We arrived in Maryland just under a week ago. Last Thursday, my kids and my in-laws flew to Italy for a ten-day tour of Venice, Florence, and Rome. They'll get home this coming Sunday. I haven't heard from them, so I figure "no news is good news" and they must be having a fine time.

So am I. Last Friday I packed an overnight bag and left the eastern shore. I drove to the Metro station and took the subway into Washington DC. My destination was the Martin Luther King, Jr. branch of the Washington DC public library. For the past 13 years I have been sleuthing out a knitting story that began in Montana but has its roots in New York City and Washington DC. I've done as much long-distance research as I could, but one of the sources I needed to check was the archives of the Washington Star newspaper. And they are not digitized, so I can't search it online.

Alas, the archives are not well-indexed in physical form, either. They are on microfilm—not a problem in and of itself—but the indices, when they are available, consist of typed references by date and subject on microfilm index cards. The reference librarian gave me a few searching tips, but I think it was just sheer dumb luck that I happened upon two references within the first few minutes. I was able to find and print the corresponding articles, but then I hit the proverbial brick wall. After about two hours of fruitless searching, I decided there was no point in searching any further. I'll re-evaluate when I get back to Montana. I may just have to write the story using the information I have, incomplete as it is. After all, I've been working on this for 13 years.

I stopped at a small restaurant and picked up a double bacon, double cheddar and tomato panini, and yes—it was just as delicious as it sounds. Then I walked over to the Natural History museum and wandered around, then walked over the American Indian museum and wandered around. By then it was mid-afternoon and it seemed to be a good time to take the Metro back to my car and head to my college roommate's house before rush hour.

My college roommate, Marcia, grew up in Maryland, and her parents' house was my second home when we were in school. I even had my own housekey. Now she lives a few miles from her parents, and I know that I can crash at her house whenever I am visiting Maryland. I had dinner with her, her family, and her parents. It was wonderful to see them all again, and her mom made a fantastic crab imperial for dinner. Yum.

I left Marcia's house the following morning for a very pleasant 2-hour drive up to south central Pennsylvania. My destination was The Mannings Handweaving Studio. The husband and I lived in this area of PA right after college, and I spent many fun hours at The Mannings back in the early 90s (when it was a much smaller store!). I had a class of 10 women and we had a very enjoyable day of exploring cabling techniques. I discovered that one of my students went to college with one of my very good high school friends (small world!). I also got to meet one of my test knitters—Jamie—in person. She's a delight.

I got back to my in-laws' house later Saturday night and went right to bed. I like driving, but the way people here tailgate and speed is really annoying, and driving is rather exhausting.

I spent most of yesterday knitting and watching golf. I can't tell you how enjoyable that is, after the knitting drought of the past 3 months. Mid-afternoon I walked into St. Michaels to buy some postcards. It's a 1.5-mile walk one-way, so I treated myself to a scoop of coconut ice cream before heading back. Then I made a quick trip to the grocery store for some veggies and a container of jumbo lump crabmeat. Dinner last night was Maryland crabcakes, a salad, some sauteed zucchini, and a glass of wine. I called the husband and told him that the only thing that would have made dinner perfect would have been to share it with him. It seemed kind of silly for me to create such a nice dinner just for myself. Those crabcakes were amazing.

It's raining this morning—although it is supposed to clear up by noon—so I am doing laundry and knitting. After lunch I plan to walk into town again and get some stamps for the postcards I bought yesterday. I love the chance to do all this walking. I probably won't have ice cream today, though—not at $4 a scoop! Yikes.

Tomorrow I plan to drive back over the bridge to the western side. I'd like to stop at a yarn store on the way, another yarn store in Annapolis, and do some shopping at some stores we don't have in Montana (which is most of them, actually).

I don't think I could have planned a better vacation for me than the one I am having right now, unless it was one that included the husband. I think I will get back to Montana nice and rested and ready to hit the ground running again.