Every Picture Tells a Story: Annapolis, MD (1995)
EVERY PICTURE TELLS A STORY:
DAY TRIPPING — ANNAPOLIS, MD (1995)
It’s summertime. That means many people take vacations.
When we think of vacations — packing suitcases, getting on airplanes, and staying in hotels come to mind. But sometimes, vacations can be more trouble than they’re worth. This is especially true with the torture of flying, nowadays.
One of the wonderful perks of living in areas where there are lots of fun things to do is being able to take “day trips.” This means getting in the car in the morning, driving someplace, checking out the local sites, and then returning home on the same day.
Washington was/is a wonderful city for day trips. Of course, there were innumerable things to do within the nation’s capital, and most of them were free. We never got tired of visiting the museums and the memorials. However, it was just as fun to go outside the city and explore places within an hour or two by car.
Some of the most interesting places near Washington were the horse country in Northern Virginia….Baltimore’s inner harbor,….the Shenandoah Mountains….Harper’s Ferry (West Virginia)….and the shoreline along the Potomac to the south. Civil War buffs could visit many of the battlefields we read about in history books. But our favorite “day drive” was to and from Annapolis, MD — less than an hour away (just 33 miles from the District line). It took 45 minutes each way,
Annapolis is a small city of only about 40,000 residents. But it’s Maryland’s state capital. It also has many museums and important historical sites, including the Maritime Museum. Then, there’s the U.S. Naval Academy, which we toured once. It was an amazing experience (my father was in the Navy, so perhaps I’m biased).
Annapolis also had a number of excellent seafood restaurants. So, it was fun to make the drive, eat lunch, and then go out on the ferry. There’s a ferry that takes tourists out on the Chesapeake Bay.
On one of our trips in 1995, I took this photo of Marieta. We were out on the water on the ferry from Annapolis, and there was a sailboat in the background. I asked Marieta to flash me one of those Audrey Hepburn moviestar poses from the 1950s. Voila! I think she pulled it off perfectly. But again, I’m biased.
The cool thing about this picture is, I’m a lousy photographer. So, it’s a little blurry. But I think this accidental mistake in the settings actually enhances the picture. Sometimes, accidents happen and we get lucky.
I miss taking those day trips. Be a Day Tripper. There never cost very much money, but the experiences really enhanced our lives. And, sometimes we even bring back a great photo to remember the memory.
