Antietam National Battlefield

Antietam National Battlefield

In April, I took the kids on a trek to the Antietam National Battlefield, which is located in Sharpsburg, MD approximately 2 1/2 hours North West of Washington DC.   I wouldn't call myself a Civil War buff, but this period in history generally interests me. I have never visited a battlefield so I didn't know what to expect.  The battlefield is well maintained by the National Park Service with a family pass costing $6.00 (for three days).  The battlefield tour is about eight and half miles long, a challenge to walk. But the tour is well marked and there is plenty of parking, so I'd recommend driving the tour. The guest center has a handy dandy map that shows you how to get around the battlefield.

The countryside is picturesque, dotted with little farms and pastures. I'm fairly certain the battlefield looks like it did that day.  Hard to believe it was the scene of unspeakable carnage.

On 17 September 1862, over 20,000 men were killed, injured or missing in the bloodiest one day battle in American history. The Antietam National Battlefield  plans to observe the 150th Anniversary of the battle on  September 15-17, 2012.

Bloody Lane, as viewed from Observation Tower

Once a farmer's lane to get from one field to the other, the lane was renamed, "Bloody Lane" because of the number of bodies covering it once the battle was over.



The battlefield is very kid and stroller friendly.  Great place for kids and adults to stretch their legs and enjoy the outdoors.  Katie loved running all over the place and I didn't have to worry about losing her because there was so much open space! The freedom felt wonderful.

Antietam National Cemetary

Plenty of Civil War memorabilia. Everywhere I turned there was a cannon!

Burnside Bridge

Walking from the parking lot to the bridge is a bit of a down hill walk. It's getting back up the hill that gets ya!  Make sure you have good walking shoes and someone to help push the stroller!

Bloody Lane, from a land lubbers view

While Katie climbed the 59 steps up the observation tower for aeral photo-ops, Zoie and I sat on a bench talking to one of the locals.  I love it when I find someone with a deep connection to the history.  Descendants from the war still live in the surrounding community.  Since I come from a military family, I find it amazing when people have such deep roots. He recommended hitting the Gettysburg National Battlefield, so I think that will be in our family bucket list!  However, his best recommendation by far was a little ice cream shoppe in Sharpsburg.  He told me the ice cream was a little pricey but well worth it.



Nutter's Ice Cream Shop

The Nutter's Ice Cream parlour is located in downtown Sharpsburg which is this cute little town, reminding me a little of Mayberry RFD.  The local Boy Scouts were selling flowers on one corner and little shops and businesses lined the streets. It was very quaint.  As with most small towns, parking was a bit of challenge, but the promise of "the very best" ice cream kept us magnetized.  Katie and I both ordered two scoops of ice cream.  I was quite surprised when the total cost came out to be $3.50. I had to be sure she counted both orders.  I'm not sure what the gentleman meant by "pricey", but we (Zoie included) enjoyed every bite!



Antietam National Battlefield is located at:
5831 Dunker Church Road
Sharpsburg, MD 21782
http://www.nps.gov/anti/index.htm

Single mom, single income, endless possibilities

Calvert Cliffs State Park, Lusby Md

For most single moms and grandmoms, finding things to do on a limited income can be a bit challenging. Let me introduce you to the world of State Parks.  I had no idea how cool and inexpensive they can be!  The National Park Service has a great website, http://www.nps.gov/index.htm which allows you to look for parks near you.  I happen to live near Calvert Cliffs State Park, so I packed up the kids, a picnic, a few essentials and off we went!

Katie is very excited about this hike,
 no really!

Calvert Cliffs State Park is located in Southern Maryland and is well known among the locals for its fossil hunting. Visitors are encouraged to hunt for fossils along the beach area and they can keep what they find. Calvert Cliffs State Park charges $5.00 per vehicle and is open from sunrise to sunset.

There are several hiking trails, all nicely marked for us novice hikers.  We selected the 2 mile hike to the beach. The marked paths are well maintained and the path was stroller friendly. There were a couple of areas on the trail where tree roots and sand pits became a minor encumberance.  But Katie and I  managed easily around them.  Zoie enjoyed the adventure!

Along the path, there is plenty of scenery, beautiful flowers and trees, and pretty little streams.

Look Mom, flowers!

 

Pretty little stream!

After the short hike, pushing a stroller and herding a somewhat grumpy eleven year old, we finally made it to the beach (about 45 minutes).  The wind was whipping and the Chesapeake Bay was at high tide, which made it a little difficult to dig for fossils. Highly recommend checking the tide tables before going to this park. I understand prime digging time is at low tide. We dug around for about 45 minutes, the most exciting find was a dead bird (I don't understand kids and their attraction to dead things). Anyway, we headed back to the park for our picnic and some playground time.

Considering the cost of gas, $5.00 park fee and the PBJ picnic, I'd say the entire trip cost us less than $25.00, but well worth every penny!!  If you are considering hiking, don't make it too fancy. Wear comfortable clothes and walking shoes. A hat  and sunshades are a good idea. Pack a sweet little picnic, small and affordable: PBJ sandwiches, chips, cookies, fruit, juice and water.  Believe me, after a long walk, that picnic was like manna from heaven!!


Chesapeake Bay shoreline


For single moms/grandmoms new to hiking, I highly recommend packing the following items (especially when traveling with a toddler) and take it with you on the hike:
Water - carry at least two bottles per person
Wipes (and extra diapers)
Snacks (we were so hungry and I left the picnic in the car!)
Towels to sit on and wipe down sandy faces and feet.
Sunscreen, Insect repellent.


Calvert Cliffs State Park is located at:
9500 H. G. Trueman Road
Lusby, Maryland

Neat little playground, with plenty to do for all ages!

Rule of 72

In the area of financial management, I am pretty weak and too impulsive. I'm easily distracted by shiny objects and pretty things. Must have now! I recently attended a retirement seminar and boy, I really wish I knew this stuff when I was just getting started.   Ok, so I'm eight years away from retirement (eligibility). Well, in dog years, that probably means 56 years. Or in single mom years, maybe never. But it doesn't hurt to be informed or to start planning. The seminar was taught by a retired financial planner who invested very wisely in his younger years and now lectures for fun two months of the year and vacations the rest of the time. Why didn't I think of that?

He gave us this simple rule for handling investments, called "The Rule of 72".
Take the current interest rate and divide it into 72. This approximately equals the number of years it will take to double your money (not taking into account the rate of inflation). So for example, using the current interest rate for a Roth IRA, 8%, your contribution will double approximately every 9 years. How cool is that? And so easy to remember! Being the analytical engineer that I am, I had to see it visually:

Age 20 $5000 (Assuming an 8% Roth IRA)
Age 29 $10,000
Age 38 $20,000
Age 47 $40,000
Age 56 $80,000
Age 65 $160,000

$160,000 at 65 and all tax-free (If invested in the Roth IRA)!!! Not a bad chunk of change when you think of it! There are a lot of investment opportunities out there so you need to do your research. You can see why just dumping your money in a traditional savings account (0.8 - 1.5%) will not yield a great return.  I understand $5000 is a hard to come by at any age, but start small and work your way up to it. From the day you start working, you need to consider planning and putting away for retirement. Unless you want to be the person they carry out on a stretcher!

 I found this pretty nifty Roth IRA calculator online, http://www.planningtips.com/cgi-bin/roth.pl, so plug away and start dreaming about retirement!

Once upon a time,

Once a upon a time, there was a little girl who wanted to grow up, go to college, get married, have kids and live happily ever after.  She dreamily imagined baking cookies, having a neat home and vacationing at Disneyland. When she woke up, she was divorced, a single mom of three and a grandmother raising her grandchild.  Why is it in fairy tales, the story always happily ends with the princess getting married  and nothing else?? What really is at the end of that story? I haven't really thought about the purpose of this blog. Maybe it will become an outlet for me, to vent my frustrations. Maybe I'll use it as an accounting on how I stay sane in this crazy life. Or maybe this can just be a creative outlet for me.  At any rate, I think it will be fun and maybe helpful to all the other single parents and grandparents!