Maryland

Grab a beverage and a comfortable seat, this is a long one!

Crisfield — One thing that we have encountered in these small towns, many stores and restaurants are closed completely on Monday and/or Tuesday. Don’t know if it’s because of COVID or the town can’t support these businesses. It was like this in Crisfield. There is a state run marina with 500 available slips and most of the slips are empty. There are several new condo/apt buildings near the marina that look like they were built to encourage growth in this city. Unlike the movie “Field of Dreams” the saying “if you build it, they will come” doesn’t look likes it’s happening in this town.

Anyway, the transient dock was a nice floating dock and the bathhouse was decent. We did find a small restaurant near the water that was actually open and had good food/good prices. We overhead the owner say to a customer that she almost closed 2 weeks ago. Things are not looking good. We actually ate there twice during our stay in Crisfield.

We enjoyed a bike ride around the surrounding area. Not much to see, but we did find Smithfield Island Cake Company. Apparently these multilayer cakes are delicious, but we had a hard time parting with $50 for deliciousness.

The maritime museum near the marina was interesting, especially seeing the crabs in the water tanks that were loosing their shells to become soft shelled crabs (a hot commodity around here). This is a time in the life cycle of the crab were they are vulnerable and so hide in protective waters until their new/bigger shell hardens.

Solomons Island — Moving to the city of Solomons we were greeted with lots of boats and people. What a change! We walked along the boardwalk into the center of the “activity”. Even though it was a holiday weekend, not much was happening and the few restaurant were very high priced. But it was a nice 3+ mile walk in any case. Our first night in Solomons we could hear country singer Dustin Lynch concert from the nearby concert venue.

There was a West Marine close by, so of course we had to look and buy something we might need in the form of matching Tilley hats (I look like a boater now) and a few other things. It’s always dangerous to enter a store like West Marine when you own a boat. Thankful for a pro account as we get a big discount on most items at West Marine.

Culvert Marine Museum – Tim spent several hours in a museum near the boat. A really cool place if you are ever in the area–per Tim.

Oxford — A short 4 hour trip to Oxford. We docked our boat in the travel lift basin after weaving our way to the back of the marina. Not much happening around us, but a nice safe/quiet place. We were really thankful to be docked in a protected area as it became very windy into the evening and night with lots of rain.

This is a very small town with lots of character. We walked the streets and enjoyed all the beautiful gardens around the houses. My mother-in-law would really appreciate these well manicured gardens. The red bricks from this area of the country were used on most of the sidewalks but in various patterns.

Check out the Oxford Picket Fences around the city.

St Michaels — We left Oxford a little later than usual as fog blanketed the area. We could see across the harbor so decided to poke our nose out into the bay. It was a no-go situation so we returned to the Safe Harbor fuel dock for an hour until the fog cleared. Tim did a great job backing into our slip in St. Michaels. We only stayed for one night so we conquered/divided the afternoon activities. Tim visited the Maritime Museum and I walked the Main Street (about 6 blocks) getting my retail therapy (window shopping). Can’t buy much when you live on a boat. I did buy a slice of carrot cake for Tim from the Smithfield Island Cake Co. We enjoyed dinner in the company of the crew from Coconuts (Sara & Bill).

Annapolis — Off to the big city of Annapolis, better known as the sailing capital of the US. They’re a ton of boats around here and lots of tourists. We are docked close to the old downtown and also the US Naval Academy. Our first agenda was the hour long tour bus of the historic area—so much history and lots of red bricks on the road/sidewalks and the houses. We then participated in a walking tour of the Naval Academy (our guide was a very fast walker). We only had to show our license and walk thru a medal detector to gain access to grounds of the academy. The Midshipmen are on summer break so not many people in uniform on the campus. It was interesting to learn about the lives of the midshipmen while on campus and all that it involves. I was impressed how leadership qualities are taught and caught in all areas of these young people. These are the future officer/leaders of the Navy and Marines.

Sunday we attended the protestant service at the Naval Chapel.

Notes of interest: The smoke from the Canadian fires can be seen in the bay. What could be a beautiful view of the bay is now shrouded in a haze and will likely get thicker as we meander north.

I, Martha, experienced the sonic boom while sitting in our boat from the fighter jets guarding the restricted airspace in Washington. It was a very unusual sound which vibrated thru our boat.

Baltimore –Change of plans….we are headed to Baltimore to have dinner with Bob Oeste, my cousin from my Mom’s side. I hadn’t seen Bob since I was in 8th grade. I had an email address for Bob from Ruth Krauss (another cousin) and hoped that it was still current. To my surprise he responded and would love to see us. We were able to meet for dinner in Baltimore and catch up on the 50 years since we had seen each other. Bob shared stories of our grandparents and his life in Philadelphia. What a blessing to be able to connect with Bob and his wife Kristen.

Before we met with Bob, Tim & I walked the harbor walk to Fells Point. It was very hot, but interesting to see the older section of town and lots of red brick again. Many of the street were cobblestone which caused me to wonder how women traverse those street in heels (I almost twisted my ankle when I wasn’t paying attention). The part of the harbor where we docked was lined with apartment buildings and townhouses (row).

Apparently Baltimore harbor is a very busy commercial harbor. Many ship loading and unloading in various parts of the harbor. As we were leaving Annapolis, there were about 5+ ships anchored in the bay, awaiting their turn to enter Baltimore harbor.

Havre de Grace — Fun Fact: Havre de Grace almost became our nations capital. The tie-breaker voted Washington….and so Havre de Grace became a river city. Another sleepy town with a few more stores/restaurants than other sleepy towns in this area. We enjoyed dinner at a restaurant overlooking the river (we enjoy eating at local places). We did a walking tour of some of the old buildings in the area as well as walked through the Duck Decoy Museum in town. We learned more about the history of the town while walking on the boardwalk along the river. It amazes me that even though we fought the British while our country was young, our countries are now allies. Soon we will be leaving the state of Maryland when we cross into Delaware. In 25 days, we visited 12 cities all located on the Chesapeake Bay!

Tomorrow, one day in Delaware. Then two stops in New Jersey and we will be into New York.