Annapolis

Jared is usually the one to suggest that we get out and do something when we have a free day.  I'm usually the one who is content to stay home but is then happy that we went out and found somewhere to visit.  So when Jared came home from work one morning last week and announced that he was done with work for the day, we immediately started talking about what fun place we could go visit. We settled on Annapolis, which is just a little over half an hour's drive from the base.  

Since we'd done a little research about Annapolis online before we left we kind of had an idea of what we wanted to see that day. We found the visitor's center, parked, got some recommendations and a map, and headed out to explore Annapolis.

Our first stop was Chick and Ruth's Delly, a tiny diner that is home to a six pound milkshake that was featured on Man vs. Food.  The restaurant was crowded, a bit loud, and kind of kitschy, but it was a fun place to eat and the food was pretty good.  My turkey club on homemade rye was delicious and humungous!

We were brought these homemade dill pickles to snack on while we waited for our order. Jared was the only one who really had any interest in eating them, but we all tried one.  Natalie, Abigail, Samantha, and I had never eaten a pickle before so we were all pretty hesitant.

Natalie LOVES cucumbers, but really, really, really disliked the dill pickles.  I didn't think they were that bad, but I definitely didn't go back for seconds!

Now that we were all full and happy we set out again to see what we could see.  There are lots of really interesting shops along the streets of the historic section of Annapolis.  I was pulled in to one shop by a beautiful pillow that was displayed in the window and we found many more beautiful things inside the store. I could have spent much of our day window shopping, but that wouldn't have been much fun for the kids!

We kept walking toward the docks and eventually arrived at the Historic Annapolis Museum which currently has an exhibit called, "Freedom Bound: Runaways of the Chesapeake" that tells the stories of indentured servants and slaves of the region.  The exhibit was very interesting and had plenty of hands on things to keep the kid's attention.

One part of the exhibit talked about how runaways would change their appearance to avoid being captured and forced back into slavery or service. Jared and the girls drew pictures of themselves showing how they would disguise themselves if they were runaways. I think Jared wins the prize for most changed!

When we were finished at the museum we walked out to the docks and looked around for a while admiring the boats. The girls desperately wanted to take a boat ride on one of the water taxis but Jared and I were not nearly as interested in doing that! Instead we kept everyone happy with the promise of ice cream later and headed off to the US Naval Academy.

I took a lot for Jared to not shout "Go Air Force!" or "Air Power!" or something like that every time he saw a cadet walking around.  The girls had a difficult time understanding how we were on both a military base and on a college campus at the same time.  The Academy grounds were beautiful and we spent most of our time there just walking around without any particular destination in mind.

I did want to see the chapel and we were lucky enough to get there just before it closed for the day.  The very nice caretaker let us walk through before he locked the doors.  He also told us how to make minion cupcakes, took a family picture for us, and quizzed us on lines from Sandra Bullock movies.  It was both funny and a little bit strange.

There were old cannons all over the place and we couldn't walk by them without the girls climbing up and playing for a little while.  Natalie says she'd, "go to this college if she doesn't go to computer college." For those who don't know, Natalie plans on living at home forever and will just take online classes when the time for college rolls around.

Abigail was dying from the heat - none of us have really gotten used to the humidity yet - and was ready to go home.  It was nice to find a shady spot to sit and watch the boats move around the harbor and to get a break from her asking if we could just go home.

The ice cream treat that we'd been promising all day finally happened and it was worth the wait. We sat down on by the docks across the street to enjoy our cones and watch the boats before calling it a day and heading back to our car.

We kind of took the long way around on the way back and stopped by the Maryland state house, the oldest state capitol in continuous use (since 1772!) and the only state house to also have been our nation's capitol.

The girls weren't interested in doing much but finding shade and places to sit and thankfully there were plenty of both around the beautiful old building!

Overall, we loved Annapolis and it was a great introduction to our new home. It's the state capitol but doesn't feel like a big city at all, everyone we met was friendly and helpful, the city itself is beautiful, and there was so much to see and do that we will have to go back a few more times!