Adios, Annapolis!

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With just over a week until departure to Argentina, finishing my job and moving back in with my parents has left me thinking back over the past year and a half I have spent here in and around Annapolis. So this is not really a travel blog, but more of a blog about home. Which is part of the journey I suppose!

After traveling a few places, I have found that I approach home now with a little of the attitude that I had while I was abroad. I find that I make friends easier, am more willing to try new things, to take advantage of the things this place has to offer rather than writing it off as boring and narrow like I thought it was when growing up. After a year in Annapolis I can say that I love it as a town but I am so ready to move on to bigger, more exciting things. Annapolis has a great history and a lot of charm but there are better places to be young. It certainly has been a good starting point to explore other places on the east coast from. It is a few hours drive from the cities of Baltimore, Washington DC, Philadelphia, and New york as well beautiful Shenandoah National Park and a few other parks and forests.

A really exciting discovery for me was the indoor climbing center (a little bit of a hike from naptown, but close enough). Climbing has been the gateway for so many of the amazing friends I have this past year. The sense of community, of personal challenge, of trust, of pain and triumph. Well, maybe I'm glorifying it a bit, but I am addicted.

I wish I had the time to write individial blogs about the adventures I have had here, but I'm afraid unpacking and trip planning has left me very little time. But I hope you enjoy the few random pictures I will post here to give you an idea of how I have spent the last year.

With that said, I have to say that here at home, as in all my travels, the best part of spending time anywhere is the amazing people you meet along the way. I am so grateful for the spectaular, interesting, amazing friends I have made here. You know who you are.

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Photos

State Capital
They put this thing on the Maryland State quarter. Silly really. (Its the top of the Capital Building in Annapolis, which is the capital of the state of Maryland).

Feet, obviously.
Flip flops and a sailboat. What could be more annapolis? I took a "Rockin Rover Cruise" courtesy of Matt C and found the best part of the cruise was the view of the city from the deck of the boat.

Chesapeake Living
The marshy shores of the Chesapeake are one the most prominent memories of my childhood. I relived that for a moment this summer with a canoe ride, walk in the mud, and a swim.

Bay Bridge Walk
The breathtaking twin spans of the Chesapeake Bay bridges. One day a year you get to walk the 4.2 miles across. Its an annual family event!

Volvo Ocean Race
These boats were in town for a weekend, and Annapolis threw them a pretty big party. They were wicked.

Volvo Ocean Race
Three of the boats with the Chesapeake Bay Bridge in the background.

Coffeecat and Friends
I was fortunate enough to enjoy a visit from Travelblog celebrity Coffeecat (Hi Fiona!) We had a great dinner at the best Mexican place in town. It was a great evening

Baltimore!
My whole life Baltimore has been "that horrible, dirty, dangerous city that we only go to for basball games." Sorry mom and dad, you were dead wrong. Baltimore is next as the place to call home.

Climbing
Its not me, but I can't not put a picture of the love of my life (sorry, not you Matt) in the blog. How did I learn to love those plastic rocks and colored tape?

Girls in the Woods
Lorie and I got ourselves lost in Shenandoah National Park and ended up cutting our trip short. It was still amazing, we camped next to the waterfall you can see in the background

GWNF
At the top of a "mountain" in George Washington Nat'l Forest, Virginia. I use "mountain" cautiously because on the East Coast mountains are actually hills. Was a nice view nonetheless

Beer Pong
Can't mention Annapolis without talking about drinking. This is the christening of the beer pong table in my apartment. It was a good party.

Night out in Smalltimore
Great friends and climbing partners goofing off at a great bar in Baltimore.

Patapsco
Michele walking along a pipe (for the dam?) in Patapsco state park.

Top of the Dam
The water was eerily calm right before it went cascading down the dam.

Philly is nuts
This car we passed on the way to Philadelphia should have been an indicator of the crazy brilliance we were about to encounter.

We had a nice hotel
Great view of Philly from the hotel window

South Street and Matt
South Street was where we spent most of our time when we weren't in the bars! Highlights: The $10 t-shirt store, the 1-hour cheesesteak line (why didnt I get the CHEESE WHIZ!?!), and of course, Condom Kingdom.

Jen and the crazy bottle place
How to even describe the crazy bottle place. I have no idea what the real name was. Its just nuts and beautiful and dangerous all in one. Glass and pottery and junk all plastered together over every inch of the interior and exterior. He called it a mosaic but it was certainly more than that.

Mosaic
Just a tiny fragment

Coffee and Me
City Dock, I will miss you...