(August): Annapolis Getaway Weekend

Mike and I celebrated 10 years together - TEN YEARS!!!!  I thought ten year anniversaries only happened to people who are old.  And boring.  How did this happen to us?!?

We took advantage of having my parents in town and left them to babysit while we went away for the weekend to celebrate.  To celebrate the fact that we survived 10 years AND that we manage to do it while avoiding becoming old and boring.  Ok, maybe we became boring.  But I refuse to get old.

We went to Annapolis - a city that I feel absolutely in love with.  It's gorgeous.  And charming.  And romantic.  And historic.  I loved it.  Since I was the one to plan it, I made sure we stayed at this quaint bed and breakfast.

Note: 5 years ago, Mike planned our anniversary and we went to Dallas for a Steely Dan concert.  It was fun.  But I vowed that I would be the one to plan our 10 year anniversary.  It wasn't as far-away (meaning: European) as I had envisioned at the time...mostly due to the fact that we aren't filthy rich and accomplished as I was certain we would be by this point in our lives :)  But Annapolis was a really charming little city and we had a great time.  Europe can wait!

This is called "Ego Alley" at City Dock.  All the fancy yachts come and park their boats here to show them off.  It was fun to walk around looking at all the boats

Annapolis is considered the Sailing Capital of the US

We walked around the Naval Academy

Officer Housing at the Naval Academy

Naval Academy Chapel

I loved just exploring the streets of Annapolis.  It is so clear that this city was built in the late 1700s with the narrow streets and small alleyways.  We learned that Annapolis has the largest concentration of 18th century architecture in the US.  It was truly a city with a neat history.  

The streets of Annapolis with the State Capitol in the background

The State Capitol building

So many boats! It was so pretty

We took a tour of the Maryland State House.  It is the oldest state capitol building in continuous legislative use.  It was also used as the first capitol building of the United States before Washington DC

It was here that George Washington resigned as Commander in Chief of the army.  While living in DC and learning more about American history, I came to appreciate how significant this event was, and what it says about the character of George Washington.  To see where this actually occurred was really neat.

This was =isWashington's hand-written copy of his resignation speech

The Old House of Delegates Chamber

Current House Chamber

Senate Chamber

The back of the State House

The Governor's Mansion

Mike being weird at St. Anne's Parish

An old Victorian home

William Paca house - one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence

We had a lot of fun renting a kayak for the afternoon in Quiet Waters Park

Of course Mike wouldn't cooperate for a good picture of the two of us.  He's worse than the kids!

That evening we took a sunset sailboat cruise on the Chesapeake Bay.  The weather that evening was so perfect.  It was awesome!

We were all able to participate as crew members if we were interested.  

Mike got to help lift the sail

We both got to steer the boat, which was awesome!

The Chesapeake Bay Bridge

The wind conditions were perfect that we were able to get out as far as the Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse.  This is a popular Maryland landmark, and is beautiful.  It was really neat that we were able to get out so close to it.  The captain of our boat said they only luck out and make it out this far about twice a year!

Beautiful!

Gorgeous sunset

It was the perfect way to celebrate our anniversary and spend the weekend together!