Here we are in Annapolis!

We left our great anchorage at St Michaels early Monday morning and headed back across the Bay to the Rhode River. Wouldn’t you know we found another great spot! This reminded us a lot of the lake. There were several boats there with kids bobbing around and having a ball. In fact, we decided to get in too. After the initial shock! – it wasn’t so bad. HA! The water here is not as salty as it is farther south. But it’s cold! What a great Memorial Day. We had boat drinks – listened to boat songs and even grilled hamburgers for dinner. When we were ready for bed, there were only about a half dozen boats left. Everyone else, I guess, had to go back to work. Hmmmm…….

The next morning, we headed on in to Annapolis. It was smart to anchor out last night. That way we will get to Annapolis early and be able to spend more time in the slip. Especially because the slip will cost us nearly $100 a night! I keep trying to tell Mike that we saved money by spending the last SEVEN nights on anchor. Well, you know how he is!

We got to Annapolis about 10:00 a.m. and easily found the City Dock. We had called a couple other Marinas, but they were full. The City Dock is first come, first serve so we weren’t sure what we’d find. But I guess, since it’s the day after a long weekend, we had pretty much our choice. The City Dock is right in downtown Annapolis. The Naval Academy is right here along with several restaurants and shops. There is a waterway that runs right thru the middle that is called “Ego Alley”. Every night it’s more like a street that is the main cruise. High dollar boats drive up and down just cruising. It’s very impressive. There is a small area to turn around and you should see the large sail boats make the turnaround!

We spent our first day here taking care of things such as laundry, trip to West Marine, groceries, pump out. It was so hot! It felt so good to be able to plug in and turn the air conditioning on max! We took a city bus to the store. That was an experience. After Mike shopped at West Marine and I did the grocery shopping at the Giant, we decided it would be much easier to call a cab. The cab driver was a really nice guy. He was shocked when we told him we were from Joplin. His church is sending two busloads of volunteers to Joplin. One is coming this week with chainsaws and the other one next week with supplies and carpentry experience. Isn’t that something?

Later we did a little sightseeing and walked over to Pusser’s Landing for dinner.

BTW, one of the reasons Mike went to West Marine was to pick up the kit to fix the head. Guess what, it had fixed itself! We think maybe it was a low battery. Anyway, we still have a kit to fix it if we ever need to. I love it when things fix themselves!

This morning we had breakfast out on the sundeck while it was still cool. There were lots of runners and walkers. The area around here is really pretty. NautiNell overlooks a park that overlooks the Spa River. It’s really nice. Mike decided he needed another fix of West Marine. I decided that I’d do a little shopping on my own. There are so many neat shops around here – but some are a little pricey.
Anyway, I found me a boat hat! You know, a big floppy straw hat. The funny thing is Mike came home with one too. Aren’t we a special pair. HA!!!!

We went for a long dinghy ride this afternoon. It’s so hot! In fact, Annapolis broke their record that was held since 1898 of 97 degrees. The heat index was 105. It’s not supposed to be this hot here. Isn’t the reason we’re going north is to avoid these temperatures??

We walked to a great little bar “Stan and Joes” for Happy Hour. The Harbormaster recommended it to us. Great drinks and great food. It started to pour down rain just as Happy Hour was ending. Wouldn’t you know it. We caught a ride home using the free electric cars that run this area. They’re sponsored by local restaurants. Great idea, huh.

The rain didn't last long. We sat out on NautiNell and watched the sailboat races. Yes, they have them here every Wednesday evening. Do you know how boring sailboat races are? We weren’t even sure when they were over. Sheeh!

Well, we plan to head north on to Baltimore tomorrow. Not sure where we are going to stay.

Will fill you in on that later.

Till then!
Admiral “C”