June 6 - Maryland

Welcome to Maryland. We left the camp ground at New Market, VA, about 9:30 this morning and expect to get to the KOA outside of D.C. in Maryland around 12:30 pm. Today's trip has been pleasant so far, but we will be entering he big city motorways and traffic in order to get to our destination.

The traffic is pretty heavy passing by D.C., but is thinning out some as we move away from the nation's capital. With the help of the TomTom GPS map system we have found the camp ground. We plan to stay two, maybe three, nights. The KOA has a daily shuttle to the metro train station which we will take into D.C.

After setting up the trailer we look through the brochures we got at the registration desk and find a nice map to Annapolis, which is not very far from here, and decide to spend the rest of the afternoon checking out the historic portion of that city. We park near the water front of the Severn River and walk along the boardwalk. There are plenty of picturesque views and here are some of the photos.

Across the water are restaurants with alfresco seating. The weather is slightly cloudy and cool. Much like our weather in Ventura. It doesn't seem nearly as humid here as it was for the past couple of weeks. Interesting, since we are very near the Atlantic Ocean now. The stroll around the water front is relaxing and enjoyable. A nice respite after the stress of getting here.

These bronze sculptures depict Alex Haley entertaining children with his stories. It make us consider sitting down to listen.

We have found the visitors' entrance to the United States Naval Academy, founded in 1845.

A view of the campus from the entrance court yard.

The remaining photos need no commentary.

This street is on the way back to the camp ground. We need to find a grocery store to get bananas and maybe something for dinner. We are so distracted on the way back looking for a grocery store that we miss a turn in the road we are on. This turn keeps us on the same road and missing the turn takes us directly onto the freeway heading north. Thank goodness for the TomTom GPS map system, it takes us back to the road where we made the error and we do find a convenience store. We get our bananas and a little tub 0f meatballs to add to our spaghetti sauce in the fridge. The sauce and meatballs will go over ramen noodles which are quick and easy to prepare.

The camp ground turned out to be a lot farther from D.C., and regular shopping, than we expected, and it isn't simple getting from one point to another. On top of this the shuttle that the camp ground touts to take guest to and from the metro train station to catch the train into D.C. on a daily basis won't be running tomorrow! For some reason the driver isn't available and no one else is licensed to drive the shuttle. However, parking at the lot at the rail station is free on Weekends. The station is 15 miles form here and the ride on the train into D.C. is 25 minutes. Hope is isn't difficult getting to the station.