4000 Cadets, 1800 miles and 1 "I love you" later

We woke up in Annapolis to temperatures in the low 70s.  It felt like air conditioning when we walked outside. This worked out great because we wanted to spend part of the day strolling the city’s historic Main Street. Every few storefronts there is an Irish bar with boutiques and gift shops sprinkled in between [EDIT:Mason - its as if the Gods designed this street for Denie and me].



Denie & Bob along the main street of Annapolis



Reese & Penny being taught a history lesson at the Kunta Kinte / Alex haley memorial at the docks.

[EDIT:Mason – one of the great things we enjoy about Annapolis is the proximity of the house to this area. Now they’ve add free shuttle service to and from all the bars!!  What was a 15 minute walk is now a 2 minute golf cart ride]

Did I mention this shuttle is FREE?!

A major highlight of our vacation thus far has been our visit to the U.S. Naval Academy.  We’ve done this before but it never fails to impress each time!  The campus exceeds expectations with its majestic buildings and halls, a fantastic cathedral and beautiful grounds – but, what makes it so incredible is the caliber of students who are accepted, attend, and who will all one day be either in the Navy or Marines. The walking tour really opens your eyes to what it takes to make it!

Bancroft Hall at the US Naval Academy.  This dorm, yes dorm, houses 1200 Cadets.



The Chapel.  The tomb of John Paul Jones is underneath and pretty spectacular.  (He is to the Naval Academy as what George Washington is to West Point.)



[EDIT:Mason – Denie’s great uncle William Cooper attended the Naval Academy and graduated in 1925.  He went on to earn the Navy Cross (their highest honor). He ended his career as a Vice Admiral (three stars).  Penny is already planning to follow in his footsteps…we can’t get her to take off her new Navy hat.]

That night, after debating for a least an hour about where to go to dinner, we decided on a place called Boatyard --and it was awesome. Food was superb (steamed shrimp with bay seasoning, crab legs, salads and a kids’ pizza) and the atmosphere was casual yet sophisticated.  Something occurred during the dinner that was particularly noteworthy.  After several glasses of chardonnay, Bob dropped the “L” word on Mason.  It was in an “I love you, man” sort of way, but it was sweet nonetheless.  Mason beamed and I thought to myself how happy that made me. <3

Bob getting some quality time in with his biggest little fans.

After saying good-bye to Bob, who flew home to Orlando,  [EDIT:Mason – Bob and I did not embrace in an emotional fare-thee-well hug], we left Annapolis in the early am (Wednesday) destined for Savannah, a 10+ hour drive. It was a long, hard day on the road, but nothing we couldn’t handle since we are now hard-core seasoned road trippers. We realized that anticipating kids falling asleep around a certain time was like watching water boil.  It doesn’t happen until you look away. We got distracted by the re-emergence of South of The Border billboards and soon both were OUT.  So we busted out the ear buds and knocked out another gripping handful of chapters of our audiobook!

Arrived in Savannah...in awe that we made it with time to spare and enjoy some BBQ. Unfortunately, someone turned off the air…its hot again.  

Looking forward to seeing the historic district today and are determined to find the bench where Forest Gump sat. Oh yea, one other thing we will look for -- one day my grandfather was walking home from grade school and wrote in wet cement on the sidewalk “FRF 1921.” It was there when I looked for it about 20 years ago. All other sidewalk squares had been replaced, but that one had been preserved.