Memorial Day

Gasoline prices in the region are at near-record levels. Hotel rates are up 13 percent since last year. The roads, bridges and tunnels are going to be crawling with police. And more Marylanders will be on the road this Memorial Day weekend than ever before. That's the forecast from AAA Mid-Atlantic and Maryland police agencies as they look forward to a weekend of near-perfect spring weather, lavish consumer spending and clogged transportation corridors. Mahlon G. "Lon" Anderson, a spokesman for AAA, told a news conference yesterday on Kent Island that the auto club's polling shows it should be a banner weekend for travel to Ocean City and other resorts close to the Baltimore-Washington region.

FAMILY KIDS IN THE GARDEN Kids young and old can learn about gardening and the natural sciences through play at Port Discovery's new exhibit, A Garden of Gizmos, tomorrow through Sept. 4. Children can take part in hands-on activities, which teach important environmental lessons, including conservation, preservation, biodiversity and solar energy. Visitors can play at the groundhog display, watch how a garden changes in a year's span, control a fountain made of rope, dance with swaying palm trees and more.

OCEAN CITY-- --On a rainy day, a beach town deflates. The whole myth of escape, of ceaseless fun and respite from reality, turns as sodden as day-old cotton candy. Yesterday, the rain drew the tourists inland, and the talk was all about the dead babies. Some vacationers headed to Ocean City's latest and most unlikely attraction - the 200 block of Sunset Drive, where yellow crime tape circled the home and yard of Christy Freeman, arrested in connection with the death of an infant, one of four whose remains have been found in and around her house.

Memorial Day closings announced Carroll County Government offices will be closed tomorrow for Memorial Day. Carroll County public libraries, senior centers and public schools will be closed tomorrow. Northern Landfill and the Recycling Center also will be closed tomorrow. Motorists reminded to buckle up Carroll County Sheriff's Deputies will be out in extra force during the Memorial Day weekend to protect motorists from impaired, aggressive and unsafe drivers. The Sheriff's Office is alerting motorists that in addition to the "Click It or Ticket" seat belt enforcement initiative, a saturation patrol will be in place throughout the weekend to identify and remove impaired drivers from the road.

For Marylanders heading for the beaches, the mountains, the front stoop or the backyard barbecue on this Memorial Day weekend, warm, sunny skies and cool, pleasant nights mean the summer season has arrived and winter is but a distant memory.The weekend marks the beginning of the weekly pilgrimage to Ocean City, with the requisite frolicking on the boardwalk and the ritual traffic backup at the Bay Bridge, and this year is no different. By 4: 15 p.m. yesterday, there was a traffic jam five miles long as weekend vacationers waited to pay their toll.

You didn't plan a trip to the beach and you didn't have the energy to throw a big cookout this Memorial Day weekend. You thought it would be a good time to hang around the house and get some chores done. But now, admit it. You and your family wish there was at least one Event to mark the holiday. It's not too late. Here are 10 ideas for last-minute, low-key, family-oriented Memorial Day events. Some are ways to commemorate the day; others are simply a way for you and your family to spend some time together.

FAIR HILL -- Down the stretch they come.Jack Baker chugs toward the finish line, but he's not aboard a horse. He's steering a tractor and trimming the emerald oval that is the turf track at Fair Hill -- racing to get ready for the state park's summer season.Use of Maryland's 47 state parks surges on Memorial Day weekend and again when schools close for the summer. Preparing for the return of the warm-weather crowds means a lot of spring cleaning. It means painting, fixing anything that's broken and hiring seasonal workers.

State police in Westminster issued citations to 64 speeders, 43 seat-belt violators and six drunken drivers during the Memorial Day weekend's Operation CARE, a statewide initiative to reduce traffic accidents and save lives on Maryland highways.According to preliminary reports, five people died in weekend traffic crashes across the state, including fatalities in Baltimore, Charles, Prince George's, Frederick and Wicomico counties.One person died on state highways during the Memorial Day weekend last year, a state police spokeswoman said yesterday.

It may be shaped like a horseshoe, but Baltimore's venerable Memorial Stadium appears to have run out of luck. After reviewing three proposals, the city this month awarded development rights to a team that wants to raze the stadium to make way for a retirement community called Stadium Place. As a result, tomorrow may be the last Memorial Day that the city-owned landmark -- one of Baltimore's most prominent memorials to war veterans -- will be standing on 33rd Street.The decision may be a victory for community residents who see nothing particularly lucky about having a vacant stadium in their back yard.

NIKI HAAS HAS HAD A very busy year. The seventh-grader at Northwest Middle School has managed to act in a school play, perform with the school chorus, play the violin in front of a demanding judge at the State Solo and Ensemble Contest and make a trip to the White House to meet first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton.The latter honor stemmed from a recommendation from counselors at Camp Superkids in Silver Spring, a camp for children with asthma. Niki has attended the camp every summer for years, and her energy and enthusiasm captured the attention of camp staff.

As you read this today, I'm floating in the Atlantic on a cruise ship bound for the Caribbean. Yes, I know. The life of a travel editor is, like, so exhausting. But I'll have you know it's my first vacation in nearly six months, so I'd like to think I've earned it. In preparing for my trip, I was reminded of the new passport rules that go into effect June 1. As of that date, most Americans will need to show a passport or passport card to enter the U.S. by land or sea. Airline passengers already have to show such identification.

Memorial Day in Washington, and geese swimming in the great reflecting pool that reflects the Washington Monument or the Lincoln Memorial, depending on where you are standing, and busloads of tourists pulled up to the curbs. Heroic architecture everywhere, bas-relief sculptures of heroes, men on pedestals, monuments to Fidelity and Sacrifice and Devotion, and a milling crowd of people, many of whom are Hot and Irritable and Dazed with Tedium. Signs of museum fatigue everywhere. Stone-faced couples in shorts walk by, cameras dangling from their wrists, who appear to be on the verge of divorce.

Don't like farm business? Try development Having grown up in the farming community in Howard County, I have a message for the neighbors of Bobby Prigel, who fought him tooth and nail when he proposed to produce and sell organic dairy products from his farm in Greenspring Valley ("A win for common sense, local food," May 24). Just be happy I did not own the property that was proposed to remain rural and operate as a farm. I would have sold the farm to developers at the first hint of a protest.

CHESTER - -The Cohen family thought they would beat much of the typical Memorial Day beach traffic by leaving Bethany Beach early in the day Monday. Not so much, they discovered. Sherry and Buddy Cohen, their son, daughter and a family friend, packed into their car at 11:30 a.m., but by 4:15 p.m. hadn't yet crossed the Bay Bridge. The Pikesville family joined hordes of other people who just couldn't take sitting in the car anymore and had stopped at a McDonald's a few miles from the bridge for a break.

Monday marks the seventh Memorial Day since the United States invaded Iraq and the eighth since American troops went to war in Afghanistan. At latest count, 4,299 American servicemen and women had lost their lives in Iraq, and another 686 had died in Afghanistan. Since the last Memorial Day, nine Marylanders have been killed in those two wars, four in Iraq and five in Afghanistan. Two of them were just teenagers. Pvt. Charles Yi Barnett, 19, of Bel Air, was a sweet kid, a mama's boy, who joined the Army shortly after turning 18. His family said he wanted to better himself and go to college in a few years.

It's been a wet spring. But as Memorial Day nears, the unofficial start to summer is upon the region. That means picnics, lazy days in the sun and a lot of nature-gazing. With many parks and green spaces open longer hours, that also means many more outdoor activities. Here are five ways to take advantage of the great outdoors without leaving the area. * Run in Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine. At just about a mile around, this South Baltimore site is where Francis Scott Key was motivated to write the "Star-Spangled Banner" after witnessing the 1,000 American troops defend it from the British Navy during the War of 1812.

Who cares about six years from now? Orioles fans should be watching catcher Matt Wieters when the New York Yankees come to town April 6. There's no question he's already one of the club's best everyday players, and there's no question the O's are a better team with him. The only question is whether the Orioles and their fans are better served by taking him off the major league roster to keep the clock from ticking on his eligibility for arbitration and...

School officials say they expect resistance from parents in the coming weeks as the school board contemplates a proposal to shorten spring break. Now the break is six days - Monday through Friday and the following Monday. Under the proposed change, the new break would run three days - Thursday, Friday and the following Monday. Officials say the change is in response to several factors, including a desire to shorten the school year, a need to create more time for summer construction projects, a need to add instruction days leading up to the High School Assessments and more time at the end of the school year so parents and students can plan to pursue summer school courses.

Motorists arrested for drunken driving after Labor Day festivities in Baltimore saloons won't have the excuse that they didn't have another way home. AAA Mid-Atlantic is teaming up with Yellow Cab and the State Highway Administration to offer free cab rides for alcohol-indulging drivers as part of its Tipsy? Taxi! program. Free rides will be available by calling 877-963-TAXI between 4 p.m. tomorrow and 4 a.m. Tuesday. Riders must be age 21 or older and have been drinking at a bar or restaurant in Baltimore.

Mary K. Tilghman of Catonsville and Cherry M. Sparks, spokeswoman for the Maryland Transportation Authority, must have known it's my birthday. As a present, they got together and wrote most of my column for me. Well, they didn't actually get together. But when Tilghman wrote in with a great question and Sparks sent an informative reply, putting the two together seemed like a natural way to take it easy. Tilghman's query: What causes the 8-, 10- or 11-mile backups on the Bay Bridge westbound at the end of a holiday weekend?