.

It became the Cylburn Arboretum Association in 1982. Educational activities conducted by the association are horticultural lectures and demonstrations, and guided tours of the Mansion and the gardens.

There is a small museum which houses Maryland fauna. This was where I learned of Blue Bunting which I spotted while cycling along the Northern Railroad Trail.

Plant lovers can see a variety of trees, shrubs and wild flowers. Many avid bird watchers also headed towards the nature trails, equipped with binoculars and water bottles.
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Cylburn Arboretum pictures.

Cycled all the way to Pennsylvania from Monkton, Maryland

I could finally strike off one of my resolutions this year when a bunch of Singaporeans cycled crossed the Maryland-Pennsylvania state line in New Freedom, PA on May 3 (Sat).

We started the day with a big American breakfast at Pete's Grille at Greenmount and 31st. I could not finished my third big hotcake, served with turkey ham and scrapple.

Then, we proceeded towards Monkton, located near the 8-mile marker of the Northern Central Railroad Trail since the bike rental shop at the beginning of the trail was closed.

We rented five bikes from a bike shop located at Monkton Village Center. We began cycling at 12.30pm. The scenery from the 8-mile marker was more picturesque than between the zero- and eight-mile markers. There was more open space with big houses on huge yards, equine farms with grazing horses and vast fields. Adding to the scenery was the meandering of The Gunpowder River along the trail, where one could hear the river gushing over boulders, forming rapids. Large boulders also dotted the trail. For those interested in bird watching, I could recognize cardinals, blue buntings and hawks, among other bird species sighted.

I stopped at a spot to investigate strange markings on some tree trunks after spotting a dam constructed from branches. I suspected it was the work of beavers since no human would build a small wooden dam in the middle of nowhere. Secondly, the trunks did not show sign of being chopped with an axe. We tried to look for the animal to no avail. Upon researching on beavers, they are mainly nocturnal.

We finally reached the state line around 3pm and I discovered that the trail actually continued for another 20 miles into York, PA.

Going to York would require another trip but for this trip, we cycled for about 25 miles in 4 hours.