The day begins with a bagel with bite. It's the kind that makes you work when you chew it -- and one that delivers terrific flavor.

I find it at Goldberg's New York Kosher Bagels in Pikesville as I begin the final leg of my eating journey through Maryland. For my last jaunt, I decide to take a leisurely trip from Baltimore to College Park.

Usually, I rush to get to the Washington area. Today, I am savoring the drive. Besides bagels, I am going to stop at a Mexican restaurant in Howard County and an ice-cream parlor at the University of Maryland.

As I walk into Goldberg's, the yeasty aroma of freshly baked goods hits me. Sunshine is streaming over a collection of customers -- some wearing yarmulkes -- who are sitting at a handful of tables and chairs.

"We are Orthodox Jews," says owner Stanley Drebin, who opened the store a year ago. "We close on Friday at 2 in the afternoon and open again Saturday night after the Sabbath is over. But we have a lot of non-Jewish customers."

Drebin says he gets his dough from a New York bagel maker, who uses a recipe dating back to Polish immigrants from the early 1900s named Goldberg.

"They won't give me the recipe," says Drebin, who doesn't want to identify his source.

Drebin brings the frozen bagel dough to Pikesville, where it is boiled and baked and turned into fragrant, chewy kosher bagels.

I may not know much about kosher foods, but I do know a good bagel when I have one. The bagels are fresh, yet they have a slight resistance in their crust. I like that.

I buy a bag filled with plain, raisin, black Russian and poppy-seed bagels -- 13 in all for a little more than $6. Besides the bagels, I like the attitude of Avinoam Miller, who works the cash register.

He not only rings up my purchase but dispenses a little start-of-the-day wisdom.

When I remark that I'm "half-awake," he sympathizes, telling me he wakes up at 5: 30 each morning to get to the store by 6 when it opens.

But, he adds, with a shrug familiar to anyone who has ever reluctantly hauled himself out of bed and off to work, "There is the money."

With this in mind, I head to Clarksville for lunch at El Azteca. It is a family-run Mexican restaurant that sits amid sprawling shopping centers and booming subdivisions.

Francisca Cortes, who owns the restaurant with her husband, Gilberto, says the landscape was much different 6 1/2 years ago when she got her first look at the small space in the strip mall.

"It was a former pizza place, run down, and this was a small town with cattle," she says. "But [Gilberto] wanted to do it, and here we are."

Now, the modest, 80-seat restaurant, decorated with colorful artwork and brightly painted ceramic parrots, has developed a reputation for serving dishes that are "muy Mexicano" or very Mexican.

Cortes tells me she and her husband, the restaurant's chef, come from San Luis Soyatlan, a small town near Guadalajara in west Mexico. They use ingredients imported from their homeland.

"All our spices and chilies come from Mexico," she says. "We get them fresh. The spices you get here they have preservatives."

I order tacos al pastor, slices of steak that are marinated, cooked quickly on a grill and served in crisp, corn tortillas. The meat is perfectly grilled, moist, with an undertone of the grill smoke.

"That is the way it is done in Mexico," Cortes says.

I polish off the steak tacos and put serious dents in mounds of tender rice and creamy refried beans. The tortilla chips with fresh tomato salsa also impress me.

The chips are made at the restaurant, Cortes says. "It is more work," she says. "But it is worth it."

The final stop of my eating tour of Maryland takes me to the Dairy, a 120-seat ice cream parlor and lunch restaurant in the Visitors Center at the University of Maryland in College Park. It seems like a good spot to wind up this summer idyll.

The Dairy serves homemade ice cream, a dessert that is a perfect finish to any summer day. I also like the idea of ending this summer adventure at a school. A trip to school usually marks the end of vacation for legions of parents and kids.

Although it is late July and there still are a few weeks of summer left, the Dairy is bustling with college kids. I don't know if they are taking classes, but they certainly are studying the tubs of ice cream.

I join them. After careful consideration, I select fresh peach as my choice.

The flavor is one of 16 kinds of ice cream made on campus by the college's department of animal and avian sciences. The university has been making ice cream since the 1920s, says current ice-cream maker Lisa Smith.

"We make it three times a week, 25,000 gallons a year," she says.

Students, who also can get the ice cream in dormitory cafeterias, prefer a flavor called "Cookies," which has bits of Oreo-like cookies in it, she says, while the faculty and general ice-cream-eating public go for vanilla.

I like the fresh peach with chunks of tart yellow peaches in a creamy base. It reminds me of the ice cream I used to eat as a kid when the peach crop came in.

I take my cup of peach ice cream with me in the car as I head back to Baltimore on Interstate 95. My idyll is over. I am back in the fast lane now.

As I head back to my regular routine, I think about the past few weeks as I ate my way through Maryland. I have gained insights into the state's geography. My car's odometer tells me I have driven close to 2,000 miles.

I did get lost a lot. But eventually I found the scenic mountain town of Lonaconing in Garrett County, the small ferry in White Haven, Suicide Bridge in Dorchester County and Point Lookout State Park in St. Mary's County. I feel I am a better Marylander for knowing where these spots are.

I also found a lot of good restaurants (see accompanying list) that serve fresh food cooked by folks who live in the community. I feel good about living in a state with so many legitimate cooks. These folks take the bounty of the land and waters and turn it into mighty fine fare.

I feel lucky I visited these places. I feel unlucky I missed others. I might try this again. But not for a while.

In addition to gaining insight about the state, I also gained 8 pounds. When a button pops off the waistband of your favorite pants, you know it's time to stop the feasting and start the dreaded sit-ups.

Reprints of this series are available for $9.95. To order, please call SunSource at 410-332-6800.

Last but not least

1. Goldberg's

New York

Kosher Bagels

708 Reisterstown Road

Pikesville

410-415-7001

2. El Azteca

12210 Route 108

Clarksville

410-531-3001

3. University of Maryland Dairy

Ice Cream Bar, Visitors Center

8100 U.S. 1

College Park

301-314-7777

Taster's choice

Western Maryland, Day 1 The Casselman Main Street (on Alternate U.S. 40) Grantsville 301-895-5266 Sampled: Buckwheat pancakes, Whoopi pie

Marshall's Confectionary Intersection of Main Street and Douglas Avenue Lonaconing 301-463-6338 Sampled: Tuna fish sandwich, milkshake

Yoders Country Market Route 669 Grantsville 301-895-5148 Sampled: Bacon

D'Atri 1118 National Highway LaVale 301-729-2774 Sampled: Steak subs

Western Maryland, Day 2

Weaver's Restaurant and Bakery 77 W. Main St. Hancock 301-678-6346 Sampled: Coconut cream and black raspberry pies

Brewer's Alley 124 N. Market St. Frederick 301-631-0089 Sampled: Pub-brewed beer and pizza

Gardener's Gourmet farm Uniontown 410-876-7940 Sampled: Fresh-from-the-ground purple potato and apricots.

Maggie's Restaurant 310 E. Green St. Westminster 410-876-6868 Sampled: Steak sandwiches

Western Maryland, Day 3

Simmons Grocery Store 2841 Snydersburg Road Hampstead 410-374-2310 Sampled: Homemade strawberry ice cream

Ballpark Restaurant 3418 Conowingo Road Street 410-457-4304 Sampled: Bean soup and grilled chicken breast

Conowingo Diner 331 Conowingo Road Conowingo 410-378-3073 Sampled: Lemon-meringue pie

Spring Valley Farm U.S. 1, north of Conowingo Road Conowingo 410-378-3280 Sampled: Pick-your-own blueberries

Eastern Shore, Day 4

Baker's 1075 Augustine Herman Way Elkton 410-398-2435 Sampled: Meatloaf

Durding's Store 5742 Main St. Rock Hall 410-778-7957 Sampled: Fountain sodas and root-beer float

Old Oars Inn 5731 Main St. Rock Hall 410-639-2541 Sampled: Miss Betty's crab cake and stewed tomatoes

America's Cup Cafe 5745 Main St. Rock Hall 410-639-7361 Sampled: Miss Virginia's crab cake

Eastern Shore, Day 5

Cafe 25 25 Goldsborough St. Easton 410-822-9360 Sampled: Pancakes with cranberry-orange topping

Meredith & Meredith Inc. 2343 Farm Creek Road Toddville 410-397-8151 Sampled: Crab meat

Suicide Bridge Restaurant 6304 Suicide Bridge Road Hurlock 410-943-4689 Sampled: Crab balls and soft-crab sandwich

Peaky's 30361 Mount Vernon Road Princess Anne 410-651-1950 Sampled: Fried chicken and succotash

Eastern Shore, Day 6

Little Acorn Cafe 932 W. Isabella St. Salisbury 410-749-9782 Sampled: Scrapple

Harris Market 702 S. Division St. Salisbury 410-749-5431 Sampled: Watermelon

Crab Bag 130th Street and Coastal Highway Ocean City 410-250-3337 Sampled: Steamed shrimp, fried flounder sandwich and corn-on-the-cob

Southern Maryland, Day 7

Vera's White Sands Restaurant White Sands Drive at St. Leonard's Creek Lusby 410-586-1182 Sampled: Skewered chicken in spicy peanut sauce, crab gazpacho, seven-boy chicken curry and coconut ice cream

Bear Creek Open Pit Bar-B-Q 21030 Point Lookout Road (Route 5) Callaway 301-994-1030 Sampled: Memphis-style, dry-rub ribs

Evans Seafood Piney Point Road (end of Route 249) Piney Point 301-994-2299 Sampled: Rockfish sandwich

Southern Maryland, Day 8

Cruise boats to Bayside Inn Ewell, Smith Island 410-425-2771 Sampled: Crab cakes, crab soup and clam fritters

Southern Maryland, Day 9

The Roost 21736 Great Mills Road Lexington Park 301-863-5051 Sampled: Hi-Pockets grilled cheese sandwich

Linda's Cafe 27 Tulagi Place Lexington Park 301-862-3544 Sampled: Home fries

CD Cafe 14350 Solomons Island Road Solomons 410-326-3877 Sampled: Couscous salad and chocolate trifle

Baltimore/Washington, Day 10

Goldberg's New York Kosher Bagels 708 Reisterstown Road Pikesville 410-415-7001 Sampled: Bagels

El Azteca 12210 Route 108 Clarksville 410-531-3001 Sampled: Steak tacos

University of Maryland Dairy Ice Cream Bar, Visitors Center 8100 U.S. 1 College Park 301-314-7777 Sampled: Peach ice cream