Popular mapping programs project that the trip from the Baltimore area to Ocean City should take about three hours, but with a little effort and planning you can easily meander there in nine.
While for many the trip to Maryland's ocean resort is a race along U.S. 50 to squeeze in every last hour on the sand, less-hurried travelers can find a multitude of fascinating, scenic and sometimes downright delicious distractions on the Eastern Shore.
By getting a start in the morning, you can reach the beach before the sun goes down and still take in such attractions as bargain shopping at Prime Outlets, an old-time grist mill at Wye Mills, wildlife encounters at the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge, a down-home lunch at a small-town roadhouse, a gem of a folk art museum in Salisbury and a farmers' market and some power shopping in Berlin.
You probably can't do it all in one trip to the ocean, but you can squeeze in all these diversions - and others of your choice - going both ways.
My wife Cindy and I recently set out to explore the Shore on our way down to dinner with my college-student son.
We had all day. The weather didn't suggest we'd get much beach time in even if we did hurry. So we took it slow and visited a few places we had always bypassed on previous trips. We set a few rules: Avoid already familiar places (St. Michael's) and don't stray too outrageously from U.S. 50.
Our first thought was to grab breakfast on Kent Island. But our search for a non-chain restaurant with a view on the south side of U.S. 50/301 was thwarted. (We later learned the good local diners were north of the highway.) But we found a good morning feed in what was at first an unlikely place: the small restaurant at the back of the Chesapeake Gourmet retail shop at the Prime Outlets mall in Queenstown, where U.S. 50 and U.S. 301 split. It wasn't elegant dining, but there was a tasty red pepper and chicken quiche, an excellent vegetable soup and a more-than-respectable Key lime cheesecake to provide the fuel for a little shopping.
Outlet malls are by their nature hit-or-miss, and we encountered a little of both. I didn't see anything at L.L.Bean that prompted me to reach for my wallet, but Cindy scored several bargains at Chico's. We're not power shoppers, so we left quickly, but those who are will find their choice of about 60 retailers, ranging from Yankee Candle to a new Gucci store.
