Impressions of Maryland towns....(so far) (Baltimore, Columbia: home, established neighborhood, construction)

[Tiger Beer]

Originally Posted by dkf747

I think Greenbelt's town is overrated, but you can't say you've seen Greenbelt until you've been there.

The Kentlands are off Great Seneca highway at Kentlands Blvd., near 124 - Quince Orchard Rd. It's worth checking out.

I made it to downtown Greenbelt. Yeah, very unique! The town center seemed to be fairly small, but walkable. A very interesting community, and completely different than I expected. It seemed like it was difficult to get into there, and once in there, it was difficult to get back out again!

The businesses only seemed to be that one collection of them in the center. I don't think I saw any anywhere else. But, it did have a very interesting vibe/feeling to it, that I liked. Just different.

[HandsUpThumbsDown]

Originally Posted by Tiger Beer

The businesses only seemed to be that one collection of them in the center. I don't think I saw any anywhere else. But, it did have a very interesting vibe/feeling to it, that I liked. Just different.

It was developed by FDR as a "model community." The history of it is fascinating to me.

[HandsUpThumbsDown]

Originally Posted by Tiger Beer

Charles Town seemed fairly close, I wonder if Brunswick people feel a bigger connection to Charles Town or Frederick. I imagine Frederick is the bigger one, but they both seem to have a lot of the same stores.

The folks I know in Brunswick are more connected to Frederick for two reasons: its downtown is more of a destination, and the un-modernized section of US 340 through that little spit of Virginia backs up for miles during the weekday afternoon commute. The highway to Frederick is a breeze, comparitively.

[Tiger Beer]

Well, I'm officially out of the region. I saw a ton of interesting towns throughout Maryland. I think there are others I probably misssed.

The highlight of the ones I thought were most interesting, not in any particular order:

Laurel - Loved the historical downtown, and there is MARC access from it as well.

Greenbelt - Just had an interesting 'vibe' to it.

Gaithersburg - MARC and METRO. Plus, it didn't take long and you could get into the woods and forests and such. That surprised me, it has a healthy dose/mix of both rural feel with the suburban amenities, and the public transportation options.

Rockville - Just seemed well put together. I also liked Bethesda, but definitely priced out of that market. But Rockville has it's own Town Center and close enough to Bethesda as well.

Cantonsville/Ellicott City - Well, definitely liked the historical town in EC. But, I also saw that Cantonsville has some of that same interesting topography that makes EC so beautiful and desireable. Unfortunately I didn't check out Relay, and from HandsUpThumbDown, I think I'd like that as well!

Arbutus/Halethorpe/Elkridge - I didn't get a chance to explore this area well enough to differentiante the respective towns. But, seems like there is a lot of history and some nice older homes and neighborhoods with lots of mom-and-pop types of places. Some nice smaller hills as well.

A few other areas that I drove around, but don't know if I really got to see or not, would be Colombia and Savage. I drove in, tried to drive around, and couldn't really tell if I was where I should be. But what I did see, seemed interesting enough, that I'd like to visit them more again sometime.

Brunswick - that's the other town that I quite liked. Mostly because of the terrain and housing and the Pittsburgh-ish of it. The MARC access as well.

In short, I officially left the region last night. After visiting NoVA, DC, and Maryland, I found Maryland to have the most interesting areas that appealed most to me.

You just have a ton of interesting and different towns in the region. But I'll still be following up on researching more of Maryland, even moreso since I saw a lot of these areas, and have a better sense of them.

[tgs_bg]

I went through your VA thread. I'm curious what your thoughts/experiences are on Crystal City, Herndon, Fairfax City, and both Fairfax County and Arlington County in general.

[MDguy99]

Is there any reason you refrained from visiting anything east/ northeast of Baltimore?

[rsh56]

TB you would be amazed on on where route 355 could take you.

[Tiger Beer]

Originally Posted by tgs_bg

I went through your VA thread. I'm curious what your thoughts/experiences are on Crystal City, Herndon, Fairfax City, and both Fairfax County and Arlington County in general.

I didn't go through Crystal City, although I believe I came close. I saw a Target store that was probably just south of it.

I also missed Herndon and Fairfax City. There was just so much similarity between Annandale, Vienna, Falls Church, etc. I figured it wouldn't have changed too much from the others. So, skipped going too far out in that direction.

Arlington County, in general, I liked. Well, actually, I liked that ethnic element, Ethiopian, etc. Thanks to bballnikit for recommending it! Actually, I think if I were to live in Virginia, Arlington would be the main place I'd consider.

[Tiger Beer]

Originally Posted by MDguy99

Is there any reason you refrained from visiting anything east/ northeast of Baltimore?

Only because DC was my focal point. West of Baltimore made sense, but east of Baltimore, not so much.

However, it does sound like Towson, etc. and many others, are THE places to be in the suburbs of Baltimore, as I don't think I've ever heard anyone recommend the west of Baltimore sides.

[Tiger Beer]

Originally Posted by rsh56

TB you would be amazed on on where route 355 could take you.

Which direction?

I definitely liked Bethesda. I think of it as too upscale to like too much though. But I certainly liked it!

I also went up to Germantown and over to Boyds. Very nice up there!!