IPW (Pow Wow) - Post Tour ..Indulge all Five Senses in Maryland

After IPW, numerous Fam trips around the region were organised for delegates.   Capital Region USA (Washington D.C. , Maryland and Virginia) were hosts to Declan Mescall (Features Editor Travelbiz) and a group of 18 international media and travel trade who enjoyed a 3 day tour entitled ‘Indulge all Five Senses in Maryland’. The tour included a visit to the Antietam National Battlefield Park and nearby Pry House Field Hospital Museum, the site of the bloodiest one day battle in American history when 23,000 soldiers were killed during 12 hours of combat during the civil war on 17^th September 1862.   An Irish Brigade played a prominent role in this battle and is commemorated on site.   Next was a leisurely boat tour of Chesapeake and Ohio Canal accompanied by a informative National Park Service guide, then onto a tour of the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts followed by a Maryland themed dinner in the Rhubarb House restaurant in downtown Hagerstown city.

Day 2 was a ‘Saints and Sinners’ type tour as in the morning we visited the National Shrine of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, the first America born saint.   Then it was on to the nearby National Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes which attracts hundreds of thousands of pilgrims each year and is a replica of original shrine in France.   With the ‘saints’ part of the tour completed it was time to explore the ‘sinners’ part by visiting the Flying Dog Brewery and sampling some of the beers.   This theme continued as we visited the Black Ankle Vineyards and sampled some of the wines in a beautiful al fresco setting surrounded by the vines.

Day 3 Much of our final day was set aside for shopping as we visited the newly opened Clarksburg Premium Outlets, where we enjoyed a prosecco reception before checking out the more than 90 stores.   After which we travelled to the RIO Washington Center, Gaithersburg’s premier shopping and dining destination located in a picturesque open air shopping environment on the waterfront.   In the afternoon we visited the Brookside Gardens, a 50 acre public display garden, described as a living museum, with a huge range of flowers, rose garden, butterfly garden and woodland walk.   The evening finished with a visit to the Fillmore Silver Spring Theatre for a tour, reception and show.

Our gracious host and guide during the 3 days in Maryland was Heather Ersts (Maryland Office of Tourism).