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Annapolis, the "Sailing Capital of America", does indeed have a lot of sailboats - most of them are moored in the middle of the Severn River so you have to dodge them as you approach the town. Annapolis is also the capital of Maryland and the home of the US Naval Academy. While the academy and the politics are the prime movers here, Annapolis is also a delightful town with lots of history. For a while it was the capital of the US - George and Thomas and Alexander used to hang in the pubs that are still in business here on the waterfront. In the picture of the skyline you maybe can make out the Naval Academy, the Statehouse, and the main church rising above the trees.
We arrived here just in time to meet with Karen's sister Alie, Alie's husband Brad, and their youngest son Alex. Brad and Alex drove down from Connecticutt, picked up Alie at the Baltimore airport and spent a wonderful night with us on the boat. We, of course, overimbibed and stayed up quite late having too much fun.
The next day we walked around the campus checking out the buildings and monuments. Navy was battling Rutgers on the football field that day plus it was a 50th anniversary celebration for the class of '58 - John McCain's graduating class. There was rumor that he might be around but all we saw were lots of old navy guys and lots of midshipman marching to the stadium. That afternoon we drove over to Washington DC to celebrate Cameron's (their other son) and Hilary's (their daughter) birthdays. We had a great time there - thanks Nordholms!
The next morning Brad and Alex drove us back to Annapolis with a side trip to the airport to pick up Zachary, our oldest son. He came to visit us for a week during his break in chiropractic school. We wandered about Annapolis that Sunday and both Karen and Zack begain fixating on chalk marks on the sidewalk. We started following them and ended up on a rooftop parking lot greeted by a woman in charge of the "Power to the Pussy" hash. After plying us with strange looking shots of something that tasted a lot like gatorade and vodka, she invited us to join the rest of the hash. Our friend Chris on Magus had told us about the Hash House Harriers - a group of crazy folks that like to chase a "hare" on a cryptic and sometimes misleading trail that always involves drinking and singing and general mayhem. I think it was invented by some Brit expats in Malaysia. Chris used to hash through the jungle when he lived in Indonesia. There are hashing groups in pretty much every city of the world - if you like exercise with your alcohol check them out.
We planned on sailing the next day with Zack but unfortunately a slow moving tropical storm decided to sit on the eastern seaboard bringing lots of wind and rain. With discretion as the better part of valor we hunkered down and listened to the rain on the deck. We had a very cozy time catching up on all Zack's doings plus we again learned never to play "Settlers of Cataan" with him - just kidding we had a great time! Thanks for coming Zack - sorry the weather didn't cooperate - another time in a warmer place!
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