Annapolis -- Wow

August 23 – 27, 2012
 

The mooring ball is held in place by a big piece of
cement.  A line is attached from the ball to the boat.
It is more secure than an anchor.

We have visited Annapolis many times by car, but this was our first time by boat.  We enjoyed it so much!  The academy, historical spots, restaurants and shops are mixed together with wonderful homes and boats, boats, boats.  We were lucky enough to get a mooring ball on Spa Creek surrounded by multi-million dollar homes.  Five nights in this quiet sheltered spot gave us easy access to the city. 

As soon as we were secure, the dingy went in the water and we were off to see town.  It was a short visit.  Just enough time to get the lay of the        

                                                                              land and then it was dark. 

Formation before lunch with drums and bagpipes.
The entire brigade (4400 midshipmen) live in this hall.
It has almost five miles of corridors and about 33
acres of floor space.  Almost everything they need 
for daily life is in this building:  doctors, dentists, barbers,
hair stylists -- even a department store.   
 

On Friday we took a tour of the Naval Academy and went to their museum.  The grounds (known as the Yard) are like a beautiful city park with the addition of historical buildings and monuments.  The Naval School was first established in 1845 at Fort Severn.  The museum tells the story of our country and the Navy in an easy self-guided tour.  On the top floor is a display of model ships made by French prisoners of war.  Most of them have a thin veneer of bone on their hull.  They are extremely intricate and exact.  Midshipmen decide in their senior year to become Navy ensigns or Marine Corp second lieutenants upon graduation.  After our tour, we wondered the back streets and had lunch outside where we could watch

the world go by.

 

The tomb of John Paul Jones, a Revolutionary War
hero.  His remains were brought to America in
1905 after 113 years of obscurity in Paris.

 

 

Famous quotes were explained in the museum
Don't give up the ship
Damn the torpedoes full speed ahead
We have met the enemy and they are ours

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cute shops and homes

 

The Maryland State House
Was the capitol of the United States
November 26, 1783 - August 13, 1784.
George Washington resigned his commission
here December 23, 1783.
Congress ratified the Treaty of Paris here
May 7, 1784 to end the Revolutionary War.
 

 

The dingy dock

Saturday we rented a car and set off to resupply.  It was an all day event.  By the time we got back to the dingy, we had five large canvass bags of groceries and a 30 can case of Coke.  The wind had picked up and the water was very choppy.  Then it started to drizzle.  We managed to get me and all of the bags on board with nothing going overboard.  As we putted past the restaurants with outdoor seating, our picture was being taken by the diners.  They probably thought we would be on the morning news – we were definitely pushing the limits of our little craft.  I can see the headline.  Woman drowns clutching her case of Diet Coke!

We still had the rental car on Sunday so we drove into Baltimore to check out the marina that we wanted to use Labor Day week-end.  While we were there, they had a rain storm that dropped three inches of rain.  It was still pouring when we got back to the dingy in Annapolis.  Brian had to bail four inches of water out of it before we could head back to Gotta Smile. 

Monday was a beautiful day.  We finally had blue skies and sunshine again.  Bonnie, Jon and their friend, Gary, arrived last night.  We picked them up in our dingy and headed into town for breakfast.  Since we had done the Academy tour, we took all of them on an abbreviated tour sharing all of the facts that we could remember.  More wondering around town and then lunch at the renowned Chick & Ruth’s Delly.  The owner stopped by our table.  What a character!  She and her husband are local parents for several midshipmen each year.  Apparently, every student is assigned a local family to help them through the adjustment.  She was a wealth of information about the local life.  A little more wondering before we took a dingy tour of the big boats in the harbor and the back waters of the creek.  Impromptu dinner for five on our boat.  Just as I was preheating the oven a circuit breaker in the generator overheated.  The convection/microwave oven couldn’t be used.  Luckily I have a gas oven that worked just fine.  Dinner was completed and after a quick call to Hottie Scottie the generator was once again producing electricity.  The end of another great day…..   

Good-bye Annapolis

 

         

 

Gotta Smile – we’re lovin the ride!