Maryland

FREE STATE – Visit the place where thousands of immigrants stepped off ships onto American soil. Baltimore’s Inner Harbor is rich in history, and free entertainment by street performers is plentiful. You can often climb aboard a docked ship for a gratis look around.

TREES WITH KNEES – The 100-acre Battle Creek Cypress Swamp Sanctuary is one of the last remaining sites where the bald cypress tree occurs naturally. Traverse the 1,700-foot boardwalk trail through the coastal plain swamp and take note of these amazing specimens as much as four feet wide and 100 feet tall. Learn more at www.dnr.state.md.us.

SWIM MOVE – Drive past Towson High School, alma mater of all-time greatest Olympian Michael Phelps, who won an unprecedented eight gold medals in Beijing, 2008.

SAFE SHARK ENCOUNTERS – Find an ancient shark’s tooth, a bone, or just a beautiful shell at Calvert Cliffs State Park, near Lusby on the shore of the Chesapeake Bay. There’s an excellent two-mile hike to the beach where fossil hunting is permitted. Learn more at www.dnr.state.md.us/publiclands/southern/calvertcliffs.html.

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