Photo TR: Memorial Day Weekend

[printersdevil78]

While many of my fellow TPRers were living out theme park fantasies this weekend, I was busy bouncing from activity to activity with the Maryland Jaycees. And since all of them were "sort of" to "very" photogenic, I thought I'd share.

 

Things started at 4:30 a.m. Saturday, as I prepared for a charity bike ride I chaired in my hometown of Crisfield, followed by a Memorial Day party that evening at a friend's campground in Nanticoke. Sunday I drove to the other side of the state, near the Washington, D.C., suburbs, to help the Gaithersburg-Germantown Jaycees with a fundraiser in Rockville. Then I rounded out Monday with a visit to the beach resort town of Ocean City.

 

At any rate, pictures are much, much better than words, so on to the photos!

You'll have to take my word for it, but the guy on stage is Rick Springfield. He still wishes he had Jessie's girl. Dude, it's been almost 30 years. You should be over her by now. Get some therapy.

Best name for a port-a-potty company EVER!

Statue credit!

Right click. "Set as Desktop Background."

Another "Big Mike" shot... this time with free pizza! Ladies, I'm still single....

This is where I spent most of my time--behind the beer tent, not in front of it. The Gaithersburg-Germantown Jaycees received a percentage of sales in exchange for staffing the booth. This is also where one of the other volunteers dropped a can of Dr Pepper that ended up exploding and drenching the back of my shirt. It was NOT a Dan-friendly moment.

The carnival was Lame (note the capital "L") with three kiddie spinners and roughly seven billion bouncy things. One of those, however, was this cool "Cars" bouncy, so I guess it didn't suck completely. Just mostly.

The food was REALLY good at the Taste of Rockville exhibit. I definitely could smell what the wok was cooking!

This reminded me of one of the street scenes at Disney's MGM/Hollywood/Pixar/Not Universal Studios.

Rockville itself, however, is a beautiful town--at least the parts of it I got to see while driving around for 20 minutes searching for parking.

Three hours later, I finally made it to Rockville Hometown Holidays, a massive festival celebrating... well, Memorial Day, I guess. Though exactly how much face-painting, beer, greasy food, cheesy carnival rides and loud music have to do with honoring our veterans is debatable.

So basically what this ad is telling me is, "If you use our credit card, we'll give you almost two-thirds of a tank of gas!"

I had to stop for gas on my way out of town to Rockville. Funny, I seem to remember regular unleaded here having been just $3.64 a gallon when I filled up on Thursday. I'm sure there must have been a good reason for increasing the price 15 cents overnight....

The city flew flags from its lampposts this weekend, as well.

They even decorated the lobby.

Downtown Salisbury, Maryland, was decked out for Memorial Day when I drove through on Saturday morning to place our bike ride items back into storage. This is the front of the Chamber of Commerce building, where my office as Jaycees president is located (and currently filled with leftover doughnuts, granola bars and Gatorade).

Jay hired a band to play for the evening. Apparently they were kind of a big deal. I think the lead singer appeared on "Hee Haw" once or something like that.

Emulating my hero, Big Mike, I even decided to put myself in the TR. And ladies... I'm single!

Of course we had to get a group shot with Jay, our host for the evening. He owns the campground, after all.

Dave was already grilling hot dogs and burgers by the time I arrived.

Sign credit No. 2!

And this would be the ferry.

After packing up the rest areas and picking up the route markers, I made my way to Nanticoke for the Memorial Day party hosted by another one of our members. Since I was running late (and gas is nearly $4 per gallon), I decided to take a shortcut aboard the Whitehaven Ferry. Sign credit No. 1!

Dave, on the other hand, got the normal-sized calzone. Good job, Dave.

Travis got the "man-sized" stromboli. The menu claimed it could feed one full-sized man, two ladies or three adults (as long as neither were full-sized men nor ladies, one would assume). Either way, we all agreed the stromboli was probably the only "man-sized" thing about Travis.

Joanne REALLY likes pizza!

Fortunately, she woke up in time for the after-party at The Pizza Shoppe, a local garage-turned-pizzeria.

The excitement was just too much for Kristin.

Someone made good use of one of our route markers! My dad suggested we knock on the door of the address listed on the yard sale sign and demand the owner pay "stick rent."

...and even trikes!

We also had cyclists riding recumbent bikes...

I work with two of these guys. They were among those riding traditional bikes at our event. The one in the middle is a nationally renowned beekeeper. Really.

Actually, the outhouse was used at this workshop until the 1960s, when indoor plumbing came to this section of town. The workshop itself once belonged to famed 20th century decoy carvers Lem and Steve Ward (if you don't know who they are, Google them). It was restored in the 1990s and is now a small museum dedicated to their legacy. It was a hit with all the cyclists.

We had only the finest restroom facilities for our cyclists!

Kristin and Mary staffed the rest area at the Ward Brothers' Homeplace. Fun fact: the sign in the foreground was painted for us by inmates at the local state correctional facility as part of the prison's rehabilitation art program.

But who am I kidding? The real draw here was the Accohannock Native American Tribe's famous fried oyster sandwiches, on sale across the street.

Riders were especially happy with our rest area at the Marion Fire Hall. I mean, who wouldn't be? Not only did they get free doughnuts and water, but they were met by the smiling faces of Bethany and Angela.

Travis and Joanne staffed the rest area at our local senator's office. The senator made it a point to personally stop by and thank them for our efforts in organizing this event.

Unfortunately, we ran into some problems at the foot of the bridge that forced us to change the route just a bit....

The route we originally planned would have taken riders over the bridge. In fact, we even used it in our event logo, seen here.

The view from the Jenkins Creek Bridge is breathtaking and includes some of the last working watermen's shanties in Maryland.

And this one, which I'll probably use as a publicity shot for next year's ride, shows the wetlands near Jenkins Creek.

The ride included many scenic views. This one was on the other side of the high school parking lot.

Mary: "Geez, we haven't even gotten through the door yet and he's already taking pictures!"

And it's definitely a Jaycees event. Registration was at my old high school.

Yep, this is going to be one quality bike ride all right. Just look at the penmanship on that sign! We named it the Soft Shell Half Century, after the town's annual Soft Shell Spring Fair, held the next day (a "soft shell" is a type of crab). Cyclists had a choice of riding a 50- or 20-mile route.

Don't worry; I also visited two of Ocean City's amusement parks, but I'll be posting those photos on the appropriate "Burlington Coat Factory" board. In the meantime, I rounded out Memorial Day weekend with a trip to the local cineplex to see "Indiana Jones." Now just nine hours before I have to go back to work.... Thanks for reading!

One of the arcade walls was damaged last month when the restaurant next door burned down. Unfortunately, this was the wall containing the 1930s Skee-Ball machines. A sign said they would be back by next week. However, they still have these 1950s Fascination-like machines that award tickets based on poker hands rather than bingo.

This year's crop of prizes includes Topps baseball cards from 1986!

Marty's still has 10-cent claw machines from the '30s, which I loved as a kid. Every time I see them today, they remind me of that Donald Duck short, "Fun Time for a Dime."

Say it with me: "This is NOT a credit!"

Of course I had to play this one, Pat Sajak being a Maryland native and whatnot. Regardless, I sucked.

The coolest thing about Marty's is that they still mix a lot of old games in with the state-of-the-art stuff. And the machines still work!

I made my way to Marty's Playland, the largest arcade in Ocean City. Ever since I can remember, Marty's had two huge rows of pinball machines, which made it my favorite arcade ever. This year, however, they downgraded to one row, apparently in an effort to squeeze in more mindless ticket-dispensing "skill" games.

This shark also can't think. Because it's been dead for 25 years. But when it could think, its last thought was probably, "Oh crap, I'm bleeding." It's the largest shark ever caught in Maryland.

If this shark could think, it would wish it was as cool as Shark Tums. But it can't think. Because it's not real.

This was bizarre. The prizes at one of the boardwalk games were life-sized Wizard of Oz plush. Because a stuffed Tin Man is something no home is complete without.

OK, here's where I make a confession. I wanted to be like Big Mike and provide some bikini photos in this TR. But unlike Big Mike, I just didn't feel "right" about taking pictures of half-naked total strangers to post on the Internet without their knowledge. So here's the compromise: This is a crowd shot of the beach. The individuals in this photo are dressed in beach attire. If you feel like saving it, blowing it up, cropping it, etc., to find what you're looking for, that's on you. Otherwise, it's just a nice picture of the beach.

Ocean City had its flags flying, as well.

With the day off on Monday, I decided to pay a visit to Ocean City. with temperatures in the mid-70s and clear skies, it was one of those days that makes me glad I live 30 minutes from the beach!

[TheRapidsNerd]

This was a neat report! Love Marty's pinball machines and classic games. Sounds like a great time all around.