Annapolis Adventures - Day Two

HAPPY EASTER!  Or for those who don't celebrate Easter... Happy Passover!

We are just a few hours away from embarking on our Korea/China trip.  But before we take off, here are some quick highlights from Day Two of our Annapolis Adventure!

Also, special thanks to Tamara for letting me borrow some of her pictures.  I should mention that for some odd reason, her camera's blink detector kept going off whenever there was an Asian in the shot despite the fact that none of us were blinking... ;)

Day Two was a much more laid-back, incident-free affair than the previous day.  First thing in the morning, we stumbled across Chick & Ruth's Delly, a local hotspot (a deli as well as a B&B) that was featured on the show Man vs. Food for their Colossal Sandwiches and Shakes - that's a 6 pound shake with a 1 and a half pound sandwich!

If you enjoy watching videos of people painfully stuffing their faces with food that appears to be five times the size of their stomachs, you can watch videos if this challenge here and here.

Aside from gigantic shakes and sandwiches, they had quite an extensive menu.

And a very lively atmosphere inside.



We started with the house made pickles.  Did I ever tell you I'm obsessed with pickles?



Per the waitress's recommendation, I ordered the corned beef sandwich.  She told us their meat was known for being incredibly juicy and tender-- and she didn't lie!



Patrick ordered the crab cake sandwich - another solid recommendation from our waitress who informed us that their crab cakes were made of 95% jumbo lump crab meat.



Next we stopped at a store called The Spice and Tea Exchange.  Apparently they have locations in Georgetown and Old Town Alexandria where we live, but I've never come across one before.

They sell exotic spices, blends, teas, and fancy salts all in jars that they encourage you to open and smell to your heart's content.



Anyone heard of ghost pepper sea salt?



Strangely enough, the guys didn't seem as interested in the spices as the girls.  Hm, I think we know who the cooks around here are...



Of course I may have walked away with a few items...



I bought some grey salt, some fleur de sel, and a few blends, including this Tandoori Roasting blend...



Next time I stumble across this store, I plan to try their teas and exotic salts.

After the spice store, we returned to the U.S. Naval Academy, this time sans segways.

We walked around their gorgeous campus and hung out a bit on the practice field.



If only I had a football handy to show off my mad kicking skills...



Since we had time to kill (and since it was now daytime), we wandered over to Brice House - the location of The Crying Girl which we heard about on our haunted pub crawl the night before.

We didn't hear any screaming or crying, and as such, we couldn't decide if we were relieved or disappointed by this...



After all that walking, it was definitely time for some sustenance.  While our company went in search of ice cream and lemonade, Patrick and I hit up this local delight for the second time during the trip...



Then we all reconvened by the water to enjoy our sweets and the beautiful weather that had eluded us the day before.



I love this picture of us girls...



And the guys...

And the whole gang.

What an amazing weekend!

And now I've got to run to the airport.  Hope you all have a wonderful holiday with family and friends!

oo,

Annapolis Adventures - Day One

Sometimes you need a vacation, but you don't want to spend hours crammed into a car or standing shoeless in the security line at the airport in what can only be described as exasperated awe as the person in front of you waits until the last possible second to down the remains of their water bottle, take off their belt, and remove their laptop from its carrying case...

Thankfully Annapolis, only a mere 28 miles east of D.C., offered the perfect getaway for us this past weekend without having to endure the actual headache of travel.  (Our trip to South Korea/China next week may be a different story!)

Despite its proximity to our home, Patrick and I had yet to explore Annapolis in our 3 years living here, and we decided it would be a shame not to do so before taking off in May.  Lucky for us, we were joined by our favorite Flagship friends - Jim, Tamara, Katie, and Joung.  ("Flagship" is the name of Patrick's graduate program).



We began our Annapolis adventure by fueling up at Boatyard Bar and Grill.



There were plenty of enticing brunch options, but in the end I couldn't resist ordering the Eggs Annapolis.  "When in Annapolis..."



As you can see, it was pretty much a twist on Eggs Benedict, but this version featured a grilled tomato, spicy pickled asparagus spears, and lump crab meat.



Patrick ordered the breakfast pizza, which came on house-made whole-wheat pizza crust.  This, of course, was accompanied by a nice, tall glass of Sprite, which Patrick refers to as his "breakfast soda."  I'll let you form your own judgements on that one.



Here's a glance at one side of the table...



And the other side...



After brunch, we made our way over to the center of the city.



There were plenty of sights to remind us that we were no longer in D.C., like the profusion of fancy boats.

We decided if we had a boat, we would name it Naptime.  And then we would take naps on it.

Water-related activities would have been a very suitable option in a city like Annapolis, but as you can see, it was rather cold and cloudy... not quite the season for this yet.

But it didn't matter because we had a different mode of transportation in mind for our visit:  SEGWAYS.

It was my first time riding one of these contraptions, and the experience was a lot different than what I expected.  I thought it would be powered by buttons of some sort, but it actually maneuvers in response to the weight of your body.  So if you put pressure on the front of your toes, it moves forward.  If you apply pressure on your heels, it moves backwards.  It takes just a few minutes to get the hang of this... and then you're moving along as though the machine is an extension of your body.  It's a pretty cool experience.

And you end up looking really cool, too, as Patrick and I demonstrate for you in this photo.

Our segway experience was meant to be a guided tour of Annapolis, but about an hour before our appointment we received a call from the company informing us that a few of their segways were broken and that there would not be enough segways for a guide to accompany us.  We were disappointed at first since we were counting on the guide to give us interesting insights about the city.  But this also allowed us to roam around freely and see things that were off the beaten path, which we all ultimately agreed was more fun.

We hit up some random spots along the way... naturally one of our first stops was the cemetery...

We also rode by Maryland's State House....

through several parking lots...

down residential neighborhoods...

into the main street...

and whatever this place is.



We also segway'ed into the U.S. Naval Academy... and then seconds later got kicked out. (That guy in the back wishes he had a segway.)

But that didn't deter us from snapping a photo out front.

Towards the end of our segway adventure, let's just say there was a little mishap.  I won't go into details, but you might notice something different from this point forward with Patrick's chin and Joung's hand...

After our segwaying, we were cold and exhausted.  So we went to The Federal House for some hot chocolate and tea.  

And after some R&R at the hotel, we returned to The Federal House for dinner.

Patrick and I ordered the mussels.

And for my main course I ordered the tilapia with a teriyaki glaze and mango coulis.  It was a little on the sweet side, but it was still really good.

Following dinner, we headed to the Historic Annapolis Hotel to commence our scheduled activity for that night:  a haunted pub crawl.

Throughout the course of the night, we hit up four different pubs and a cemetery while our guide engaged us in ghost stories related to each location.  Best of all, we got to wear these sweet glow-stick bracelets.

We definitely heard some crazy stories, some more believable than others.  Like stories about a bride who anxiously paces one of the floors of the inn waiting for her dead husband-to-be, a woman whose skeleton was found bricked into the basement wall of a nearby mansion whose desperate cries for help can be heard at night (aka The Crying Girl), and a headless man who drowns people in search of his head.

I think our favorite was the story of Mary Reynolds for reasons I won't disclose here.

What do you think - do we look thoroughly scared?

And so ends our first day in Annapolis.  Stay tuned for Day Two!

oo,