Annapolis, MD to Chincoteague, VA

We had a terrific evening Thursday night at the Eastport Yacht Club in Annapolis courtesy of Fred Schuchard, shown here chatting with Pub Crawler Rick Frazee.  Thanks Fred for your hospitality. 

Friday morning featured light clouds, abundant sunshine and cool temperature's.  Charlotte Hahn took a bunch of photos of the cars and drivers ----

Our leaders - Bob and Missy McKenna

DC Bubba aka Alan Marsh

Don and Madeline Moodie

Bruce and Lydie  Foster

Mark and Andrea Braunstein

Rick and Sam Frazee

The gang headed east about 9am toward the Chesapeake Bay Bridge.  A huge double bridge across  the bay at the narrows just east of Annapolis,

The William J Preston Lane Memorial Bridge

over the Chesapeake Bay

More of the marvelous bridge

Reg and Char Hahn underway.

Gary and Sally Kneisley underway

St. Michaels is known as the town that fooled the British.  Seems in August 1813 the townspeople hoisted lanterns onto the masts of their sailboats and into the tops of trees.  The high lights caused the attacking British to overshoot the town.   Only one  house in St. Michaels was hit by cannon fire.  That house still stands today and is known as the Cannonball House.

Today, St. Michaels, MD is a neat little tourist and vacation spot on the eastern side of the Chespeake Bay... across from Annapolis.   We arrived in time to do some shopping and have lunch.

Interesting design piece at the parking lot in St. Michaels --a rain barrel.

The rain barrel

Then, on to the shopping....

Main Street St. Michaels

Char thought about this T-shirt, but decided it wasn't the right size.

Traffic kept building as the day went on --Friday afternoon you know.

Entering Chincoteague, lots of billboards

The new Fairfield Inn in Chincoteague saved parking spaces

for the Morgans.

Chincoteague (/ˌʃɪŋkəˈtiːɡ/ or /ˈʃɪŋkətiːɡ/) is a town on Chincoteague Island in Accomack County, Virginia, United States. The population was 2,941 at the 2010 census.^[3] The town is known for the Chincoteague Ponies, although these are not actually on the island of Chincoteague but on nearby Assateague Island. These ponies and the annual Pony Penning Day are the subject of Marguerite Henry's 1947 children's book Misty of Chincoteague, which was made into the 1961 family film Misty, filmed on location.  Legend has it that the feral ponies on Assateague are descendants of survivors of a Spanish galleon that sank on its way to Spain during a storm in 1750 off the east coast, but the likelihood is that they are actually descended from domesticated stock, brought to the island by Eastern Shore farmers in the 17th century to avoid fencing requirements and taxation.

The Hahn's sponsored today's happy hour, on the deck at

the Fairfield Inn.

More "happy hour"

Then the discussion went to feet and shoes...here is a sample

A very nice end to a lovely day with sunset over Chincoteague Bay.

Solomon's to Annapolis, MD

Today is a short run to Annapolis from the Solomon's Island resort area.  Annapolis is a very historic military and educational community as well as the center of Maryland political activity, as described in this brief piece I borrowed from Wikipedia.

Annapolis is the capital of the state of Maryland, as well as the county seat of Anne Arundel County. Situated on the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Severn River, 25 miles (40 km) south of Baltimore and about 30 miles (50 km) east of Washington, DC, Annapolis is part of the Baltimore–Washington metropolitan area. Its population was measured at 38,394 by the 2010 census.

The city served as the seat of the Continental Congress in 1783–84 and was the site of the 1786 Annapolis Convention (which called for the Constitutional Convention held the following year) and the Annapolis Peace Conference, held in 2007.

The United States Naval Academy was founded here in 1845. During World War II, shipyards in Annapolis built a number of PT Boats, and military vessels such as minesweepers and patrol boats were built in Annapolis during the Korean and Vietnam wars.^[18] It was at Annapolis in July 1940 that Grand Duchess Charlotte of Luxembourg arrived in exile during World War II.^[19]  In the summer of 1984, the Navy Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis hosted soccer games as part of the XXIII Olympiad.

Our day started cloudy and in the low 70's.  Though it looked like it might rain, it was not forecast so we put the tops down and after syncing our GPS devices set out northward.

Photos and captions document the day as follows:

Gary and Reg and their Garmin's making sure there is a
Starbucks along the way.

Arrival in Annapolis about 11am.

Sally and Char with a bit of time to shop before lunch

Which resulted in new hats for the Hahn's.

The view of the harbor and part of downtown brings back memories of our stop

here when we were on the 2010 Pub Crawl

These little kiddies were having fun feeding the ducks.

We met Reg and Charlotte's friend Linda who lives close

by.  Terrific conversation ensued.

The Middleton Tavern has a unique way to serve a salad... make it in a vessel,

pour dressing on top and shake.  Invert and serve on a plate. 

Yup, serving food here since 1750

The Eastport Yacht Club where local Brit car enthusiast and yachtsman Frederick Schuchard

held a reception for us, after which we enjoyed dinner with a

nautical flair.

Our cars always attract a crowd.

The Eastport Yacht Club terrace view.

Lovely

Cocktail's on the terrace

And after dinner a surprise birthday cake

to honor Bruce Foster's 80th birthday.  55 yrs married to Lydie our

little French connection.

From Fredericksburg, VA to Solomon's Island, MD.

Our instructions were to be ready to go by 8:15am in order to meet the deadline for buying tickets for the boat ride this afternoon-which translated to up at 5:30, shower, pack, get the car from the parking garage and move it to the lot at the Visitors Center across from the hotel, eat breakfast,  get gas and be rolling by the deadline.  Well, we made it. Whew.

It was a very pretty morning, temp near 80 and a forecast for high of 88 today.... great top down weather with lots of sunscreen.

The morning packing routine,

The Visitors Center was kind enough to let us gather our

forces in their parking lot.

Bruce Foster and Reg Hahn fettling..

  

Jock Powell and Bruce ready to roll.

 A fairly short 75 mile run to Solomon's from Fredericksburg on nice smooth roads with many sections flanked by large trees offering nice shade from the sun.  Soon we were at the river and a stunning bridge to take us to the Bug Eye capital of the world.  Bug Eye refers to boats with a port-hole on either side of the bow, making it look like a bug, or somethin...

The high bridge into Solomon's Island

over the Patuxent River--140 feet above the water.

Solomon's Island, now a vacation resort area was originally called Bourne's Island (1680), then Somervell's Island (1740), Solomons takes its name from 19th century Baltimore businessman Isaac Solomon, who established a cannery there shortly after the Civil War. Solomon's home still stands on the front of the island. The area has been inhabited since colonial times.^[4]

During World War II, the island was the site for training amphibious invasion forces which proved invaluable on D-Day, and Guadalcanal, over 60,000 troops trained at Solomon’s during the war in three Naval bases there.  Coincidentally, many of the servicemen who trained at the Solomon’s base in Maryland were sent to fight in the Solomon Islands in the Pacific Ocean.--Wikipedia

Parking Lot at the museum... we always park for photo

opportunities.

 Our first stop in Solomon's was at the Calvert Marine Museum to buy tickets for an early afternoon boat ride.  There was fear if we didn't get the tickets early they might sell-out and some of our group couldn't go.  We made it.

Drum Point Lighthouse and Museum

We took a short drive around the island to see what the layout of the land was. 

A very neat traffic circle at the southern end of

Solomon's Island.

Compass Rose in the traffic circle.   

Reg decided the traffic circle was like a

race track.

The McKenna's found the world famous Tiki Bar, where thousands of people

gather in April for the season opening.

After lunch we went back for the boat ride on the William B. Tennison Cruise Boat.  A pleasant hour down Back Creek and up the Patuxent River

The William B Tennison cruise boat.  Built in 1899

and still afloat...initially as a sail boat, then converted to a power boat

and worked in the fishing business unlit late in the century when it was purchased by

the museum.

Ships Captain at the controls.

Missy McKenna send me this photo of the view from their 5th floor hotel room.

Pretty special eh?

As an aside...some observers have asked how we can carry a weeks worth of clothes and other stuff in our tiny sports cars.  Along with a small parcel shelf behind the seats (about 14" by 30" and 6" high) most of us hang luggage on a rack on the back of the car...

Waterproof motorcycle bag

Metal waterproof camera bag

Large soft luggage bag

Suitcase inside plastic bag

You may have seen my Pelican Camera Cases on the back of my car, shown in yesterday's blog posting.  They are waterproof and fit the requirements for carry on luggage racks on an airplane. Except they are small inside due to thick non-flexible walls on the case.

More tomorrow from Annapolis.