Savage Mill Hike 2025

We've been on a bunch of hikes on the trails by Savage Mill (for example, here). The path system follows the Little Patuxent River which provided power for the mill back in the 1800s. The path toward the mill is usually blocked by overgrowth, but we managed to get through in February. The path was a little creepy, especially this uninviting drain pipe. 

This is not a Mario-friendly entrance

The path along the river led us below the back parking lot for the mill. We could see some of the Terrapin Adventures outdoor challenges up the hill.

A sign of slightly safer civilization

Also up the hill, we spotted some deer. Can you find the critter in the photo above? The photo below is a spoiler, sort of...

Great natural camouflage

Ruins of the mill are also visible from the path, though we were not sure what we were looking at. 

Maybe a gate for the mill run?

The river is fairly peaceful here with little signs of human impact.

Houses on the hillside opposite

We found what we thought might be the other end of the pipe from above. We did not investigate too closely.

An exit? An entrance? A wishing well?

We finally made it to the mill ruins on the river, some structures we have never seen close up. They are visible from a trail along the other side of the water and from the Bollman Bridge.

Almost to the end of the trail

A combination of history and teen art

Plenty of machinery is still left inside. Probably it was too heavy to move or not valuable enough to relocate.

Mill equipment

Pipes

We found a steep and treacherous trail up the side of the ruins to the mill. We came up near the kids challenge course for Terrapin. A group of kids were climbing around and the supervisor said hi to us while cautioning us about staying away since we didn't have helmets. I suppose stuff might have dropped on us? We cleared out quickly without photos. As we walked along, we saw some of the hillside ruins from the other side.

The other side of the gate?

We went into the mill to get a snack and do a little shopping. While it was harrowing to climb up the hillside to the mill, it was a lot faster than backtracking all the way to the parking lot. The hike was fun but we probably won't do it again, definitely not with mom!

Howard County Scavenger Hunt 2024

This year, we participated in the Howard County Recreation and Parks scavenger hunt. The hunt sent us all over the county, sometimes to businesses, sometimes to historic sites, sometimes to just plain fun sites. 

One of the challenges was to have a little dance routine. We did one at our studio, That's Dancing.

Posing with our teacher

The North Laurel Community Center is part of Howard County, so we fulfilled two other objectives by getting a snap at the skate park and one with an employee inside the center.

Luckily, we did not have to actually skate

At the front desk

By a sculpture

We were supposed to get pictures at outdoor art installations. The center's parking area has a spot that has hosted many different sculptures.

Another challenge was visiting libraries, which we did at the Savage branch. They have a nice garden.

Library garden

Pic with a "fREADom" sticker

At Savage Mill, we found more outdoor sculptures and a dog to pose with (finding five dogs was another challenge).

Outdoor sculpture #2

A dog in the game store

More outdoor art

We went to the lakefront and put our hats on the statues of the Rouse brothers. James Rouse was the real estate developer of Columbia, Maryland.

Join our team!

Playground by the lake

Another statue

Right by the lake is the Central Branch of the library, so we got some more pictures, including a stack of books sorted by rainbow color.

Reading rainbow!

Indoor art!

Not far away is the Charmery, an ice cream store, and GameOn, an arcade and bar combo.

Enjoying ice cream

Enjoying video games

GameOn's sign in the background

We were supposed to get pictures with a musical instrument and with a classic car. We found the car in our neighborhood and a uke in our house.

Strumming!

Carefully obscured license plate

We donated food at the county food bank, checking another item off the list.

Proof of generosity

Another business we went to was Black Flag Brewing Company. We got another picture with an employee there, along with some tasty beverages. The kids were with us and she asked them to tell jokes. Two of the three children complied! We also made a flag that did not come out well in photographs.

Employee and our flag

Our flag outside!

Next door was a dog training school which was closed on Saturday night.

No late night parties here

The next day, we went to Centennial Lake to get a picture by their amphitheater. We didn't get too close because some people were doing meditative yoga inside.

Rocking out at the amphitheater

We visited one of the old house of the county, Waverly Mansion. It is mostly used for events like weddings. It is also claimed to be haunted so we took a picture with a picture of the ghost.

Not quite visible

We also visited the Alpha Ridge Park and the Howard County Center for the Arts.

At Alpha Ridge

More outdoor art

In Ellicott City, we visited the Patapsco Female Institute, a boarding school from two hundred years ago. Since it was Sunday morning, they were not open.

Let us in!

We also visited the B&O Museum in town and took a pic with the train bridge from the early 1800s.

Museum entrance

Train bridge

The Robinson Nature Center was having a plant sale, so we bought some stuff and took some pictures there too.

I'm Spider-Man!

Photo with employee

Animal pic

Another animal pic

Back at home, we made dino puppets for a puppet show, another challenge we met.

Dragon, snake, or dinosaur?

We submitted our pics and videos. Later in the week we found out that we won! We got our picture at Parks and Rec HQ and on their Facebook page, along with a bunch of gift certificates to Howard County businesses.

Yay us!

Cute Kid Pix November 2022

More pictures that didn't make their own post...

Our church had its annual Christmas Bazaar, which included a night of "ice skating." The skates were real ice skates but the "ice" was some sort of hard plastic flooring that sort-of worked to skate around. We had a fun time eating smores afterward at the nearby firepit. It was too dark for good pictures with the phone camera. Gotta remember the real camera next time! The next day, we went into the Kessler Center for food, silent auctions, and other fun.

The sales at the bazaar

A local board game store hosted a 24-hour gaming marathon to support Extra Life. I played the version of Clank that's on a pirate ship called Clank! Sunken Treasures. I never saw the box cover, but the game was fun.

Clank in water!

The store had a "pay what you can" table for used games, with the money going to the charity. My family bought me a tiny Jenga set that has seen much use by us. It went to Religious Education where I used it as a substitute for the gallows drawing in Hangman. It was also an icebreaker at a Cub Scout meeting.

Clearly an off-brand edition

Seemingly impossible yet still playable state of the tower

In other gaming news, I discovered that Rush Hour puzzles are solvable in ways other than the recommendation on the back of the card. In Rush Hour, the player tries to get the red car out of the traffic jam by moving all the other vehicles around to make a clear path. I made one solution that took a lot of moves and then tried out the solution on the back. I was pretty sure I had a different final state that got my car out, so on the next puzzle I took a picture of my solution. Then, I did the back-of-the-card solution and took another picture of a clearly different solution.

My solution

The card's solution

We made the kids rake leaves which might have been a mistake, because see what they did to me!

Looking for a dad in a leaf stack

Help!

My wife and I attended a Renaissance dance at our dance studio. It was a lot of fun, with some authentic dances and music, along with modern stuff that mimics the style from way back when.

Our Renaissance garb

We went to Savage Mill at the end of the month and saw all the Christmas decorations already in place!

But it's not even Advent yet (as of the picture taking)!

Santa's spot

We went for an epic bike ride from just outside of Baltimore to the Naval Academy in Annapolis. Most of the way is a bike/jogging path that formerly was the Baltimore and Annapolis train line. It was fun, with a challenging bridge at the end.

Meeting at a pickup point

Getting ready to go

This bridge is more challenging than it looks

View of the Severn River

At the grocery store, I saw another crime against breakfast.

You can guess the toy surprise inside