Day 250: Sunday, May 12, 2013
Port to Port: Annapolis, Maryland
Underway: 0:00 am Motor Off: 0:00 pm Miles Traveled: 0 Stayed At: Marina
First Things First: First time we had a car show right behind our boat. (We are definitely right in the middle of the action); First time we got stopped by a lift bridge while walking over it.
To whom it may concern: Happy Mother’s Day
Mile 53 to Mile 53: Did you know that Annapolis has more 18th century building than anywhere else in the US? Well, it does. But try to find a decent grocery store or good, reasonably priced restaurant and you are out of luck. We spent almost three hours this morning visiting a small and expensive farmers market and trying to find a grocery store within walking distance. 17,000 steps later, we were restocked but unimpressed with our choices.
After returning to the boat, we stowed our groceries, snacked a little and I spent an hour online trying to find a restaurant that caught our fancy. I basically struck out. A lot of the places nearby are pricey and too touristy for our taste. We ended up at Buddy’s Crab and Ribs by default (mistake number one). It was busy with the Mom’s day crowd – they still had breakfast buffet stuff out at 3:30 pm (not a good sign) – and we had to wait awhile for a table. We got a nice window seat but that was pure luck. Why do we get so frustrated with restaurants – especially in tourist areas? They don’t have to worry about repeat customers as much as other places. Our waitress was slow and didn’t know the price of a margarita. We ordered a fried chicken sandwich and a hamburger and didn’t get our order until after two other couples who ordered after us. We got a bland, grilled, unimpressive chicken sandwich and a decent hamburger. We had no silverware. We didn’t want to wait for a re-grill order. The fries were nothing special. The margarita was okay but the bill said it was $9 not $7.50. The waitress did take the grilled sandwich off the bill but it was still a disappointing experience. The only good thing was we didn’t spend $70 for a bad experience. To top off our lunch excursion, a duck was sitting on my cheap sandals in the cockpit when we got back – how cute – and then pooped on the seat at he flew away. It was one of those days.
That’s pretty much it for today. We are heading north on Tuesday – probably to a nice quiet anchorage somewhere on the way to Baltimore. Tomorrow, we have to finish our tour of the Naval Academy and visit the Maritime Museum a couple blocks for the boat. Tomorrow is another day.
