From Oxford we crossed the Bay and headed into Annapolis. We wanted to stay at the yacht club there, but they could only take us for one night. We called the City docks upon entering the harbor, you can’t make a reservation, but I had called earlier and they said that they were pretty sure they would have a spot for us. And a spot they did. It was on Ego Alley.

We love walking around Annapolis. I am sure when the Academy is in session you see a lot of midshipmen walking around, but we did see a few at night. They are all so young and proud looking, both men and women.

We did have breakfast one morning at the Chick and Ruth’s Delly. We got there too late for the pledge of allegiance that is said every morning.

And, of course, what would a week be without a HUGE storm. We were sitting out on the sun deck when the rain started. We are watching people scurry. We decide that we will go up on the bridge, so that if the wind changes a bit we will still be dry. What we didn’t expect was for the wind to completely change directions and come blowing in the back of the boat. But then, there was a tornado watch. East coast weather!

Annapolios city docks ego alley

storm

tornado?

Monday morning early, we returned the car and untied the lines and we were off. Once again, we were boating Kelley’s way. First we were going somewhere on the Western shore of the Chesapeake and then he realized we were so close to the Eastern shore he chose for us to go to Cambridge and located a marina for us. But, as we are getting closer, he looks at his charts and sees how far up the river Cambridge is and notices Oxford. Another change.

We cancel the one reservation and call the local yacht club, the Tred Avon Yacht Club. As luch would have it for him, someone is there on a Monday and says it is first come first served but there is a space. We pull up! A floating dock and not a soul to come help, current and wind pushing us away from the dock, but, we do it without any difficulty. We have become one with the boat. How cool is that!?!

We locate the manager, who reminds us as to how lucky we are, and we agree that we are especially lucky that she answered the phone; we pay for a night and go for a bike ride. Now this is Kelley’s day so he rides us all over Hell and gone, or just to Hel’s Corner.

We met some people at the club. It is a sailing club and not really a marina. But they have a nice guest dock and we were quite happy for the night. From our boat we could watch the oldest private ferry. It is the Oxford-Bellevue Ferry and it crosses the Tred Avon River.

We pulled up anchor after a restful night and made our way to Solomons Island and to Calvert Marina which is next to Washburns Boatyard. Washburns is a Naiad service center and we hopeful that they will be able to fix what ever it is that got broken at the last spot.

Well, we really made Calvert’s our home. The stablizer that was broken at the last place did get fixed; I got my hair cut, we rode bikes, I visited Annmarie Garden and we met some other loopers. The day we were going to leave, there was going to be a huge storm coming in. Being a Looper we used our discount and rented a car.

On Saturday we drove to St. Michaels which is on the eastern shore of the Chesapeake and a must see spot. I have never driven in such rain. Lightening and thunder! A huge storm. We made it to St. Michaels before the storm hit there. We ate at the Crab House. As we were sitting there, bam – in comes the storm. I am so gald that we got there.

Since we had the car we thought we should make a run to Costco. The nearest one was 40 miles away and in Washington, D.C. Who would have thought that you could see the Washington and Lincoln Memorials on your way to Costco. We will miss going to the Smithsonian and the D.C. sites. I was hoping that we would go up the Potaomac River. Another trip….

On Sunday we drove to Annapolis. The say was beautiful. We toured the Academy and had a good lunch at a local tavern. I enjoyed Annapolis. I hope that we decide to come back on the boat.