Your Middle-earth

[Lord of Angmar]

I live in Maryland and, sadly, all the hospitable woods in the area are being overdeveloped. Growing up I lived only about fifty miles away from where Professor Tolkien grew up, and my town had a very rural and Shire-like quality, although growth and development began to encroach on it as i entered into my teens. In Maryland I rarely have a chance to be alone with nature and rarely have glimpses of Middle Earth-like terrain. There was a particular waterfall that I used to visit at Sugerloaf Mountain, about an hour off from my house, and the landscape there seemed to be a lot like the Trollshaws in the Fellowship, or perhaps the land in the valley of Imladris; rocky, serene, tall trees and short grass, moss and roots, ponds and pools... Sadly though it has become a bit of a tourist destination and I often find litter and leftovers from picnics strwen about (that is, if I do not find the picnickers themselves there [img]smilies/frown.gif[/img] ).