By AML Publisher
Photos Courtesy of Jubilee Photography

Christine Mullen, Blue Maxs Inn beautiful and charming Inn Keeper, will make your stay in Chesapeake City memorable.

Christine Mullen always loved the Blue Max Inn and was involved in the banquet and bridal industry for years in Maryland’s Cecil County. When she found out the owners of the Inn were putting the gorgeous historic house on the market, in 2004, she quickly took the chance for her dream job. Today, Mullen is the proud owner and innkeeper of one of Chesapeake City, Maryland’s four beautiful Bed and Breakfasts. “People come from Philadelphia all the time and always say to me, ‘This is the best kept secret, we had no idea this great town was here.’ I think Chesapeake City evokes the charm of a European village because we have the (C&D) canal so we see the large ships going through; we have a beautiful historic district, fantastic shops and great dining. It really is such a wonderful place for me to call home and welcome my guests,” said Mullen.

The Blue Max Inn started as a B&B in 1990. The house was built in 1854 and was once owned by renowned writer Jack Hunter who penned the runaway best-selling novel, “The Blue Max.” Hunter was a well respected and well liked man in the Chesapeake City community. The book was made into a movie in 1966 with George Peppard (best known for his role in the ‘80s hit television show The A Team) as the lead role, and costars Ursula Andress and James Mason. Mullen has a vintage movie catalog, with Peppard on the cover, on a breakfast nook to display to guests.
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By AML Publisher
Photos by Jubilee Photography

Pell Gardens is a popular setting for brides and grooms to hold an intimate outdoor wedding ceremony.

Chesapeake City is one of the Main Line’s best kept daycation secrets. Just over an hour from downtown Wayne (with no traffic on 95), this quaint slice of Cecil County, Maryland is a seaside getaway not to miss. My family has dined many a Mother’s Day at the wonderful Bayard House Restaurant—delighting in their award-winning crab soup, tournedos Baltimore and a most delicious Bloody Mary…or two. The Bayard House looks out onto the famous Chesapeake and Delaware Canal (C&D Canal), one of only two vital sea-level canals in the United States. The C&D Canal is an international waterway and the third busiest canal in the world!

Travel & Leisure Magazine named Chesapeake City “A Top 10 crowd-free weekend getaway near America’s largest cities.” The town was formerly known as “The Village of Bohemia,” since Chesapeake City was a dream of Augustine Herman. The First Lord of Bohemia Manor, Herman (1621-1686) was a Czech explorer, merchant, and cartographer who lived in New Amsterdam and Cecil County. In 1764 a canal route was marked and the actual project started in 1824.
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By Laura Kicey
Photos courtesy of Laura Kicey

Ambler photo journalist Laura Kicey continues her three part series documenting her weeklong journey of the mystical country called Iceland. Kicey’s trip was funded entirely by a new, innovative website called kickstarter.com – which specializes in micro-patronage for creative ventures and concepts. For other kickstarter.com success stories, visit their website.

Pictured is a fortuitous shot of The Great Geysir of Iceland, for whom all geysers are named. The Geysir first erupted in the 14th century. It used to erupt every 60 minutes until the early 1900s when it became dormant. Earthquakes in June 2000 subsequently reawakened the ‘sleeping’ giant and it now erupts approximately every 8 to 10 hours.

The Geysir, for which all geysers are named, burbles and steams constantly in between eruptions. The explosive drama of the geyser’s spout against the backdrop of the purple, June-time landscape, surrounded with jewel-toned pools of steaming water, rich blue skies and intense sun was quite rousing. But, the intensity and raw power of our next stop at Gullfoss, the grandiose Golden Falls, dwarfed even Geysir. When you pull into the parking lot, you can neither see nor hear this raging force of water cutting into the land, but after a short walk over the hill, the turbulent wind and mist grab you and start to pull you into the core of Golden Falls. Standing on a ledge a few feet from the edge, separated by only a single thin wire, the wind at your back edging you forward, it would be easy to get swept away by its puissance.
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By Laura Kicey
Photos Courtesy of Laura Kicey

Several months ago we connected with Ambler photographer Laura Kicey by a cool twist of fate. I was thrilled to learn that Kicey was gearing up for an exploration and photo journey through Iceland. Kicey worked closely with kickstarter.com, a website offering a very innovative and productive way to fund creative endeavors. Through kickstarter.com, individuals across the United States can communicate an interesting, creative idea to a network of people who offer a tremendous source of encouragement and potential funding for the project. Kicey raised all of her funds for her trip thanks to a group of 32 strangers who pledged a total of nearly $3,000. She returned with thousands of images – 260-plus of which are now available on Flickr. Kicey stated she is considering a trip to Alaska next year because “I love cold, icebergs, remoteness, etc…so it is right up my alley.” And, after looking at her captivating collection of photos, we could not agree more. The following is part one of our three part series following Laura Kicey’s Icelandic adventure.

Enjoy!
Sarah Lockard
AroundMainLine.com ePublisher

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Valley Haus
Kicey and her travel companion, Sandra, enjoyed a lunch picnic their first full morning in Iceland overlooking this mountainside cabin and lake.

Every step leading up to my adventure in Iceland meant moving forward without any sense of what was to come. I was not sure I could afford the trip at all, which prompted me to launch an art sponsorship program. Likewise, although we have been friends for years, my travel companion Sandra, (who lives in Stockholm) and I had only met once in 2005. And, despite having seen many photographs and some movies of Iceland, nothing could truly prepare me for what I was to experience. Similar to the all-too-common sign we would eventually see on one-lane roads in the more rural areas of the country – BLINDHÆDIR, which indicated that you were about to crest a hill blind, without any sense of what was approaching from the other side, this trip rested on a hundred leaps of faith occurring on an almost hourly basis. It had been several years since I had traveled beyond North America and the need to venture outside the country was becoming quite strong. While planning for the week-long trip, I realized that even though I had a companion to share the costs and I was going to keep myself to a strict budget, it would still be a financial stretch. One of my friends, joking that she would like to live vicariously through my trip, offered to become my sponsor as long as she could have a print of one of my photos from the excursion. At first I scoffed at the idea. But, soon it started to become clear that I couldn’t afford the trip on my own and might have to take my friend’s offer seriously.
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By AML Publisher
Photography courtesy of April Ziegler Photography

A cozy winery hidden on a hilltop in Bucks County has much to offer Main Liners looking for a pleasant daycation this summer.
Peace Valley Winery, Chalfont, PA

In 1967, Susan Gross was working as a chemist, rubbing elbows with horticulturists and thinking about her next career move. A country winery was not on her radar. But, before she knew it, Gross was a proud owner of a bare stretch of cornfield in quaint Chalfont, Pennsylvania. She had never been on a tractor in her life. As many first time entrepreneurs do, Gross went with a gut feeling-experimented with her new piece of property and planted three acres of wine grapes along with a large experimental plot of hybrids from France and Germany.

Seventeen years later, Peace Valley Winery opened (in 1984) with Robert Kolmus as a partner. Today, Peace Valley is a quaint, country winery in the heart of Bucks County farmland with over twenty acres dedicated to over two dozen varieties of grapes. “Our philosophy is one of a laidback approach. We are certainly not wine snobs out here at Peace Valley. We are a working farm and small town vineyard, and our loyal customers prefer us to the state store brands-because we have great wines and they can support a local business” Gross explained.
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By AML Publisher
Photos courtesy of Kevin E. McPherson
Drawings published with permission of The Rosenbach Museum, Philadelphia

A total of over 300 original watercolors, pen-and-ink sketches, doodles, manuscripts, books, and dummy books from the 1950s to today are displayed at The Rosenbach. Visitors can access new interviews with Maurice Sendak through digital touchscreens throughout the galleries.

Most people recognize famed illustrator and author Maurice Sendak for his work in Where the Wild Things Are, In The Night Kitchen and Chicken Soup. But Sendak’s amazing talents have graced the pages of 105 additional books besides the famed trio. This week the year long exhibit of Sendak’s work at Philly’s Rosenbach Museum has its final curtain call. There’s a Mystery There: Sendak on Sendak is a retrospective that encompasses four comprehensive galleries in the museum. Director Spike Jonze will be releasing his version of Where the Wild Things Are in an upcoming 2009 fall film adaptation of the same name. The film is written by Jonze and Dave Eggers.

There’s a Mystery There focuses on Sendak’s personality as a storyteller engaging with difficult and mysterious themes and memories in his work. It explores Sendak’s prolific imagination through the characters, influences, and settings of his books, as well as Sendak’s quest to illustrate what he calls “the Other Story,” the hidden meanings of a text that haunt and enrich his illustrations.
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By Claire Harlin, AroundPhilly.com

When it comes to boozing it up at the airport, one is hard pressed to find a drink more exotic than Sam Adams or an atmosphere more appealing than a brightly lit bar fit with CNN-blaring TVs and a 70-year old bartender serving out of plastic cups. But Vino Volo has been changing all that. The airport wine bar chain debuted in 2005 at Washington DC’s Dulles International Airport and has since opened a number of locations around the country. Vino Volo (derived from “wine flight” in Italian) was so successful when it opened in the B/C Concourse of the Philadelphia International Airport in May 2008 that it opened a second Philly location at the D/E Connector.

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By AML Publisher
Photos courtesy April Ziegler Photography

Henry Mercer’s eccentric and comprehensive collection of artifacts from around the globe is showcased throughout the massive structure known as the Mercer Museum. The museum’s annual Folk Fest, held each year on Mother’s Day weekend, celebrates traditions of the past, including a popular sheep shearing contest.

Henry Chapman Mercer (1856-1930) was a pack rat, in the best sense of the word. At the turn of the century, Mercer, a leader in the arts and crafts movement and a wealthy renaissance man who wore many hats (architect, academic, archaeologist and writer just to name a few) constructed two massive concrete castles in Bucks County to showcase a breathtaking and massive collection of American and ancient artifacts. Today, these architectural masterpieces still stand in Doylestown and are home to two of the country’s most breathtaking museums, The Mercer Museum and Fonthill, Mercer’s former home. Thanks to Mercer’s vision, preserving the past for future generations with tens of thousands of unusual artifacts from around the globe, there exists a Main Line daycation unlike any other.
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By Missy Pearson
AML Correspondent

Close to 90% of the Polish population is Roman Catholic. Pictured is Wawel Castle, where Pope John Paul II presided before becoming Pope in Rome.

The past couple of weeks have been so very hectic. First, my magnificent adventures in Morocco–then just three days later Amsterdam and now another weekend away from Leuven. This time we headed east towards the cities of Warsaw and Krakow in Poland. We landed late on a Thursday night in Warsaw and the moment we got off the plane we immediately felt the biting cold and the strong wind. Our group took a bus from the airport to the train station where we waited about an hour to wait to board an overnight train to Krakow…this is where things got interesting.

There were eight of us traveling together and we were spread among seven different compartments. I was fortunate enough to be in a compartment with one of my friends but, still, when we found our seats we were the only girls with four guys. Since it was so bitterly cold outside, one of our compartment-mates had the idea to turn the heat on as high as possible so I spent the night taking off my jacket, followed by my scarf and sweater. I finally was able to get some sleep and was awoken at around 4am to a woman screaming in Polish in my compartment, wearing a fur coat and stiletto heels about 4 inches high. She seemed very out of place among all the other travelers. I’m not exactly sure what she was saying but as she jumped across me and out the door and down the hall, I figured she missed her stop. We pulled into Krakow around six in the morning and we jumped on a tram and made our way to our hostel where we were politely informed that check in wasn’t until 11am.
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By AML Publisher
Photos courtesy of Mimi Janosy
Mimi Janosy Professional Photography Studios, Philadelphia, PA
www.mimiprophoto.com

Grab your friends and celebrate safely with SEPTA’s affordable and responsible Philly Beer Week promotion. Pictured: The beer lovers from In Pursuit of Ale (www.beerlass.com)

Beer will be flowing and the ’burbs and city bars will be bustling as the highly anticipated second annual Philly Beer Week 2009 kicks off Friday, March 6th. And this year, nearing close to 500 events across the region, PBW ’09 is going to the rails—the SEPTA rails! PBW has announced an exciting collaboration with SEPTA entitled: Sip Safely with SEPTA. The Sip Safely campaign offers an unlimited, all-day, bus-trolley-rail pass for $9.00, and is valid any one day during the ten-day beer week celebration March 6th through March 15th. This pass is to encourage PBW participants to travel safely, rather than driving from event to event.

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