h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Today is U for the United States of America.

My second brother left for America when he was twenty four. He'd got a PhD in biochemistry and a job with John Hopkins University (I think), so he settled in Maryland and has been there most of the rest of his life. Being interested in sailing he had a boat on the Chesapeake bay and now he has a farm.

He came over to Britain most years but, this October I went to see him. Our trip out didn't go to plan. Our plane was an hour and fourty minutes late and, as we then had to pick up the hire car and drive to his house, we arrived after midnight.

The farm consists of a couple of paddocks, an area of woodland and wetland along by the river, which my brother is required to keep in a natural state, and a field with a few cows. There are horses in the paddock, some of which belong to my brother, and three dogs. One of the dogs is an affectionate golden retriever and the others are wolfhounds - an adult female and a puppy which was growing as we watched.

Being used to a country where most people have a small house or a flat in a town or city, rural Maryland seemed spacious. The farm is on a lane where every property sits in many acres of land. The houses have a distinctive style, many being clapperboard (though I suspect the boards are plastic these days.) The trees are bigger, the fall colours brighter. It was odd to see the local hunt ride through my brother's woodland, because that seemed such an old English activity.

On a grey day, we went to Washington and stood outside the Capitol building taking pictures but, when we tried to explore, we walked in the wrong direction. We fared better when we drove west through Virginia to a bed and breakfast in West Virginia and went walking in the Shenandoah National Park. The weather wasn't very good. The first time we went walking in the forest, we completed our walk and started to drive back, only to run into fog which reduced the visibility to a few yards.

One night and the next day there were four inches of rain. When we crossed the Shenandoah, it had been transformed from a shallow blue river to a brown torrent. We went to Luray Cavern, which was spectacular - caverns full of towering stalagmites, and delicate folded stalactites.

On the return from West Virginia, we stopped at Harpers Ferry. As we crossed the bridge over the Shenandoah, I could believe this place was strategic, perched at the confluence of two great rivers. We toured the old town, which has managed to keep its old buildings and some of the atmosphere of the time.

When we got back to Maryland my brother and sister-in-law took us to Gettysburg. I had been doubtful about the interest of a battlefield, but I was wrong. We drove round the site - a distance of about fifteen miles, and stopped and looked at monuments. I could see where the Confederate forces were based and imagine the charge to the rocky outcrop where the Federal army was lined up.

We also went to the Sea Life centre in Baltimore and saw the harbour. I got the impression of a sweep of calm, blue water, with a line of sleek launches, surrounded by buildings housing restaurants and shops, and the Sea Life Centre itself. As we drove out, though, the road soon passed into poor areas.

My brother and sister-in-law were great hosts and we had an interesting trip, but we only saw a corner of this great land. Perhaps we should return and include other places on our itinerary!

Come see redwoods! And the Pacific Ocean!

What a description so vivid, and I could really appreciate the difference in scale... I've been to Florida, but mainly stayed in Disneyland, which isn't representative of the country, and to Memphis so that was fairly urban, but the countryside sounds immense...

That was a lovely descriptive journal, MVP.

However, I now have Country Roads as an earworm. Almost heaven, West Virginia, Blue Ridge mountains, Shenandoah river

Deb

I enjoyed your journal today immensely, MVP. I went to Washington, D.C. for a library convention -- I think it was in 2007. Quite an overpowering place. In retrospect, my favorite place there was the botanical gardens. Maybe it was just that I was tired of walking in high heat, and the gardens were enclosed and air-conditioned.

Thanks, folks.

I had two distinct impressions of Washington - grand public buildings and run-down poor areas. I wondered if you see the same thing in London, but I don't think the contrast is as stark.