St Michaels MD to Annapolis MD

We left St Michael's bright and early this morning and cruised slowly across the Chesapeake to Annapolis Maryland.  

Annapolis is one of the must-stops that I've been really looking forward to.  Tomorrow we will visit the US Naval academy and tour its facilities.  Today we visited the Annapolis History Museum, the Chesapeake Light Craft facilities and walked to the downtown / Old Town area. 

Annapolis is one of the very few places that have served as the nation's capital.  In fact some of the founding documents were written in the buildings right here that are still standing.  

The Maryland State House building is the oldest active legislative building in the US.  Some of our original founding documents were written in this building.  It is still used by the legislature today much as it was at the time of George Washington, Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson. 

A relatively short journey today of 28.3 miles.  Just under a marathon distance.  A distance with 3000 crab pots. 

That 28 miles is a world of distance when it comes to people though.  St Michaels was quiet with only a few people in the restaurants and on the street.  Annapolis is crazy busy and 3x (or more) as expensive.  

We opted for a mooring ball here as all of the marinas were either full, couldn't handle our boat length - or wanted $3.50-5.50/ft for mooring plus power (some up to $35 a day).  Needless to say those of us on a semi-budget opted for a mooring ball.  

A mooring ball is a floating ball with a heavy anchor down on the bottom that won't move.  It allows boats to be tied up and kept off each other because they are evenly spaced and the boats all spin (in theory) the same way in the current and the wind.   I say in theory because our boat is the odd one out and does what it wants.   Still - we aren't hitting anyone.  

I do think we picked the spot that is the most boat traffic in the whole mooring  field....   We certainly don't miss any of the activity boats are going in all directions around us all day long.... 

Even Navy sailing vessels.  

We are also here during the Annapolis boat show...  There are a lot of boats at the boat show.   I'm not sure if we'll have time to go to the show or not... 

 

We did have time to walk around downtown though...

It is kind of cool to walk on streets you know George Washington and Thomas Jefferson walked on.   Even the museum is in a house that has been there since the time the founding fathers were working on the Constitution.  

After hour mandatory history lesson I absolutely needed to figure out how to get to Chesapeake Light Craft.  Most people will have no idea what that means or is.  Those that know what I worked on for the last 4 years WILL know what it is...

For the past four years I took a 2x12x20 piece of clear cedar from Oregon and cut it into tiny strips, beaded, coved, heated, steamed, formed, glued, sanded, epoxied, sanded, fiberglassed, sanded, added carbon fiber and closed cell finger, clear coated, sanded and produced a kayak that is a work of art.   Almost too nice to use (but I use it).  Chesapeake Light Craft designed the boat (which we modified) and then sold me the forms to mount the strips to as we formed the top and bottom of the craft and then mated them together.  

On the photo above the lower kayak is the original which I bought the design for and then made it my own.  

They build some beautiful boats.  

And paddles. 

And apparently ultra light trailers.  

I love their designs.  

We were able to tour the plant and see the designs in the making...

Even their tool boxes are cool....

And the boats....  Well, they are on another level...

We even got to see the masters at work building a new creation.... 

We are one day into our Annapolis visit and it's already my favorite stop on the loop for cool town stuff to do.  It's hard to believe 28 miles ago we felt like we were in the middle of nowhere and no one was around.  

There are still not very many loopers this far north but we've re-entered civilization and this town is really cool.  I could spend some time here....

Tomorrow we have tickets to visit the US Naval academy.   We are looking forward to that visit.   This whole town bleeds Navy.  Honestly it feels like Ann Arbor in a way... Maize and Blue everywhere and a contrast between the military side and the academic left leaning ideology.   It seems here people have learned to coexist with people who aren't like themselves and disagree with them..  I'm sure that's not always the case but the culture here is one that has a great vibe.  

It's hard to believe that Maryland didn't ratify the 15th amendment (allowing black people to vote) until like 1959...   This town has always been conflicted so I think they are just used to tolerating people with other points of view.   In 1861 some of the richest people in town were former slaves.  Yet there were still slaves in town....  That's just not that long ago.   

Well, for tonight we will sit on the boat and listen to the band playing on shore and enjoy the sights of the harbor.  We will likely blog more tomorrow or the next day even if we don't move because there's so much to do and see here....

I'll leave you with some photos of Kunta-Kinte park (Alex Haley wrote Roots here) and the dinghy dock that is in it.   No shortage of boats and dinghies and people here....