That, my friends, is a shiny layer of ice in the marina. That is also why we decided not to get underway for NYE--we were afraid we wouldn't make it back to the slip! We returned this morning to very low water and a ~3/4" layer of ice. We made a good call this year. So what did we do instead? Staycation in the Baltimore/Annapolis area!
First stop was Heavy Seas Brewery! Our kids rock and happily joined us for yet another brewery tour. Our guide, Chris, was great and it's nice to see a local crew doing so well. I'm a fan of their TropiCannon and it was super fresh and yummy here. It didn't hurt that the space is set up nicely and they have the Pieces of Eight food truck on site. We sipped and munched happily before heading into the city.
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| Swab and 2nd Mate enjoy some non-fermented beverages. |
Next we headed to our hotel in the Inner Harbor of Baltimore. I'm generally a fan of Hampton Inns, and the Hampton Inn Inner Harbor topped my expectations! Set in the 1906 U.S. Fidelity and Guarantee building, the lobby kind of wowed us! The hotel was clean and quiet, the staff was very nice, and the park & stay option was a great value and made for a stress-free stay.
As part of this staycation I decided that we would become members of the National Aquarium. As long as the family goes twice in a year, it pays for itself and the perks are great. With our new membership in hand we headed to the aquarium both Saturday night and Sunday morning! It was nice not feeling like we had to do everything in one visit and we really got to slow down end enjoy it. The highlights? Petting skates, horseshoe crabs, and moon jellies; learning about how coral reefs are formed; 4D shark movie; watching divers in the tanks; and spotting a sloth and Tamarind monkeys in the rain forest. I also liked their consistent message on reducing single-use plastics.
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| The touch pool was a hit. |
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| I think she wants to try diving now! |
We ended the trip with our traditional viewing of the Annapolis fireworks show, only we didn't do it in the traditional way. We got a room at the Navy Lodge on NSA Annapolis, cooked a dinner of party foods that we picked up at the commissary, and drove to the marina on base at midnight. It wasn't the same as watching from the boat, but we were warm and had a great view! And now that we've returned to ice in the marina, I'm pretty happy about how Plan B worked out.
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| Happy New Year! |
