Annapolis: Reunions and the Boat Show

We'd scheduled our arrival to coincide with Rick's 45th class reunion at the Naval Academy at the end of September/beginning of October. Much to our delight, the winds picked up just as we left the Patapsco River into Baltimore and left most of the debris, including tires and metal tanks, behind us. So we sailed at last in the Chesapeake and into Annapolis Harbor. It is easy to see why they call themselves the boating capital of North America. We spent 10 days in Annapolis, 6 of them on a mooring ball.  Land activities occupied most of our stay. Thursday night was our reunion cocktail party and we had a chance to renew our friendship with Bob and Taffy Walker. At the dinner dance at the Calvert House on Saturday, we spent time with Mike Polanski, a classmate both at the academy and at the University of Michigan graduate school.

Friday, Erin and Roy arrived to join us and we watched the USNA parade with all its wonderful pagentry, including a marching bagpipe Scottish band and the spinaakered sloops sailing by in the background.Saturday was the Navy/Air Force football game with more military pagentry. Our seats were in the 3rd row of the end zone, where we were able to see Reggie Miller, the NBA Pacers star and an interview of the Secretary of Defense, Leon Panetta. The game was a heart-breaker, with Navy coming back in the 4th quarter to tie the game, only to lose in overtime. Afterwards, we took Erin and Roy to a dinner at Harry Browne's restaurant, pricey, but fabulous seafood.

SUnday morning, niece Stacy and her friend, Will, joined us for brunch on the boat and a tour of the Naval Academy. Having family join us is one of the pleasures of travel.

We contemplated moving on Monday morning, but just outside the marina, with a perfect front row seat for the upcoming boat show was a free mooring ball (free as in vacant, the town charges $25 a night, but you get shower and laundry priveledges). The skies cleared at last. Glorious soft breeze and sunshine. During the next three days, we witnessed the amazing site of floating piers being erected, with boats streaming in the moment the last pice of each dock was secured. On one of the days, we visited the Annapolis State House, oldest in the nation, and for 9 months, the capitol of the US. Our friend, Sid Mohsberg, a University of Michigan classmate,  took us to dinner at the Annapolis Yacht Club, where they make the BEST crab soup ever, even bringing a small decanter of sherry for the final touch. Sid did a visit to the boat before dinner.

We attended the boat show on Thursday and Friday, buying a few toys and supplies for the boat. This is a picture of the dinghy dock, a real challenge to come and go each day, with dinghies 3 deep and the water closed off by logs to prevent anyone tying onto the boat show docks. Everyone tied with long lines and the trick was to push away as many boats in as many directions as possible to work your way loose. Dinghies were used freely as boarding bridges by all those attempting to reach the dock.

 Friday, at the boat show, we discovered good Texas friends, Lee and Donna White and entertained them on our boat the following morning.

Saturday afternoon, we met Navy friends Vern and Pauletta Peters for lunch at the unique "Chick and Ruth's Deli" in Annapolis, crab cakes the size of your fist!

The water traffic there is unbelievable. One evening at sunset, we watched the Naval Acadmy sloops, with blue and gold spinnakers flying, the return home of two separate racing fleets of small Laser type sailboats, dinghies zipping from boat to shore, a fake pirate ship motored past, mega-yachts floated into a marina, water taxis, and every form of boat under sail and power plied the waters, including kyaks and rowing skulls. Sitting on our mooring ball, we felt like a stalled car on the freeway.  All in all, Annapolis was a really fun place to be.