Susquehanna State Park

Today we headed up to northern Maryland to hang out with Kat and Ross for the day. First we ate some yummy baked ziti with grilled eggplant for lunch. I'm sure you could have guessed, but I'll say it anyway - Julia loved both the pasta and the eggplant.

Then we were off to Susquehanna State Park, near Havre de Grace, Maryland. Our first stop was the 200-year-old working grist mill. The water wheel was spinning, and we went inside the mill to see the stones grinding kernels of corn into corn meal. Well, Julia stayed outside with Kat, since there wasn't much in the way of excitement for Jules inside the mill.

Then we drove to the head of the green trail. It took us about two hours to hike the 2-mile trail. It got tricky a couple of times when there were forks in the trail. Thankfully Kat and Ross had a trail map to help us out. As you can see, Julia got plumb tuckered out, riding in the baby carrier. It's a lot of work being jostled around on Daddy's back!

Toward the end of the trail, we came to a tree with branches low enough and big enough to climb on. Evelyn couldn't pass up climbing the tree, so Ross helped her up, and then he climbed up there himself.

Let's not forget the ice cream! After hiking, we drove to Broom's Bloom Dairy for some delicious ice cream. Evelyn went with traditional chocolate (which, she claims, was the best she's ever had), Julia and I shared "Charlotte's Web" (vanilla ice cream with fudge and caramel swirls), Troy got red raspberry, Ross got rice pudding and Kat got chocolate covered pretzels with peanuts. A very sweet ending to a picture-perfect day.