Living: Recreation
Living in Baltimore is ideal for taking advantage of the many activities available in Maryland. In fact, there is hardly a pastime - boating, fishing, skiing, hiking - that can't be found within an hour or two of the city.
The Chesapeake Bay, bountiful with seafood including Baltimore's favorite oysters and blue crabs, offers swimming, sailing, motor boating and fishing. Along the Eastern Shore, flat terrain dotted with country towns and fishing villages makes for delightful bicycling and sightseeing. The beaches of Ocean City, Maryland; Rehoboth Beach, Delaware; and Cape May, New Jersey are easy day trips from Baltimore, as is Assateague Island, Virginia, a seashore wildlife preserve where campers can view pelicans, herons and wild ponies roaming free.
Historic Annapolis, the state capital and home of the United States Naval Academy, is a town for architecture buffs, boaters and seafood lovers. Only 45 minutes from Baltimore, it offers beautifully preserved 18th-century mansions and historic landmarks along with harbor cruises, sailing schools, antique shops and restaurants.
Washington, D.C., with its myriad of historical and cultural attractions, is about an hour's drive from Baltimore. In addition to the Air and Space Museum, the Museum of American History and the National Gallery of Art, Washington neighborhoods including Georgetown offer a wide variety of restaurants, specialty shops and bookstores.
The state parks of Western Maryland, between the Blue Ridge and Allegheny mountains, are the spot for hikers and campers. Deep Creek Lake, a year-round resort, offers a variety of water sports in the summer and skiing, both downhill and cross-country, in the winter at nearby Wisp resort. The C&O Canal, which extends from Cumberland in Western Maryland to Georgetown in Washington, D.C., offers picnicking, fishing and horseback riding. Canoeing and rafting are especially popular along the C&O Canal and on the white water of the Potomac and Youghiogheny rivers.
Closer to home, the rolling countryside just outside Baltimore offers a variety of opportunities for relaxation, including horseback riding; paths for bicycling, jogging and hiking; and numerous parks and reservoirs for a quiet afternoon in the fresh air and sunshine.
On the Johns Hopkins medical campus, the Denton A. Cooley Recreation Center offers complete recreational facilities including tennis courts and an Olympic-sized outdoor swimming pool as well as handball, racquetball, squash and basketball courts, an elevated running track, exercise machines, whirlpool and saunas.
