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Published: July 28th 2019
The drive from Steamboat Landing RV Park and Marina in Milton DE to Ramblin' Pines Family Campground & RV Park in Woodbine MD on Sunday, June 16, 2019 was uneventful. Wait! Sunday??? Well, Uncle Larry wasn’t paying attention to the calendar, and my RV park of choice for the Wednesday to Wednesday week over Father’s Day was plum full. Plan B found me combining three weeks into two stops which put staying in Milton a few extra days and found me arriving in Baltimore metro a few days early. The RV park is located on a car-friendly (narrow) paved road about five miles from I-70 northwest of Baltimore. Getting to the Baltimore attractions was no crazier than in any other city I have visited on
The Great Adventure, and parking was just as crazy as in any other city – scarce and expensive. Baltimore, again like most cities, has a mass transit system that works for lots of locals but is not tourist-friendly. One of the first things I do after completing set-up is to check the weather forecast for my stay. I didn’t have a good outlook with rain probabilities ranging from one day with 20 percent to two days
with 80 percent and almost all the options available in between. It is what it is. I knew that few of the days would be a complete washout, and, indeed, the weather during daylight hours might be great on some of those days. The forecast just tells me I’ll need to be flexible, check the hourly forecast every morning and be ready to adjust the itinerary. No problem. I’ve been practicing for almost ten years.
Those who know me understand that I’ve had a thing for landing an airplane on an aircraft carrier since long before
Top Gun, indeed since before Tom Cruise was even born. My color vision deficit thwarted “the best laid plans of mice and men,” but the Navy and the U.S. Naval Academy have remained near and dear to my heart. Indeed, in Flight Simulator, I was never able to successfully land a Lear Jet on an aircraft carrier. What do you want? There’s no tail hook! Well, Friday, June 21, 2019 found me heading for the
U.S. Naval Academy Museum in Annapolis MD. First, a general note. The major tourist attractions in Annapolis are all within walking distance. Second, for those of us driving a pickup truck
that doesn’t subscribe to the maximum height requirements of most parking decks, there is a reasonably priced surface lot at 38° 58' 35.91" N, 76° 29' 12.45" W, about two blocks from the historic downtown and five blocks from the Naval Academy.
The first floor of the museum, or deck in Navy lingo, traces the history of the Navy from its birth during the Revolution to today's modern fleet. Interactive battle maps are placed throughout the first deck which illustrate the tactics used in many of America's major naval battles. The history of the Academy and how it has changed both as an academic institution and as a military post are highlighted, and the exhibit about Naval Academy graduates who went on to become astronauts definitely grabbed my attention. The second deck features over seventy models of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century ships, the largest collection on public display in North America, as well as a collection of prints illustrating famous ships and naval scenes from the last 500 years. For those inclined to visit the Naval Academy in the first place, don’t miss the museum. Worth a special trip for the average tourist? Probably not so much.
When I
arrived at the visitor center to participate in a
U.S. Naval Academy Walking Tour, I found a group was already getting the introductory spiel so I just joined the group. The 1 ¼-hour tour includes Bancroft Hall, the midshipmen dormitory; Memorial Hall; the Statue of Tecumseh; the Main Chapel; and the Crypt of John Paul Jones, Revolutionary War naval hero. Unfortunately, an interior visit to Bancroft Hall and the Main Chapel were omitted from my tour because of graduation preparations and wedding rehearsals, respectively. I don’t know if it was because I had been quite sedentary for four days, if the brisk pace of the walking tour was the culprit or if it was just plain old age, but both knees were beginning to ache by the time I finished the tour. At any rate, I opted to forego the capitol and the other attractions on my Annapolis list and head home. By the time I returned to the RV park and started to make my way from the driver’s seat to the Bighorn, I was having significant pain. I thought “loosening them up” might help, so I walked to the dumpster with the garbage. I wasn’t sure if I would get back to
the Bighorn unassisted. As I climbed the four steps, I wondered if my tourism in the Baltimore area, or, indeed, that of
The Great Adventure itself, might be over. I felt little pain while sedentary, took no pain pills and awakened to find myself back in a “normal” state. I decided to take on the next day’s agenda such that I could abort the itinerary if and whenever necessary.
My first stop on Saturday was
Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine in Baltimore. Fort McHenry was built between 1798 and 1800 and was named after early American statesman James McHenry, a Scots-Irish immigrant and surgeon-soldier who was a delegate to the Continental Congress from Maryland, a signer of the United States Constitution and U.S. Secretary of War from 1796–1800, serving under Presidents George Washington and John Adams. The fort was designed as a bastioned pentagon and was surrounded by a dry moat. The moat would serve as a shelter from which the infantry might defend the fort from a land attack such that each point, or bastion, could provide a crossfire of cannon and small arms fire. Fort McHenry is best known for its role in the War of 1812, when it successfully defended
It Was Interesting to See the Thirteen-Star Flag on Display
Fort McHenry National Monument & Historic Shrine - Baltimore MDBaltimore Harbor from an attack by the British navy via Chesapeake Bay on September 13–14, 1814. Before the bombardment, an American storm flag (17’ by 25’) was flown over Fort McHenry but was replaced early on the morning of September 14, 1814 with a larger American garrison flag, 30’ by 42’. The larger flag signaled the American victory over the British. The sight of the flag inspired Francis Scott Key to write the poem "Defence of Fort M'Henry" that was later set to the tune "To Anacreon in Heaven" which eventually became known as "The Star-Spangled Banner," America’s national anthem. Fort McHenry was in continuous use by the U.S. armed forces through World War I and by the Coast Guard in World War II. It was designated a national park in 1925 and was redesignated a National Monument and Historic Shrine in 1939. My visit on a phenomenal weekend day found an abundance of visitors, reenactors and docents. Fort McHenry is one of the better preserved forts of its kind that I have seen, and the history might be equaled but cannot be surpassed.
My next stop was the Baltimore
Inner Harbor and the
Historic Ships in Baltimore as well as whatever else
Thar She Blows – Har, Har!
Historic Ships in Baltimore - Lightship Chesapeake LV 116WAL 538 - Baltimore MD there was to be experienced for as long as my knees allowed me to participate. I have developed a theory based solely on my travelling experiences. The further east one travels and the larger the city one visits, the lower are the PVC entry pipes in the parking decks! I had problems finding a parking deck that would accommodate the height of the Ram in Richmond VA (6’6”), in Annapolis MD (6’3”) and, now, in Baltimore (6’0”). I drove past a handful of decks removed from the waterfront a couple of blocks and finally found a surface lot, of all places, right across the street from the attractions I wanted to visit (39° 17' 14.19" N, 76° 36' 37.50" W). The lot was almost full, but the attendant put me in one of a couple of spaces he had reserved for longer vehicles.
My first order of business was to purchase the ticket package. There is a choice of 1, 2 or 4 ships. I really wanted to see two of the four ships, had a mild interest in the other two and opted for the four-ship package which is only a couple of dollars more that the two-ship
Up Close and Personal
Historic Ships in Baltimore - USS Submarine Torsk - Baltimore MD package. My first stop was, you got it,
Lightship Chesapeake LV 116WAL 538. The lightship only offers self-guided tours, but the documentation of the artifacts and the explanatory placards are so complete the unaccompanied tour is totally adequate.
Chesapeake is not the best lightship I have seen but is in the top twenty-five percent. My next stop was at the
USS Submarine Torsk simply because she is moored at the same pier as the lightship.
Torsk was laid down at the Portsmouth Navy Yard in June 1944, was launched in September that year and was commissioned in December. In 1945,
Torsk made two war patrols off Japan, sinking one cargo vessel and two coastal defense frigates. The latter of these, torpedoed on August 14, 1945, was the last enemy ship sunk by the United States Navy in World War II. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, she operated primarily as a training vessel, and she went on deployments to the Mediterranean Sea to help train elements of the Atlantic Fleet in anti-submarine tactics. Decommissioned in 1964, she served for another seven years as a training vessel for the Naval Reserve. She was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register in December 1971 and turned over to the state
Ready, Aim, Fire!
Historic Ships in Baltimore - USS Sloop-of-War Constellation - Baltimore MD of Maryland for use as a museum ship. I’ve been on half dozen or so subs over my lifetime so there were no remarkable surprises. It did serve as a nice refresher course for me and should be of interest to most, particularly the uninitiated; however, it definitely is NOT an attraction for the mobility challenged.
The "Sloop-of-War"
USS Constellation was, by far, the star of the show.
Constellation was the U.S. flagship in the anti-slave trade. Before boarding the ship, a small museum highlights
Constellation’s role in fighting slave trafficking. Upon boarding, the visitor is given a brief overview of the ship’s features and a quick orientation. Below deck on this weekend day, costumed docents were on hand to explain the operational aspects of the ship, and a cannon-firing reenactment was conducted using adult volunteers for some functions and children for others, including that of “powder monkey.” All the equipment was clearly marked, and the work stations and quarters of the ship’s officers were identified with a short description of their duties. The ship’s surgeon was on hand to provide an amputation demonstration. Even an aficionado of lighthouses and lightships must admit that
Constellation is the best of the
three ships I visited. By the time I finished the
Constellation my knees had begun to ache so I never made it to the
USCGC Taney, a United States Coast Guard High Endurance Cutter, which was berthed a couple of piers down. Back at the parking lot, I had noticed a sign indicating “Event Parking $30.00” when I entered the lot. I guess Saturday is an event, because it cost me $30.00 for 2-3 hours of parking!
I had a pretty ambitious agenda in Baltimore and had one reason, and one reason only, for visiting the
Baltimore Museum of Industry (BMI) in Baltimore on Sunday, June 23, 2019. That reason was the 1906 steam-powered tugboat,
Baltimore.
Baltimore, the oldest steam-powered tugboat in the United States, was built and operated as a multi-purpose harbor inspection tug and served as an official welcoming vessel and VIP launch, an auxiliary fireboat and a light icebreaker. In her capacity as an official welcoming vessel for the City of Baltimore,
Baltimore met the unarmed German merchant submarine,
Deutschland, on her first voyage to America prior to U.S. entry into World War I. She was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1993.
When I arrived at the museum,
I paid the senior citizen $9.00 admission fee and asked for directions to
Baltimore. THEN, I was told the only views of
Baltimore were from windows in the rear of the building. My mistake. I should have asked before I paid the admission fee. Reexamining the web site on “Monday morning” for “
Baltimore unavailable to visitors” notifications, I found none. That borders on false advertising in my opinion. In spite of my “senior moment,” I did learn about the industrial history of the city. Little did I know, Baltimore might have laid claim to being the umbrella manufacturing capital of the United States in its day. Two very large exhibits, printing and canning, led me to believe the museum brain trust has taken “whatever has been offered” from abandoned factories to fill to voids in BMI’s large repurposed industrial building. Other topics include, “Electricity Comes to Baltimore,” shipping and dock work, Sweetheart Brand drinking cups and straws, garment-making and early electric vehicles. Oh, yes (to be fair), I’ve seen more steam rollers in cartoons than in my travels, but BMI has a nicely restored one. Admittedly, the
Baltimore bombshell knocked my glasses out of kilter; however, on Monday morning, I
believe BMI is worthy for locals, but average tourists would be better off spending their time and money elsewhere. At least until such time as
Baltimore is restored and available for viewing!
My next stop was in an adjacent zip code, the
Maryland State Vietnam Memorial. This memorial is across the street from a police precinct station atop a hill and consumes a large piece of real estate. Although not hidden, it is not readily identified. Adjacent to two major roads (where I was focused on traffic), there are no directional signs in the immediate area, although I did see one sign about 3-4 blocks from the memorial. That clue heightened my determination. The memorial is about 200 feet across and lists the names of the fallen in alphabetical order. The large but simple memorial is worth a stop. Good luck finding it – 39° 15.287 N, 076° 37.012 W.
My next stop was the state history museum, the
Maryland Historical Society Museum, in, yes, Baltimore. The museum opens with a temporary, special exhibit which examines the state’s demographic position in the slaves/free blacks world of a pre-Civil War border state. This theme has been prevalent in the state history museums I have visited
during Chapter 2019 of
The Great Adventure. Maryland’s museum does have an interesting presentation, highlighting individuals, organizations and events important to abetting escaped slaves including native daughter Harriet Tubman. From there, the museum is a disjointed hodgepodge of snippets of Maryland’s history. My photographic sequence covers Baltimore in 1850, a tobacco plantation, Native Americans, professional sports, dinosaurs …. You get the idea? This might be the worst, most disorganized (and definitely is one of the least impressive) state history lessons I have encountered in my travels.
The
Washington Monument at Mount Vernon Place was the first major monument begun to honor George Washington and resides at the intersection of Mount Vernon Place and Washington Place, an urban square in the Mount Vernon-Belvedere Historic District north of downtown Baltimore, which is, in turn, within the Baltimore National Heritage Area. The monument was designed by American architect Robert Mills who also later designed the Washington Monument on the National Mall in Washington DC. I opted to forego climbing the 227 steps to harvest a (probably not spectacular or memorable) view of the city from the top of the 178-foot, 8-inch column but enjoyed the first-floor exhibits about the construction of the Monument, the history of the
Mount Vernon and Washington Place neighborhood and the life and accomplishments of General and President George Washington. Truthfully, I wanted to see the neighborhood as much as I wanted to see the monument. Boulevard-like parks radiated from the monument, and folks were utilizing the green space to the maximum. Many of the residences lining the streets had identification placards providing a summary of the building’s history.
My fifth and final stop of the day was the
B & O (Baltimore and Ohio) Railroad Museum in Baltimore. My interest was not as much in the museum itself but in the 250-foot roundhouse – the museum centerpiece. That myopic mindset was a mistake! The B & O was the oldest railroad in the United States (it’s first section opened in 1830) and was the nation’s first common carrier railroad. It came into being mostly because the city of Baltimore wanted to compete with the newly constructed Erie Canal (which served New York City) and another canal being proposed by Pennsylvania (which would have connected Philadelphia and Pittsburgh). At first, the railroad was located entirely in the state of Maryland but soon expanded westward into Ohio. Advertising for B & O once carried the motto, "Linking 13 Great States
“… I Know I Can, I Know I Can”
B & O Railroad Museum - Baltimore MD with the Nation." B & O property holdings include the 1829 Carrollton Viaduct, the oldest operational railroad bridge in the United States. As part of a series of mergers, the B & O is now part of the CSX Transportation (CSX) network. Part of B & O's notoriety has come from being one of the four featured railroads on the Monopoly board game. Interestingly, it is the only one of the four railroads on the board that did not serve Atlantic City NJ.
When CSX established the B & O Railroad Museum as a separate entity from the corporation, it donated some of the former B & O Mount Clare Shops in Baltimore, including the Mount Clare roundhouse, to the museum. Make no mistake, this is definitely the B & O Railroad Museum. For example, the World War I exhibit notes that 97 B & O employees lost their lives in the war and another 103 were wounded. Numerous B & O railroading models help tell the evolution of steam engines, and placards describe “The Great Railroad Strike of 1877.” A nice display of vintage B & O time pieces accompanies placards relating the need for, and the subsequent
adoption of, standardized time.
For millennia, people had measured time based on the position of the sun – it was noon when the sun was highest in the sky. The time indicated by the apparent sun on a sundial is called Apparent Solar Time, or true local time. Sundials were used well into the Middle Ages, at which time mechanical clocks began to appear. Time of day was a local matter, and most cities and towns used some form of local solar time, as indicated by a well-known clock, such as that on a church steeple or in a jeweler's window, but every city would be on a slightly different time. That random, chaotic, mishmash was not working for the railroad which needed standardization for departure and arrival times of the trains, as well as the personnel working on that rolling stock. Standard time, in time zones, was instituted in the U.S. and Canada by the railroads on November 18, 1883. The new standard time system, however, was not immediately embraced by all. Standard time and time zones, based on those set up by the railroads, was established by U.S. law with the Standard Time Act of 1918.
Placards and rolling stock in the roundhouse fall into two basic categories. First, “A Journey from Roads to Rails” is followed by “The (Civil) War Came by Train.” Horses initially pulled the loads along the rails, but B & O successfully introduced steam-powered locomotives and became known as “the Railroad University of the United States.” By 1880, the railroad helped make Baltimore a major livestock and coal terminal and the second largest port for grain in the nation. Although the latter has more artifacts on display, both tell their story with well done placards and pieces of excellently restored rolling stock. Outside the roundhouse, as well as housed in some of the former Mount Clare Shop buildings and refurbished railroad cars, are exhibits about refrigerated and freezer cars, two model railroad layouts, one inside and one outside, and a couple of newer, but still old, electro-diesel locomotives.
The two showpieces, in my opinion, reside in the roundhouse. One is the Shay Locomotive, designed by Ephraim Shay and the Lima Machine Works in the late nineteenth century for logging operations. Its rack and pinion gearing allowed it to navigate the steep grades and sharp curves found in wooded mountainous regions.
One More Final, Forlorn Look
B & O Railroad Museum - Baltimore MD The other is the clearance car. As locomotives grew more powerful, they also grew larger. This phenomenon was problematic in the tunnels that were dug to accommodate the earlier, smaller locomotives. The clearance car announced whether the tunnel needed alterations or not. I don’t recall ever seeing either the Shay Locomotive or the clearance car in any other railroad museum. I can only think of one railroad museum that belongs in the same conversation as the B & O Railroad Museum. That one is on the opposite coast at the
California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento CA. I think either attraction would hold the interest of most for at least a couple of hours.
Monday, June 26, 2019 found heading for three historic railroad bridges. First was the
Bollman Truss Railroad Bridge in Savage MD. The bridge was built in 1869, placing it among the oldest metal bridges in the country, and it is claimed that this bridge is one of the most important historic bridges in the country. It was originally built on a B & O mainline but was moved to an industrial spur off the mainline in 1887 which allowed the bridge to survive rather than being demolished and replaced with a
more modern structure. Wendel Bollman, a noted bridge engineer, was responsible for designing this bridge, and his unusual truss configuration, known as the Bollman truss, is a very distinctive engineering design. Bollman's design was the first metal truss bridge design to be used in any notable quantity by the railroads and is significant in the development of the metal truss bridge; however, this bridge is the last remaining example of the Bollman truss, and, thus, has unparalleled historic value. Today, the 159-foot bridge is a pedestrian bridge over the Little Patuxent River which allows the visitor to get an “up close and personal” examination of the uniqueness of the engineering. I’ll include several photos to illustrate.
My next stop was the
Thomas Viaduct near Arbutus MD, a stone masonry railroad bridge that spans the Patapsco River and the Patapsco Valley gorge between the towns of Relay MD and Elkridge MD. It was the first multi-span masonry bridge to be built on a curve in the United States, is the world's largest multiple arched stone railroad bridge built on a curve and is the world's second oldest railroad bridge still in use – the oldest being the Carrollton Viaduct located a
few miles north and next on my itinerary. The Thomas Viaduct utilizes locally mined granite, is made up of 8 spans totaling 612 feet in length, is approximately 26 feet wide and 59 feet high from water level to the base of the track rails and is built on a 4-degree curve. Thomas Viaduct was designed by Benjamin Henry Latrobe II, then B & O's assistant engineer (who later became their chief engineer). Many nicknamed the bridge "Latrobe's Folly" because they doubted whether Latrobe's design could even support itself much less the 6-7-ton locomotives being used in the day. Construction began on July 4, 1833, and the bridge was officially completed on July 4, 1835 at a cost of approximately $200,000. Over 600 stone masons and free black men worked on the bridge. The bridge was named after Philip E. Thomas who was the first president of B & O. Today the bridge carries 200-ton diesel locomotives and heavy freight traffic on a daily basis. Thomas Viaduct has been in continuous service since the day it was opened in 1835, has survived the great flood of 1868, Hurricane Agnes in 1972 and two floods that wiped out the Patapsco Valley
This Is the Best View I Could Reasonably Obtain
Carrollton Viaduct (1829 Railroad Bridge) - Baltimore MD and destroyed nearly everything in their path. The Thomas Viaduct was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1964 and was named a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Civil Engineers. The bridge is just inside the entrance gate of Patapsco Valley State Park.
I noted in my narrative about the B & O Railroad Museum that the railroad’s new parent company, CSX Transportation, is the proud owner of the
Carrollton Viaduct, an 1829 Railroad Bridge located in Baltimore – the world’s oldest active railroad bridge. On July 4, 1828, Charles Carroll, the last living signer of the Declaration of Independence, a director of the B & O Railroad and the bridge’s namesake, laid the cornerstone for the Carrollton Viaduct and remarked, “I consider this among the most important acts of my life, second only to my signing the Declaration of Independence.” Completed in 1829, the 300-foot stone bridge carries the B & O Railroad over Gwynns Falls. The viaduct is about a one-mile round trip walk on a paved trail from the parking lot, but only peeks at the structure are available through the trees. If I had to delete one of the three bridges from
my attractions list, Carrollton Viaduct would be the one to be scratched.
My final stop of the day was the
Babe Ruth Birthplace & Museum, also in Baltimore. George Herman "Babe" Ruth Jr. was born here, the house of his maternal grandparents on February 6, 1895. His home was an apartment above a saloon not far from the rail yards, Camden Yards. Ruth was one of eight children born to George Sr. and Katherine Schamburger Ruth; however, only George Jr. and his younger sister, Margaret, survived early infancy. According to Julia Ruth Stevens, the adopted daughter of Babe and Helen Woodford Ruth, George Jr. had given little supervision growing up because George Sr. worked long hours as a saloon owner. George Jr. became a delinquent. He was sent to Saint Mary's, a home for delinquent boys, because George Sr. ran out of ideas to discipline and mentor his son. Other accounts say that following a violent incident at his father's saloon, city authorities decided that the environment was unsuitable for a small child. (George Sr. was killed in 1918 trying to break up a fight outside his bar.) Regardless, George Jr. entered Saint Mary's on June 13, 1902 where he was recorded as
"incorrigible" and spent much of the next 12 years. How Ruth came to play baseball at Saint Mary's is uncertain but, regardless, it’s a good thing for baseball fans that those events emerged.
Every sports fan and most Americans know variously of "The Bambino’s" baseball prowess, so I won’t regurgitate a bunch of boring statistics. Suffice it to say that when the Baseball Hall of Fame opened in 1936, Ruth was in the inaugural class, along with Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, Christy Mathewson and Walter Johnson. Ruth rightfully earned a reputation as a womanizer and a heavy drinker during his baseball career, but he was a humble, benevolent superstar, signing autographs and attending fund-raisers to assist young boys, particularly orphans and other disadvantaged youngsters.
In 1946, Ruth began to experience severe pain over his left eye and had difficulty swallowing. In November 1946, it was learned that he had an inoperable malignant tumor in his neck at the base of his skull. His name and fame gave him access to experimental treatments, and he was one of the first cancer patients to receive both chemotherapy and radiation therapy simultaneously which provided only a temporary remission. Because of his
family's fear that he might do himself harm, doctors never told Ruth that he had cancer, and he travelled around the country, doing promotional work for the Ford Motor Company on behalf of American Legion Baseball, a youth baseball organization. April 27, 1947 was Babe Ruth Day around the major leagues, with the most significant observance held at Yankee Stadium. A number of teammates and others spoke in honor of Ruth, who briefly addressed the crowd of almost 60,000, but by then his voice was a soft whisper with a very low, raspy tone. On June 5, 1948, a "gaunt and hollowed out" Ruth visited Yale University to donate a manuscript of
The Babe Ruth Story to its library. There he met with future president George H. W. Bush, who was the captain of the Yale baseball team. On June 13, 1948 Ruth visited Yankee Stadium for the final time, appearing at the 25
th anniversary celebration of "The House that Ruth Built." By this time, he had lost weight and had difficulty walking, and when introduced, along with his surviving teammates from 1923, Ruth used a bat as a cane. During Ruth’s final days, thousands of New Yorkers, including many
“The Bambino” – The Mold Was Broken
Babe Ruth Birthplace & Museum - Baltimore MD children, stood vigil outside the hospital. He died at 8:01 p.m. on August 16, 1948, one week to the day before my birth. His open casket was placed on display in the rotunda of Yankee Stadium, where it remained for two days, while 77,000 people filed past to pay him tribute. His funeral Mass took place at Saint Patrick's Cathedral as a crowd estimated at 75,000 waited outside.
Ruth's widow, Claire, his two daughters, Julia Ruth Stevens and Dorothy (Ruth's illegitimate child by a mistress named Juanita Jennings), and his sister, Mamie (Margaret), helped select and install exhibits for the museum, which opened in 1973. Make no mistake, this is a sport immortal’s museum and, as such, would be of little interest to much of the travelling public on a tight vacation schedule; however, it is one of the nicer athlete’s museums I have visited.
I had a nice time in my week and a half in metro Baltimore, save the $30.00 for 2-3 hours of parking near the Inner Harbor – yes, that still irks me, but it is what it is! The freeways were cooperative with limited construction aversions, I never felt my safety was in
jeopardy and I had a few nice surprises, most notably Fort McHenry National Monument & Historic Shrine and the B & O Railroad Museum. Seeing the U.S. Naval Academy and its museum have been long-term (when I get to the zip code) goals of mine for many years. My Naval Academy visit created a lot of “what ifs,” but lingering on a pipe dream is not really productive. As it is, my life has turned out to be quite rewarding and productive without ever having landed on an aircraft carrier or walked on the moon!
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