A couple of days after my last post I discovered I couldn’t get into my blog site. At that point we were busy sightseeing all day in Annapolis for several days and then we were on the move again with intermittent decent internet – so no blogging. I tried a couple of weeks ago to get help from my server host and got nowhere – bad communication on both ends of the conversation. So I decided a couple of days ago to try to get help from the server host and although he wasn’t able to figure out why I couldn’t get in, he was able to give me a backdoor way to access it. Unfortunately then it was back to no WiFi and only one bar for cell service, so still no way to post pictures in a reasonable length of time ( 3 1/2 minutes to get one picture to load was like being back in dialup days.) I seem to have good WiFi now, so maybe I can finally post about the past month.
We ended up staying in Deale a couple of extra days because of weather and never did get up the creek with the dinghy. We finally left Deale July 10 and made it to Yacht Basin Co. marina in Annapolis.
I’ve described the goody bags we’ve received at several marinas, but this has to be the most unusual one thus far.
The marina is located next to the Annapolis Yacht Club, but our Saugatuck Yacht Club membership wasn’t on their reciprocity list. Oh well – it’s been rated one of the top 10 yacht clubs in the U.S. so I’m sure my denim shorts and white T-shirt wouldn’t have been appropriate attire.
Annapolis Yacht Club, seen from our boat. The third floor dining room had beautiful chandeliers, waiters in black pants, white shirts, and ties.The first night in Annapolis was race night, which we watched from our boat. There were several classes of boats racing – great fun to watch! Note all the people standing on the bridge watching the races.One of the boats coming back in – that black sail makes it look ferocious!This platform was tethered to the dock in an empty slip. There was always at least one duck on it, sometimes several, but amazingly it kept them off the docks.This building has been a tavern/restaurant continuously since 1750. Several of the founding fathers gathered here regularly.This is an upstairs meeting room. Can’t you just imagine all these men sitting around the fireplace discussing politics and whether the colonies should declare independence from England?The gentleman on the right was trying to drum up business for a nighttime ghost tour. He liked Rich’s hat (it has a bottle opener in the brim) and thought they should trade.This sculpture group is Alex Haley reading a book about his family’s journey to America to three children of different ethnic backgrounds. It’s part of the Kenya-Kinte – Alex Haley memorial located around the head of the city dock, “to commemorate the arrival in this harborof Kunta Kinte, immortalized by Alex Haley in Roots, and all others who came to these shores in bondage and who by their toil, character and ceaseless struggle for freedom have helped to make these United States.”We had dinner one night in another pub that was frequented by the founding fathers. I commented to the bartender after taking this picture that instead of saying Washington slept here, I could say I ate where Washington ate. His response was that there was a great story about Washington drinking in this pub. As the story goes, he apparently got really drunk one night and started hitting on the innkeeper’s wife. He was then thrown out and told to never come back.The dome of the state capitol at night.The Naval Academy was right across from our marina. The visitor center has the yellow roof.
We did a two hour tour of the Naval Academy, led by a gentleman who graduated from there in 1964. He was very knowledgeable and was a great guide, giving us insights into life at the academy. My head felt overloaded at the end of the tour and I was wishing I had been able to record all of his comments. As someone who taught study skills for years, I found it very interesting to learn that there are a variety of resources for the cadets to ensure that they get the help they might need to get through their courses.
You don’t need to know how to swim when you enter the academy, but… by the end of the second year, you must be able to swim several laps in a certain amount of time in full uniform, and jump off the 10 meter board.In the crypt of John Paul Jones, under the chapel at the Naval Academy. The museum at the Academy has a large number of model ships, but we found this especially amusing. Do you see the urinal on the bulwark (side)?
