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This time, I was with the wife. We also visited Northern Virginia and DC itself, and my wife seemed to like the VA side quite a bit more. For myself, I found that I quite liked Prince William County (it had more salt-of-earth types) which is something I quite liked about Maryland.
Neither of us liked Fairfax County much at all though.
Nontheless...
FREDERICK: I liked this city other times I've been there, and this time was no exception. Thinking it through though, 90 minutes is a lot to be on the MARC train, and you'd still have to get to somewhere even once you arrived in DC's Central Station.
BRUNSWICK: I liked it last time, and still liked it this time. I also found that it actually does have amenities like a decent grocery store, bank, and some restaurants. Previously I'd only saw what was around the MARC station itself, and not the newer developments near Brunswick Crossing. I still liked the San Francisco or Pittsburgh like hills throughout the little town as well. Negative would be it's still 90 minutes to DC on MARC just like Frederick, but still would have to get to another destination once arrived. Probably have to drive out to Frederick a lot as well for plenty of things that Brunswick wouldn't have.
POINT-OF-ROCKS: Visited it again and explore more. Residential around the MARC, but nothing else. Much smaller than Brunswick as well, but a little closer. It's also a bit easier to get into Leesburg, if someone was more oriented in that direction. The small town didn't seem that appealing outside of the MARC station being right there though.
RIVERDALE/COLLEGE PARK: This area seemed a bit interesting last time due to the affordable houses, etc. However, this time we were caught up in gridlock traffic driving from the CAPITOL itself towards Greenbelt. So much so, that I really had to question that theory that MD is much easier to get into DC jobs than VA. Even though VA just has bridges over, it seemed that MD has to navigate through a gazillion stoplights to get up into Route 1, etc. Anyways, spent so much time in gridlock, that it didn't seem as interesting. Although College Park seems a bit undervalued to me, in general, though.
GREENBELT: Last trip, this little downtown really wow'd me. It just hit me just right that time. Went with the wife this time, and she just didn't get the appeal whatsoever. Which in turn, has made me put down a few notches, as I just couldn't describe or recapture what seemed to appeal to me previously.
LAUREL: Both the wife and I quite liked Laurel. It seemed the most liveable of the Maryland places that we saw with the idea of DC being a focal point for jobs for myself anyways. That being said, Prince William County on the VA side, seemed to hit the wife a bit more as better. Probably due to a lot more asian restaurants and such over on the VA side of things. But I liked the main street feel and such of Laurel this time, as well as last time. I also liked the easy MARC access.
SAVAGE: Mostly just residential housing, but I liked it. It was tucked away off Route 1, and I wouldn't say I'd dream of living of Savage. It was very so-so. But, it seemed one of those communities that you could just let your kids run around, and not worry at all about anything, not even many cars speeding through. It just seemed remove from things in that way. Another positive might be Howard County schools, and still close to Laurel for all of the store amenities.
ELKRIDGE: It seemed okay to me last time, but lost value this time. Way too many shiny new suburban developments around, and the little bit that wasn't that, didn't seem all that appealing.
RELAY/ST DENIS: This was an area I had missed last time. Got to see it this time, and quite liked it! MARC access, which was great, and similar to Savage with that hidden away pocket community. That being said, it has more hills to it, whereas Savage was basically flat.
HALETHORPE/ARBUTUS: I recall liking these two previously. However, with the wife, they didn't seem to hit just right this time. They were okay, but wife just didn't see the appeal, and I just couldn't convey it, or recover exactly what I'd liked previously. Also, with Laurel and Manassas in her mind as having more amenities, I think she discounted them more, plus further out from DC.
CATONSVILLE: I was smitten with Catonsville last time, but wife didn't see it. It was good though, but the road to Ellicott City was blocked, which the Catonsville/Ellicott City combination is the main selling point. Once we left Catonsville, we wanted to drive back to DC itself, and this was when I really realized just how far out it was from DC. Not convenient at all for people interested in DC. I could see it working, but not conveniently working.
Those basically sum up the commutable to DC places. We also visited Annapolis and Cumberland!
ANNAPOLIS: We had crabs down near the water. Didn't do much else, but saw some nice foresty feel to the areas that we were at, that was a bit out of the city center. Annapolis had a very nice feel though, and wish we could have explored it more.
CUMBERLAND: I loved getting off the highway and driving around a bit into this town! Loved all the downtown buildings and the hills all around. Loved everything about it. The wife was a bit tired of exploring at this point, and kinda liked it, but she wasn't curious to explore it much. We also went over to Morgantown WV, and wife liked that right away, much more. I liked both quite a bit, and would love to explore both a lot more. I did notice that Morgantown had a lot more new developments and new housing up in the hills spreading out well before we even got close to the city center. Tons of college kids everywhere in MORGANTOWN as well. That being said, what little I saw of both Morgantown and CUMBERLAND I really liked a lot, and would love to explore a lot more on another opportunity. We were thinking either one would be great places to try a small business, as I wouldn't no what else one would do to generate some income in them.
lol why in gods name were you in all these weird places like Laurel, Frederick and Cumberland? Not normally the big destinations in the DC area. Fred and Cumb are ok but sure as hell not places I'd come from Japan to see. Shame you didn't see more of Annapolis or Old Town Alexandria, those are probably the coolest places outside DC proper.
lol why in gods name were you in all these weird places like Laurel, Frederick and Cumberland? Not normally the big destinations in the DC area. Fred and Cumb are ok but sure as hell not places I'd come from Japan to see. Shame you didn't see more of Annapolis or Old Town Alexandria, those are probably the coolest places outside DC proper.
You would be amazed how many people find this appealing to the eye and mind.
This time, I was with the wife. We also visited Northern Virginia and DC itself, and my wife seemed to like the VA side quite a bit more. For myself, I found that I quite liked Prince William County (it had more salt-of-earth types) which is something I quite liked about Maryland.
Neither of us liked Fairfax County much at all though.
Nontheless...
FREDERICK: I liked this city other times I've been there, and this time was no exception. Thinking it through though, 90 minutes is a lot to be on the MARC train, and you'd still have to get to somewhere even once you arrived in DC's Central Station.
BRUNSWICK: I liked it last time, and still liked it this time. I also found that it actually does have amenities like a decent grocery store, bank, and some restaurants. Previously I'd only saw what was around the MARC station itself, and not the newer developments near Brunswick Crossing. I still liked the San Francisco or Pittsburgh like hills throughout the little town as well. Negative would be it's still 90 minutes to DC on MARC just like Frederick, but still would have to get to another destination once arrived. Probably have to drive out to Frederick a lot as well for plenty of things that Brunswick wouldn't have.
POINT-OF-ROCKS: Visited it again and explore more. Residential around the MARC, but nothing else. Much smaller than Brunswick as well, but a little closer. It's also a bit easier to get into Leesburg, if someone was more oriented in that direction. The small town didn't seem that appealing outside of the MARC station being right there though.
RIVERDALE/COLLEGE PARK: This area seemed a bit interesting last time due to the affordable houses, etc. However, this time we were caught up in gridlock traffic driving from the CAPITOL itself towards Greenbelt. So much so, that I really had to question that theory that MD is much easier to get into DC jobs than VA. Even though VA just has bridges over, it seemed that MD has to navigate through a gazillion stoplights to get up into Route 1, etc. Anyways, spent so much time in gridlock, that it didn't seem as interesting. Although College Park seems a bit undervalued to me, in general, though.
GREENBELT: Last trip, this little downtown really wow'd me. It just hit me just right that time. Went with the wife this time, and she just didn't get the appeal whatsoever. Which in turn, has made me put down a few notches, as I just couldn't describe or recapture what seemed to appeal to me previously.
LAUREL: Both the wife and I quite liked Laurel. It seemed the most liveable of the Maryland places that we saw with the idea of DC being a focal point for jobs for myself anyways. That being said, Prince William County on the VA side, seemed to hit the wife a bit more as better. Probably due to a lot more asian restaurants and such over on the VA side of things. But I liked the main street feel and such of Laurel this time, as well as last time. I also liked the easy MARC access.
SAVAGE: Mostly just residential housing, but I liked it. It was tucked away off Route 1, and I wouldn't say I'd dream of living of Savage. It was very so-so. But, it seemed one of those communities that you could just let your kids run around, and not worry at all about anything, not even many cars speeding through. It just seemed remove from things in that way. Another positive might be Howard County schools, and still close to Laurel for all of the store amenities.
ELKRIDGE: It seemed okay to me last time, but lost value this time. Way too many shiny new suburban developments around, and the little bit that wasn't that, didn't seem all that appealing.
RELAY/ST DENIS: This was an area I had missed last time. Got to see it this time, and quite liked it! MARC access, which was great, and similar to Savage with that hidden away pocket community. That being said, it has more hills to it, whereas Savage was basically flat.
HALETHORPE/ARBUTUS: I recall liking these two previously. However, with the wife, they didn't seem to hit just right this time. They were okay, but wife just didn't see the appeal, and I just couldn't convey it, or recover exactly what I'd liked previously. Also, with Laurel and Manassas in her mind as having more amenities, I think she discounted them more, plus further out from DC.
CATONSVILLE: I was smitten with Catonsville last time, but wife didn't see it. It was good though, but the road to Ellicott City was blocked, which the Catonsville/Ellicott City combination is the main selling point. Once we left Catonsville, we wanted to drive back to DC itself, and this was when I really realized just how far out it was from DC. Not convenient at all for people interested in DC. I could see it working, but not conveniently working.
Those basically sum up the commutable to DC places. We also visited Annapolis and Cumberland!
ANNAPOLIS: We had crabs down near the water. Didn't do much else, but saw some nice foresty feel to the areas that we were at, that was a bit out of the city center. Annapolis had a very nice feel though, and wish we could have explored it more.
CUMBERLAND: I loved getting off the highway and driving around a bit into this town! Loved all the downtown buildings and the hills all around. Loved everything about it. The wife was a bit tired of exploring at this point, and kinda liked it, but she wasn't curious to explore it much. We also went over to Morgantown WV, and wife liked that right away, much more. I liked both quite a bit, and would love to explore both a lot more. I did notice that Morgantown had a lot more new developments and new housing up in the hills spreading out well before we even got close to the city center. Tons of college kids everywhere in MORGANTOWN as well. That being said, what little I saw of both Morgantown and CUMBERLAND I really liked a lot, and would love to explore a lot more on another opportunity. We were thinking either one would be great places to try a small business, as I wouldn't no what else one would do to generate some income in them.
Very cool. Welcome back!
Catonsville would be a quicker trip to DC via the Penn line Marc at Halethorpe (about 45 minutes).
Glad also you found St Denis and Relay this time. I love that area. I've found Laurel to be pretty underrated as well.
I always said MARC from Frederick would work for me if I could work right near Union Station. So far, the opportunity has not presented itself.
lol why in gods name were you in all these weird places like Laurel, Frederick and Cumberland? Not normally the big destinations in the DC area. Fred and Cumb are ok but sure as hell not places I'd come from Japan to see. Shame you didn't see more of Annapolis or Old Town Alexandria, those are probably the coolest places outside DC proper.
They weren't sightseeing, they were looking at relocation options. There's no point in house hunting in Annapolis unless you're a millionaire, same with old town Alexandria.
There isn't anything actually cool about Annapolis or Alexandria.
I am glad you enjoyed your trip. It is always interesting to have a 2nd party around to see things with. It gives you a different perspective on things.
It also sounds like you got a pretty good driving tour of Western Maryland, even if you didn't have much time to explore on foot. WVU is a huge economic engine for Morgantown and the surrounding county, and one of the biggest cities in their mostly rural state. I like it too. It is neat to drive down into the city from the hills around it. It almost feels like going down into a ravine and finding a city. Johnstown has similar topograpy to Morgantown and is a cool little town, although it is more in line with Cumberland in terms of economic stagnation than Morgantown
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