05 Apr 16.   One of our favorite places to take visitors when we lived MD was the C&O Canal Park. We made several trips ourselves and enjoyed the visits immensely, but it was always fun to take others there to experience the old ways of moving commerce from place to place. You can take the park in quite quickly, or you can take your time and really immerse yourself in history. If you went on the right days, you could interact a little with some of the four footed mules (the other kind was almost always available). If you live anywhere near the area and haven't yet been there you owe yourself a visit. Be sure to check the webpage to determine what is available for your planned trip. This is a shot of one of the gates of the last (or first depending on your direction of travel) lock in the park locale being opened. In total, there are 74 of these locks from beginning to end of the 184.5 mile canal which required 33 years to complete. It is quite the engineering feat. It was originally constructed to transport coal from the Allegheny Mountains; now I think it is used by the USPS to transport mail.

The base image was given a little contrast enhancement and that was it.   Nikon D70;  18 - 55;  Aperture Priority;   ISO 200; 1/320 sec @ f / 8.