October 9th, 2009 Annapolis, MD
I made ham and eggs for breakfast this morning and fired up the Honda to heat some water for showers. At about 10 we dinghied to Conduit Street and walked to the boat show. It was a perfect day, actually almost too hot in the afternoon, with full sun and just enough breeze to make the flags fly.
We spent some time looking at boats, but the docks were moving and Kathy really doesn't like moving docks so we began the process of checking out all the vendors. After a couple of hours we met Jim, Nancy and Christy for lunch at the Fleet Reserve Club and then headed back out to check out the rest of the boat show.
Before long we met Ken and Randy. It was their first trip, so we led them back to the Fleet Reserve Club to a beef sandwich and sat around while they ate. Craig and Pat, more friends from our old dock in Michigan, joined us after a while. It was really nice to see all these folks.
By this time we had seen everything in the boat show and done very well at not spending any money. However, we had seen a two items that needed further examination. Steps for our dinghy and a hand held anemometer. So we headed back out to check them out, promising to meet Craig and Pat at Pussers around 4pm.
We wandered around and bumped into Tom and Cathy from "Perseverance II" and talked to them for a while. Greg who is working at the show was standing there and gave Kathy a flier from the local liquor store advertizing a Scotch tasting this afternoon. Having never developed a taste, we didn't think about it.
After purchasing the two above mentioned items, we went back to Pussers for pain killers and to meet Craig and Pat. While there we were approached by a guy who was drumming up business for Hendricks Gin, which has started a major marketing campaign here in the states. My three companions were all for it so we headed over to the boat, which was a large dinner excursion thing, and had some free (very tiny) gin drinks.
After 30 minutes or so Kathy made the mistake of mentioning the Scotch tasting and we were offto Mill's Wine and Spirits. Having learned about Scotch a long time ago, I stayed outside on the street while the other three sipped really good (expensive) scotch.
Pat was set on Cantlers for a dinner of crabs, but I convinced Craig that McGarvey's Oyster Bar might be a lot easier since it was about a block away and took no driving. It was still early so we were seated quickly and had a great meal. Pat's seared tuna looked excellent, but McGarvey's has the best oysters in town and Craig and I took advantage of the fact. Kathy, still full from lunch, had a salad that was tasty as well.
After dinner we made our way back to the dinghy and motored back to the boat at dusk. It was the warmest evening we've had in a long time so we sat in the cockpit and watched traffic on Spa Creek. Two large sail boats came in after dark and attempted to anchor near us, but were unsuccessful and eventually headed back down stream.
All in all we had a great day. The weather was perfect and seeing friends from all over the country was nice. We'll see them all tomorrow night at the party at the Eastport Yacht Club.