I was born here in Maryland. I lived here until I left to go to college in rural Virginia. After school, I moved to Northern Virginia, where I lived for 13 years. In the past year, I’ve lived in Vienna and visited the Alps, tiny European towns, Paris and Normandy. In my life, I’ve been to Mexico, the Caribbean, Hawaii, California, Texas, Wyoming, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, and every eastern state from New Hampshire to Florida.

Virginia is gorgeous, Paris is romantic, the Alps are amazing, Normandy is darling, Vienna is lovely. But, of all the places I’ve been, my favorite, and in my opinion the most beautiful, is the rolling, bucolic, semi-wooded not-quite-foothills of Maryland.

Maybe it’s just because I’m from here, but I find a hilltop view of gentle slopes topped with forests or plowed fields singularly pleasant. There is nowhere I’d rather call home, and it’s really nice to be here for a while.