Day 5 - From Maryland to Delaware to Philadelphia.....Chesapeake Bay Country

I've always wanted to see the Maryland and Delaware part of the Eastern Coast, and other than in Annapolis, didn't really get to see much of the water of the Chesapeake Bay.  Annapolis was a very charming town that sits on the Chesapeake Bay and is the home of the US Naval Academy. The town is the capitol of Maryland, and in its center is the state capitol building, which has a beautiful governor's mansion next to it right in the center of the town!  Annapolis also has a really sweet "Church's Square" in the center of the town which has beautiful churches all together in one area.  The town sits sort of on a small hill, and these beautiful streets, which are lined with darling store fronts, lead down to the bay from the town's center.  There are a great many US flags flying on the sides of the store fronts and people's homes, which was awesome to see.  Maryland is known for it's delicious crab - and there are "crabs" everywhere in the stores - made for some cute little purchases in some of the stores! There are tons of restaurants and taverns all over this little town, which I guess, in part, services the sailors there and the other tourists that come through there. We spent a beautiful day there just walking around the area, did a little shopping, visited the Naval Academy briefly, and headed out of town to make it to Baltimore before dark.

A little Minden side note:  Craig Almond, from Minden, graduated from Annapolis Naval Academy!  I know his parents must be proud of him.  I'm thinking he might have played football there, not sure.  I'm assuming he is still in the Navy, because I think they have to stay in for 3-4 years after they graduate - but I'm not sure about that, either.  

We've been to the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, now the Naval Academy in Annapolis and I'm hoping we get to go to West Point Military Academy (Army) in NY before heading back to Manhattan - that'd be cool to see, too.  Reid Butcher, from Minden, just graduated from West Point.  Way to go, Reid!  I've heard it is just beautiful up there - maybe we'll get by there for a visit.

We've only gotten turned around once since we got the rent car in DC and that was in downtown Baltimore, and I can tell you, I wasn't happy with Greta - the TOMTOM navigator woman.  She messed me up - I really think we need an upgraded GPS - she just doesn't give a lot of warning and doesn't give a lot of street names - I think she should say, "In 500 yards, you are to take a right onto Hwy 95".  Instead she might say, "In 500 yards, turn right, then turn left."  At first I was yelling at her (the GPS, Greta), but now I'm at the point of just rolling my eyes at her. For the most part, she's smart, but sometimes, she just doesn't vocalize enough to help me understand (frankly, I think sometimes ole' Greta isn't so sure herself!)   LOL  Maybe I'll buy an upgrade for the family for Christmas.  

We finally find the Inner Harbor of Baltimore, near Camden Yards, (Home of the Baltimore Orioles) which, incidentally, is a very beautiful ballpark, and we find our hotel - the Marriott, which is where we ran into the nice person of the day, Mary Coyle.  We got a good night's rest, ordered room service, and I feel asleep before I even blogged.  I was one pooped out, overweight, smoking heffer.  I bet I've walked 30 miles durning this little trip, and didn't bring my thyroid pills, which is why, other than the fact that I am fat and it is 92 degrees out, that I'm soooooooo hot.  LOL  But, I'll say this - I can go naked if I want, not that I'd do that to people, but those poor Indian women and Muslim women who have to wear all those clothes in this heat - whew - all I can say is.....I REALLY feel sorry for them!!  Their husbands should be ashamed, or their religions, or whatever it is that makes them have to wear ALL those clothes in the 100 degree heat.  Poor things.  Sometimes I just want to go up to them and tell them about freedom  doesn't just mean of religion, speech, protest, ......etc.... but it also means freedom to wear less clothes in the middle of the hot summer.  I love America.

Baltimore was a pretty area near the Harbor, but I didn't see anything else there that would keep me going back - the did have a nice mall there, and you know Emily drug me through there.

The drive to Philadelphia was pretty uneventful and not scenic at all until we arrived into Philadelphia - The city is HUGEEE and spread out!  Driving in you can see the skyline of the city, and it's beautiful and big.  We got to our hotel with Greta's help (no problem this time) and checked in and then took off to explore.  We headed down to the Walnut St. area and had a wonderful dinner - best food I've had since we left.  I had the BEST macaroni and cheese with lobster.  I couldn't believe they put chunks of lobster in the macaroni and cheese, but it was DIVINE!   

More to come...