My drive to and from work has been the biggest change, growing from two to about twenty miles each way. The morning commute is sort of crappy- I have to leave at 6 a.m. and it's a slow, dull drive the whole way there. But the ride back is much more enjoyable, especially since I have a tendency to take the back roads home. There is nothing better than flying over hills and around farms on a twisty deserted road, with the windows down and the music blasting... I almost wish the drive were longer. It's sort of a gas-suck, as opposed to just taking the expressway, but it's worth it.
If you're wondering why I don't take the back way on the way to work, well, I did once. It turns out that all those twisty, hilly roads that are so great in the afternoon, are pitch. fucking. black. at 6 in the morning, and often shrouded in fog. I had to go well below the speed limit to avoid veering off the road, and it wound up taking nearly twice as long to get to work. Perhaps when the sun comes up a little earlier, this will become an option.
I'm toying with the idea of taking photos of the drive home- maybe snapping one every five minutes or so, so you can see how awesome it is. I just have to figure out a way to do this without killing myself (or others). It's hard to just stop on the side of the road, due to lots of blind turns and the fact that often there is barely enough room for two cars to pass on some of these roads. Hmm. I'll figure something out.
So what else... Scott found this spooky, abandoned house just down the street:
Can't say I've seen anything like that in Germantown. There are a lot of old, abandoned buildings around. I like them, they add character. There's also a lot of farms- there's even a farm down the street where you can get grass-fed Angus. Developers in Germantown like to buy farms, tear them down and build townhouses in their place. Farms are much nicer. Those in Illinois should note that the farms here are of the happy "what every farm should be like" variety, and not the sad, creepy factory farms you see there. Or ugly, flat corn fields. Picture rolling, green hills, dotted with horses, cows or sheep. I will try to get photos.
The weather here is even a smidge better. It's usually a couple degrees colder here, which can mean the difference between drizzle and flurries (I much prefer the flurries). Hopefully, it will also be a couple degrees cooler in the summer.
At night, the skies are full of stars. Granted, it's the luck of our location (newer area, not yet overbuilt, not too close to downtown), but it is nice to be able to see the Pleiades and other fun constellations. I'm always on the lookout for UFOs, being so close to DC and numerous military bases I'd be foolish not to. I thought I saw one once, but it turned out to be a goose. Maybe next time. I have seen several shooting stars, whereas in Germantown they were hard to catch even when there was a major meteor shower.
All in all, Frederick is far superior to Germantown. I plan on taking more pictures to better illustrate that point, if only I can remember to bring the camera when I leave the house...
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