Vermont Journal Day 1: On the road north

July 6, 2010-(Hampton Inn-Elkton, MD)

Ever since before I can remember, going on family trips and touring America has always been part of my life. I guess I owe a lot of that to my parents both of whom were always looking to go to the next national park or state line or hiking trail.

Perhaps the apex of our family trips culminated in a huge 30+ state road trip that took us from Virginia all the way to Utah, north to Montana then back east again. In the process, we visited more than 10 national parks, a couple of university campuses, and miles upon miles of cornfields as far as the eye could see. (Heck, we even drove miles away from a tornado that was traveling parallel to the highway, a sight to remember.)

But sadly, I feel like the era of family trips is slowly coming to an end, at least for this family. Gas prices are sky high, airplane tickets aren’t much better. And quite frankly, no one seems to have the endurance anymore for hours upon hours of driving through country roads and winding mountain roads.

Thus, when my parents proposed a couple weeks ago to go on a family trip to a dairy farm in Vermont on the shores of Lake Champlain, I only thought it proper to record it for posterity (or at least until W&M deletes my blog) online.

The first leg of our journey ended up being perhaps the easiest. We left Richmond around 3 p.m. bound for Elkton, MD, a small, rural township near the Maryland-Delaware border. The trip would take us from I-95 through Washington D.C., then switch over to the Baltimore-Washington Turnpike and finally end up back on I-95 after Baltimore headed for Elkton.

Our trip getting here ended up being a bit rougher around the edges than expected. I guess due to post-July 4th

traffic, the highways were jam packed with people trying to get home after venturing out into the US for July 4th. We ran into several pockets of traffic all up I-95 and didn’t really experience a smooth ride until we reached the D.C. Capital Beltway.

After five hours of driving though, we finally did reach our destination. Now, Elkton is a small town, probably no more than a couple thousand people living here with one elementary, middle and high school. But it seems to be a haven for travelers coming to and from the industrial-centric Wilmington, Delaware and the urban Baltimore setting looking to stop for the night in a place a little away from home.

Another thing people come to Elkton for: the crab. A little known traveler’s tip, Elkton also has one of the best steamed crab restaurants this side of the Chesapeake. Howard’s House Tavern, located in downtown Elkton, used to be an inn back in the day. These days, the three story structure houses a bar and restaurant on the first and second floor which serves the locals and the occasional travelers from a couple hundred miles away…like me.

“The best part is that there’s none of the gimmickry usually associated with these places. No weird clutch of tourists rushing to make the idling bus outside. Just a regular bar with regular people,” writes one reviewer about the establishment online.

In my opinion, that’s exactly what I saw too. I guess the history that my family has with the establishment is also one of the reasons why it made the food that much better. You see, my dad often had work in Wilmington back in the day and one day, he decided to stop by Howard’s on the drive back to Richmond.

After a half dozen crabs, he liked them so much, that every time he had an excuse to travel up here again, he would always come back to the restaurant. Unfortunately, every time he went back, the people at the restaurant would say that they had sold out of crabs for the night.

Today, after almost 10 years since the first time he visited here, I’m happy to say that they had plenty of crabs in stock. So much so that it’s almost two in the morning and I still have the taste of crab and Old Bay seasoning in my mouth.

So if you’re ever in Elkton or just passing by, give the restaurant a visit. Pay the place a visit, you’ll find that it’s just a small town restaurant run by normal people frequented by normal townsfolk.

Well, I’d better get some shut eye. Tomorrow, we will be completing the brunt of our travel with the final almost 8-10 hour push to Vermont to reach our final destination. Signing off for now, I’ll see you guys tomorrow!