Sunday, October 12 — Yesterday, the area around the boat show was a zoo. When we went out for lunch, it seemed like all the restaurants had long lines. Wanting a quick meal, we decided to get lunch at The Fleet Reserve Club. The Fleet Reserve Club appeared to be a private yacht club that was very close to the marina. It was having a special boat show luncheon event. If we remembered correctly, the sign had said it was a fundraiser. But what drew us there was that we could see a steady stream of people entering the outdoor seating area with trays of food.

It was a cafeteria style buffet line. We got three hamburgers, a cup of soup and 2 bottles of water. The cashier was probably about 6-years old, and she was being supervised by an adult (we assumed it was her mom). We were pretty shocked when the little girl gave us the grand total of $52. The adult confirmed it was the correct total. The expensive, mediocre burgers made us feel like we were in The Bahamas again. But we did get exactly what we were looking for: a fast meal. We were in and out in only a few minutes. From the little we saw of the club, it looked like it was very nice.

After lunch, we headed back to Kosmos, where Blue Heeler met us for another D & D session.

Once the session ended, we all headed back to the same park that we’d gone to on Wednesday for the birthday party. Today’s party was organized by the Nauti Kids WhatsApp group, and it was even bigger than the party on Wednesday. We saw many of the same people, and met many more new people. Keith again had a blast running around with so many kids. After a couple hours, it started to rain — and it was a cold rain. The party ended quite suddenly as people quickly hustled back to their boats to escape the cold and rain.

In the evening, Eric went to a party hosted by the magazine Latitudes and Attitudes. Christi had been invited, too, but she didn’t feel like going. Eric bumped into Deitmar at the party. The host hadn’t put out much food, and Eric and Deitmar were still hungry, so they walked over to Boatyard Bar and Grill for dinner.

This morning, we all got off to a slow start. Once we got moving, Eric went back to the boat show. Christi and Keith walked back to Picante for an early lunch, taking the same route as last time up Duke of Gloucester Street. Keith ordered two meals, and he ate nearly every bite of both meals (the shrimp was Christi’s meal).

Eric had lunch at a seafood restaurant near the marina called the ChopTank. He was surprised to find out that the ChopTank were a tribe of Native Americans who had originally occupied the area around present day Cambridge. Per the “about us” sign, there were two Choptanks: one in Baltimore and this one. The same family had also opened and still owned the Captain James Landing, which we hadn’t eaten at, but had admired the unique building.

As Christi and Keith were returning to Kosmos, they bumped into Blue Heeler, who was on their way out of the marina to go for a walk to check out the town. Christi and Keith invited themselves to join them. They took a different road up to the roundabout with the church in the middle. Main Street was packed with people, so it was difficult to take photos. From the roundabout, they turned down School Street.

Which took them to the State House on State Circle. Per the sign, it was built between 1772 – 1779 and was the oldest State House in the country that was still in legislative use. From November 1783 to August 1784, it was the official Capitol of the new United States. In that short time, many important events happened. In 1783, George Washington resigned from his commission as Commander in Chief of the Army before the Continental Congress. In 1784, the Treaty of Paris, which ended the Revolutionary War, was ratified. In 1784, Thomas Jefferson was appointed as the Minister to France. In 1786, the Annapolis Convention issued the call to the States that led to the Federal Constitutional Convention, where the Articles of Confederation were eventually scrapped and replaced with the Constitution.

Per the signs, the statue was of Baron Johann de Kalb, who was a Bavarian-French officer who served for three years as a Major General for the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. He was killed while leading troops during the Battle of Camden in South Carolina.

Here was a shot taken from the front of the building. The grounds surrounding the building were lovely and park-like.

The next couple of photos were also of buildings across the street from the State House.

Since we were wandering aimlessly, we picked a street at random and followed it.

Along the way, we made a few turns here and there. The majority of the buildings looked very old, but were build in different eras. With so many different building styles, the town felt very historic and eclectic, with lots of character and charm.

While on Duke of Gloucester Street most of the homes had been attached, this area had a mix of attached and detached homes.

The sign on the lawn said this was a private residence and to not disturb the occupants. We wondered if it had been originally built as a church or if it was always a private residence.

We found ourselves at the United States Naval Academy. This was on the building across the street from the west wall.

The west wall of the Naval Academy was basically the eastern edge of the boat show, so they’d made a circle. The weather was grey and ominous; it felt damp, like it would rain at any moment. They were worried that it was going to rain on them, but it never did. That said, they decided to head back to the boats in case rain did come.

We had a quiet night aboard. The rain did eventually come, and it rained really hard.