Side trips bet balt/Wash?
 

Spending time starting on May 27 in Baltimore/Wash DC area but looking for some fun, different sidetrips or some great shopping, lake areas ????
Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Llowe
dana point, califonria

While not directly on the route (so maybe it IS a SIDE trip!) would be Annapolis.

There is (or was? maybe not after 9/11) a Cryptography Museum off BW Parkway, I think part of CIA (or some other govt agency)

Historic Ellicott City is pretty funky area has loads of old shops. It is an old mine town and had the first commercial RR stop in the country (or at least what I am told.) It is kind of like a smaller, hillier version of Old Towne Alexandria.

Here is a link

http://www.ellicottcity.net/

It is off 95 by taking route 100, get off at route 40 and make a left at the light onto St john's lane and then make you next left at the light onto old Frederick Rd and follow that to HEC.

Two other SIDE trips are Harper's Ferry and Frederick, Maryland. Harper's Ferry is historic and beautiful - the Shenandoah and Potomac Rivers come together there, while Frederick has some nice shops and an older downtown.

Between DC and Baltimore there is also shopping in Savage Mill http://www.savagemill.com, some antiques, some crafts in a restored mill complex.

Near Ellicott City is the Benjamin Banneker Homestead which I've never been to, but looks interesting. It is the home of Banneker a free African-American mathmatician, astronomer, and surveyor who helped lay out DC.

I think Ellicott City is more famous for milling, and the change in agricultural practices, than mining.

if you want water, there is the chesapeake bay. cute boutiques in both annapolis and then across the bay in the easton and st. michaels.