Stats for June 4, 2019

Origin: Annapolis Mooring Field

Destination: Anchorage Marina, Baltimore Harbor

Distance: 30.5 miles

Speed: 8.1 mph

Time on the Move: 3 hours and 46 minutes

**Obviously this is being posted extremely late. There are lots of reasons (excuses) why I fell behind on the blog, but I will attempt to catch up and post about each stop along the way, even if it is a few months late. If you’re still reading, thanks for being patient and following along! If you don’t follow us on Facebook, you should!! INNTWadventures–look us up and see what we’re actually up to after being home for a month!**

Leaving Annapolis, we saw a lot of big ships out in the Chesapeake. They were far away from us, but it was a busy place! The kids worked on some schoolwork and played, as we had a pretty smooth trip up to Baltimore.

Heading in to Baltimore there was a lot to see!! Industry and ships and bridges oh my!!

We finally caught up with our friends Kent and Heather from Heartbeat, and they even helped us land at the dock. We made plans to meet up with them and other loop friends on Ceci Kay for docktails later, and then headed to the office to check in. During the process of checking in, we also had some questions about picking up our rental car and using it to catch a train to get us to DC. The lady in the office seemed to think there was an easier train direct from Baltimore to DC which got us thinking maybe we didn’t have the best plan. (Side note: She actually said to Mike “If you’re the adventurous type you could…” which cracked me up–11 months and 6,000 miles on a boat with his kids–he’s probably a bit adventurous, though I’m sure she didn’t know our story.) We talked to a few other people on the docks about it, as well and ended up cancelling our rental car and deciding to take an Uber to the train station to catch a certain train that would take us right into DC.

Changing the plan we already spent hours figuring took us a while, so before we knew it, docktails were in order! It was nice to catch up with some friends we hadn’t seen since back in the Bahamas. We reviewed all things Bahamas and East Coast and also covered plans for the coming months. One of the best parts about this trip is how we cross paths with the same boats again and again while always meeting new people, as well. Having a loop flag means instant camaraderie with other boaters everywhere you go. We had a nice evening and then went back to the boat to make dinner.

Side note: we brought scooters, sidewalk chalk, and legos to keep kiddos occupied during docktails. It turned out that we were right next to the boaters lounge with big comfy couches, large tables, and a water cooler, so the kids played inside most of the time. I thought this was worth noting because we are regularly trying to find that balance between kid entertainment and adult entertainment. Sometimes we have to get creative, but today worked out great. And luckily our boating friends didn’t seem to mind the kids eating up all the snacks they brought.

The next morning we wanted to get out and see more of the city, so of course we headed for the nearest playground!! There was a giant park with several playgrounds and even a pool nearby. It was a perfect spot to run around and burn off some energy!

In the evening we went to dinner in the Fells Point neighborhood with Ceci Kay and Heartbeat. We had delicious Italian food and it was great to spend time with friends once again. That is something Mike and I have been missing since we left Livin the Dream behind in Florida, having friends to boat with. Nothing is as much fun if it’s not shared, and we’ve been feeling this big time lately. When we got back to the boat, we finalized packing for heading to Washington DC in the morning.

We were up and at em early, catching an Uber by 7am to get the Metro train to DC. The train was mostly empty when we got on because it actually starts picking up passengers in Baltimore. We headed up to the second level and got comfy for the trip. It was just over an hour with a few stops on the way. The train goes up to speeds over 100 mph and that was absolutely crazy to us, considering we travel at about 8 mph most of the time.

We got to Washington DC no problem and decided being sheep was our best bet, so we followed the crowd and ended up easily following the signs for the Metra train or subway. We stood in line to buy cards (of which everyone needs to have their own which seemed crazy!! 5 cards to manage!) Mike put some money on them and off we went.

Luckily, Google Maps has a “transit” option (as well as a “walking option, that we use quite regularly–I wonder why no “boating” option?!) that tells you exactly what train you need to get on, what time, and where to get off to get to your destination. That was a lifesaver getting around the city!!

Our hotel was right by a subway station so we headed there first. We were not able to check in yet, but we were able to extend our stay with an extra night, which was great. 1 night in Washington DC was just not going to be enough!! We left our backpacks and headed off to check out the town.

On our first day we:

-visited the Museum of Natural History

-Checked out the Air and Space Museum

-saw the Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights, and US Constitution

-selfies in front of the Washington monument

-mastered mass transit

-took a train to a shopping mall to buy swim suits. (Since we were staying 2 nights we would definitely need to check out the hotel pool!!)

-took dinner back to our room where we watched Disney Junior and put our feet up

We also choked on our dinner when we saw our view!! The POOL we were so excited about ended up being right outside our window….but it was closed for renovations and completely under construction!! No note of the closure at booking, online, when adding an extra night, or upon check in. We were so disappointed, partly because we went well out of our way to go buy suits, and partly because we thought the Washington DC Hilton would have an amazing pool!! Or at least a decent view?!!? Mike went down to the desk to talk with them and we ended up with free passes to the breakfast buffet for the next 2 mornings. It wasn’t the pool, but it did save us hundreds of dollars in breakfast (can you believe it’s that much $$??) and get us a pretty deluxe start to our day.

16,000 steps and in bed by 7:30. Finally around 10:00 we turned the tv off so the kids would go to sleep. I was thrilled to relax in the big comfy bed with the air conditioning blasting freezing cold air. Ahhhh…

The next morning we started off hitting the super fancy breakfast buffet for day #1. There were not many people there and those people who were there were dressed much differently than us. They all looked like they were heading to a very important meeting on Capitol Hill right after breakfast. They were definitely not in the “The hotel pool is closed and I complained so I got free breakfast” category!! Oh well—I’m sure we’re much more fun!!

On day #2 we:

-walked 26,000 steps

-walked thru the World War II memorial, just 1 day after D-Day

-Lincoln Memorial (Hayley’s favorite part of DC!! She “just thought it was cool.”)

-Vietnam Memorial

-visited the White House from the south lawn

-Bureau of Printing and Engraving where they make 500 million $/day?!?! Can you imagine that amount of money every single day?!

-Museum of American History (we saw Lincoln’s top hat!)

-Changing of the Guard and the eternal flame at Arlington

-stopped at a mall food court for dinner on the way back to the hotel (I’m way too cheap to actually eat at a restaurant in DC apparently!).

-once again mastered mass transit all day to get around the metro area.

-took many many amusing pictures along the way.

Once again we were thrilled to get back to the hotel to rest our tired feet and let all that exploring soak into our brains. We watched American Ninja Warrior and relaxed in big fluffy beds with very cold air conditioning!

On our last morning we visited the breakfast buffet (of course!) and then dropped our bags off at the concierge for another day of exploring.

We visited-:

-the Capitol Building (but apparently you can’t take snacks into the Capitol Building, so we didn’t actually go in–who walks around DC without a backpack full of snacks?!)

-Library of Congress

-watched skateboarders at Freedom Plaza

-earned Junior Ranger badges at the White House Museum

-saw the White House from the north lawn

-watched protests in front of the White House which was a good lesson in our freedom of speech and what makes our country so great.

-mastered mass transit once again to get us back to INNTW in Baltimore.

We had an amazing time in Washington DC, but we were glad to be home!! (Interesting how INNTW truly feels like home!!) All those people and all that walking!! Whew!! I was ready for a lazy evening on the sundeck, and all of us were coming down with a cold so laziness was in order!

We had 2 more days to hang out in Baltimore before moving on. The next day it was dreary and rainy for most of the day. We were disappointed to not have a good day to explore, but we were all low on energy and ambition after being on the go so much in Washington DC.

Later in the day we did drag ourselves outside during a rain break for a walk along the harbor. We were stunned to see the garbage that fills the water in Baltimore (especially after a big rain!). There was garbage floating in the harbor the whole time we were there, but the amount of trash after all that rain was astounding and disgusting. They have a few boats that drive around and collect garbage, but something still needs to be done. The water here was by far the most filled with garbage of anywhere we have been on the trip. It made us wonder why people would want to boat there because the water was so gross.

By the next day we were ready to burn off some steam, so we headed out. We wandered along the wharf and thru some old areas of the city and ended up in the Fell’s Point neighborhood. We went on a random walking tour that led to a park, happy hour, and a 7-11 for ice cream to take back to the boat. It was a good afternoon of wandering, though we wished we had a home baseball game to go to or the interest to go to Fort McHenry, but we just weren’t that motivated to navigate our way to another historical site.

Other than that, we enjoyed Baltimore. I wish we would have explored a bit more, but our marina wasn’t very convenient to many of the attractions and really our main focus was to use it as a home base for Washington DC. It served it’s purpose well, but we were ready to keep moving on!

Thanks for reading and following our adventures!!