Annapolis is Nice

I have left houston, and I am now visiting my other sister Dian in Annapolis, Maryland. She has been pestering me to visit for some time, and since my nephew (her son) Grey graduates from high school on Saturday 6 June 2009, I decided to come out. It has been great fun. Tom Hartman, Dian's boyfriend has a 20 +/- foot trawler that is great fun to take out on the water.... I better back up first.

My sister lives in downtown Annapolis, just a few blocks from the State Capital/Naval Academy/Town Dock, etc. She lives about a block from the water. Tom lives on the next street over, and he is a little bit closer to the water -- Spa Creek. And although it is called a "creek" it is hydrologically connected and the same as Annapolis Harbor and Chesapeake Bay....in other words it all looks like the same body of water. Annapolis is located on a penisula bound by the Severn River, Annapolis Harbor/Chesapeake Bay and Spa Creek. Annapolis harbor is litterally filled to brimming with some of the nicest, biggest private yatchs I have ever seen, both sail and power yatchts. The residences are tightly arranged ala old world/eastern cities, and the residences on the water proper all have docks and boats, some quite nice (and large -- your $1M yatcht parked out back of your $2M house, must be nice...).

Tom's boat is on his neighbors dock at the end of his street. I arrived on Sunday 31 May, and it was a gorgeous blue bird day. From the plane, I could see zillions of these boats out on the Bay enjoying a sunday cruise. That evening, Tom, Dian, Grey and Grey's Aunt Jane VanDeMark took Tom's boat over a couple of creeks to dinner. What fun to take your boat to the restaurant for dinner! And what a beautiful sunset.

The next day I was able to swim in Anne Arundel County's nice olympic swimming center -- the first of three days in a row of swimming (hooray!!). After a winter where i went from three pools to one to none, it was sooooooooooooooooooo wonderful to be able to swim for three days in a row in a beatutiful, HUGE swimming pool. My back was happy, and so was I!! :-)

After the swim, Tom lent me his bike, and I biked around Annapolis in full tourist mode, taking pictures of the quaint colonial architecture, the many boats and yatchts and so forth and so on. In the evening, Dian and I took her two sea kayaks down to the public floating dock at the end of the street and paddled around Spa Creek. It was so much fun! and how glorious to burn so many calories after such a disappointing winter!

On Wednesday, Elise, Camille and Alex arrived from houston. It is nice to be here with both my sisters. It got a little gray and drizzly, but we went out in Tom's boat for an evening cruise anyway. We went around the Naval Acadmey and up the Severn River to another "creek", moored to a mooring (like that one?) and had some wine, cheese and crackers. The kids loved the boat ride, and we all loved getting on the water and enjoying the beautiful green trees lining the shore. It didnt last too long, as just a few minutes after stopping for the wine and cheese hour, the sky let loose its rain, and we made a mad dash back to Annapolis. It was fun, and just a little bit wet, but not cold wet, fun wet. (Does that make sense?)

The next day (today, Thursday 4 June, as a matter of interest), Elise, Alex, Camille, Gray and I took the Metro into DC for a little patriotic tourism in the nation's capital. We walked down the mall, stopped at the Washington Monument, then went on to see the big man in his big chair (Lincoln Mem) and the Vietnam Memorial, which I have not seen in person before (so to speak).

The Vietnam Memorial is a highly effective piece of public art. I am sure you are aware of the monument, the names of America's 58,000 war dead inscribed upon black stone as it slowly descends 8 or so feet into the ground, and then ascends in a wide wedge. Symbolic of America's descent into an unwinnable war, the names on the black stones resemble the enscriptions on gravestones. Plus the dark color of the stone reminds us that Vietnam was a dark chapter in our history. There are flowers, and gifts left beneath the names of loved ones. Visitors touch the stone and the names; many take rubbings of names from the wall. In the Lincoln Memorial, there is a sign out front requesting visitors to be quiet and respect the memory of our most popular president. Not very effective as it was somewhat loud in the memorial. (For some reason the whole mall seemed to be crawling with every middle schooler in the country -- something about it being the last week of school back east?) Meanwhile, the Vietnam Memorial was silent. As we descend into the monument, the street noise goes away, and the large numbers of visitors were truly, respectfully quiet. It was touching.

After the visit to these memorials we went to the Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian (both North and South America) for a really delicious, authentic (?) if expensive native american lunch. Then we explored the museum which was surprisingly good. I dont know what I expected, but it blew my expectations away. The collection of artifacts and replicas is amazing, and the study of the pre-columbian cultures was interesting. In some cases, the exhibits of particular tribes was quite frank about how much of their culture was lost during the European conquests -- some populations being only a few thousand today. Others highlighted the tribes' attempts to rebuild and keep what part of their original cultures they still have. I hope that this excellent museum helps the native americans re-connect with their native cultures, and I highly recommend this museum to anyone who visits DC.

Our timing was perfect as a steady rain began during lunch and continued into the night. We returned to Annapolis to a great dinner at Dian's with Dian's family (Grey, me, Elise and her kids) and Tom's son's and daughter's families. It was great to meet more members of his family, and they are all great people, just like Tom. Oh and Jane VanDeMark joined us as well, and it is nice to re-connect with one of the VanDeMark clan, too. (Brian returns from Uzbekistan later tonight for Grey's graduation.)

It has also been interesting to watch the unfolding Sonia Sotomayor/Obama's middle east trip unfold on TV. Everyone here goes to bed early (by 10PM, which of course is only 8 PM in CO, so it feels awfully early to night owl me) so in the late night hours, I like to switch back and forth between CNN, MSNBC, Fox News and Daily Show/Colbert.

Fox News seems more and more out of touch with reality as they continue their vitriolic attacks on Sotomayor and Obama. The reaction to both on MSNBC (left) and CNN (center) seems to be mostly positive, but to watch Hannity and Glen Beck you would believe that Obama is out of his mind, and Sotomayor is a racist. The most off-base and absurd contention is the Fox claim that Obama says that America is now a muslim nation? And Obama is not promoting democracy? Where do they get these obvious falsehoods from and do people really believe these nutheads (Hannity, Beck)? Why would Fox want Obama to fail? Why is bomibing these people and occupying their countires better than trying to work peacefully from a common understanding? Would we respond well if someone bombed and invaded us? The right-wing seems increasingly out of touch with reality and thankfully we now have leadership that is trying to bring the world back together, and undue the tremendous damage to US prestige, power and influence the previous administration has wrought. Ok enough politics, I am sure Ashley is fuming by now anyway, sorry WW but i call it like i see it.

Newo is OUT.