Baltimore, Maryland

We departed Chesapeake City on Monday afternoon, saying goodbye to our new friends, Michele (yes, with one L) and Joe on The Simple Life. We shared the dock together and they are going southward as well. Hope to see them again sometime! We caught a good current and were able to travel farther than expected.

Chesapeake Bay – this northern part of the Bay was very quiet.  The most common sight throughout the Chesapeake is …….. yes ! You are right! Crab Pots!! We swerved through and dodged around many crab pots. Good thing we have practice from our New England lobster pots. It became my personal challenge to try and photograph as many as I could (for awhile). A challenge because the boat is moving forward and up and down and the camera zoom needs a little more time and steadiness. Below is my crab pot collage.

We spent that night in Rock Creek, just off the Patapsco River which leads to Baltimore.  48 miles and 6 hours from the C& D Canal. We were up and ready the next day to make the 11 mile run into Baltimore’s Inner Harbor. Once again we were in a city atmosphere with industry surrounding the water. Although there were tankers, cargo ships and tugs, I will spare you more photos of them! My favorite sight was the special ceremonial buoy that marks the location where Francis Scott Key wrote the words to the Star Spangled Banner during the War of 1812. He witnessed the British bombardment of Fort McHenry where the Key Bridge now stands.

As we rounded the bend, look who else is here! Our very own Mystic Whaler from Connecticut.

We treated ourselves to a fancy dock so that we could do our necessary chores – fill up with diesel, pump out the you-know-what, fill the water tanks, do laundry, and take long, hot, standing showers with someone else’s water!  We met really nice people on the dock and shared stories and plans.

In all, we only spent about 26 hours in Baltimore. What did we do beside our housekeeping chores? We walked around the Inner Harbor –

We spent some time in the American Visionary Art Museum, the official national museum for self-taught, intuitive artistry. The art has been created by farmers, housewives, mechanics, retired folk, the disabled, the homeless, and a neurosurgeon. The definition of visionary art captured my attention – “everybody dreams, but our dreamers don’t go to school to learn how to express their visions. Visionary artists are self-taught, intuitive people who find their own way into making of art in an intensely personal way. Visionary art dances on the edge.”

I have only photos of the some of the outside art because no photos are permitted inside. If you are ever in Baltimore, you must visit here.

It was time to move on again, so Wednesday afternoon we headed back out the Patapsco River, again passing the industrial side of a harbor city. We saw more traffic this trip than on the previous days.

Once out in the Bay, we passed more crab pots, lighthouses and the Chesapeake Bay Bridge.