August 27, 2014 Walking around Annapolis

Got up this morning and walked down the street to Chick and Ruth's Delly for breakfast. It's apparently a landmark here in Annapolis. After breakfast we cruised around town and then headed back to the boat. Did some chores, took a short nap with Adi and headed out again this time boarding the free bus for a loop around town. Stopped in at the Naval Academy visitor center to get info about a tour that we will take tomorrow and then headed to the Maryland Capitol for a look around. Dinner out at a nearby pub and then back to the boat to listen to the live music across the water from us.

August 26, 2014. Baltimore to Annapolis

Today we said goodbye to Anchorage Marina and the City of Baltimore. We're headed to Annapolis for a few days on the wall at the Annapolis City Dock. We really enjoyed Baltimore!

Last night in Baltimore.

Away we go. 

 Cargo ship headed to Baltimore.

 Naval Academy entering Annapolis Harbor.

Annapolis City Dock. 

Capitol. 

 Walking around town.

Adi cat is worn out.

August 23, 2014 Catch up.

Well we are still in Baltimore. A bunch of stuff has happened since we last blogged. I flew out to California and drove up to Tehachapi to visit my mom for a week. We had a great visit and I got lots of maintenance and repairs done around her house. Meanwhile, Lois and Adi stayed on the boat at Anchorage Marina in Baltimore. Lois walked the city shopping in the little stores, visiting art galleries, the National Aquarium and restaurants. I returned to the boat on August 14th and we intended to leave the following Monday for Annapolis. HOWEVER, on Saturday my left foot started to hurt and by evening it had swollen to about three times its normal size and I could hardly put weight on it. It got worse on Sunday and Monday morning I was off to the Johns Hopkins Urgent Care. The doctor thought it was an arthritis flare up and gave me some pain pills to help until it got better. On Wednesday afternoon, after three days of agony, I couldn't put any weight on my foot, so it was back to the doctor where it was determined that I had gout. I've had small run-ins with it before but nothing like this episode. Well two new prescriptions and about three hours after taking them I was finally feeling better. My foot is now almost back to normal without pain. I don't want this again so I'm watching my diet a little better. Tomorrow, Sunday, August 24th will be a work on the boat day and Monday we'll head to Annapolis for the week. All three of us are ready to travel again!

Los Angeles traffic.... Yuk! 

Row houses in Baltimore - Could be fun.

Jellyfish at the aquarium.

 At the Urgent Care.

I'm still able to shop at Costco.

Adi cat taking it easy.

August 2, 2014 Fort Mchenry and the Baltimore Art District.

This was a very interesting day. We toured Fort McHenry, which is located in the southern portion of Baltimore on the Patapsco River. In 1814 the British Navy attacked the fort in an attempt to capture Baltimore. The 25 hour bombardment ended with American victory and when Francis Scott Key saw the American flag still flying above the fort he began to compose "The Star-Spangled Banner", which did not become the official national anthem until 1931.The fort tour includes a variety of interesting demonstrations like men dressed as soldiers marching with their rifles and a firing of one of the cannons. We then drove to the Mount Vernon-Belvedere  neighborhood of northern Baltimore. We took a peek in the Peabody Library in the Johns Hopkins University conservatory of music.  Across the street was an enormous ornate church, so big we could not get it all in one picture.

August 1, 2014 Getting things done in Baltimore

We took advantage of having the rental car to see more of Baltimore, which is a large, busy city with many interesting areas like Little Italy, Canton, and White Marsh, which has about every store you can imagine. We took Adi to a Pet Smart in White Marsh that has a Banfield Vet. This was just a check up as she has turned one year old. Essentially she is fine but she will blog some more information about this when she's done resting up.

We took Adi back to the boat then did some shopping in White Marsh.  There's nothing interesting about that except that we came across  a huge Ikea store and decided to check it out, without any intention of buying anything. This store was amazing and so big we got lost. We got out of there without any purchases.

Drove to an area called Canton which has an old town square, surrounded by row houses, shops, and restaurants. Ducked into Nacho Mama's for dinner, feeling at home as there was a statue of Elvis outside and an "Elvis Bar".

July 31, 2014 Baltimore's Inner Harbor

Yesterday, our first full day in Baltimore, was spent washing the outside of the boat. Not a fun day but the boat really needed it. So today we rented a car for a few days. We drove around the city to get the lay of the land and then parked at the Inner Harbor, $21 for three hours, to visit the sites. We walked around and went on board the historic ship USS Constellation. The Constellation was built in Norfolk and launched in 1854 as a sloop-of-war. It served the US Navy from 1854 to 1933 and then again from 1940 to 1955. Baltimore is home to several other historic ships.