Wet at first, mostly overcast
I did not emerge until 10.30, though I had been woken up a couple of times earlier by the sound of an air-raid siren outside. At least it sounded like one -- it turns out that its purpose is not to alert the population to air-raids, tornadoes or emergencies at the nearby nuclear power station, but to summon the local volunteer fire-brigade.
After a late breakfast of bread and jam, Jeff took me for a look around outside, taking the short walk down to the waterfront. We then got into the car for a whistle-stop tour of Solomons. In the skies over the Patuxent estuary we observed a bizarrely-shaped aircraft. This was an F117 ``Stealth'' fighter appearing at the Patuxent River Naval Air Testing Center across the water, which was holding an airshow that weekend. From the weather forecast Jeff had judged Sunday the better day to attend.
We left Solomons and headed northwards to Annapolis through Calvert County, named after George Calvert (Lord Baltimore), an English Catholic who received permission from Charles I to found an American colony. It was founded in 1634 with a belief in religious tolerance, settling first in St Mary's City (south of the naval air base), which was the capital of the colony until 1695, when it moved to Annapolis.
We found space to park in a multi-storey carpark in the town centre, just a short step from the harbour. The town was a pleasant one and in many ways resembled a typical English town, not so surprising perhaps given its age and heritage. We first tried to find the restaurant ``Mum's'', in which Jeff and our Uncle John had eaten on their 1988 visit, but it no longer existed, and we settled upon a nearby place named Riordan's. Despite being fairly busy, the service was prompt -- I chose a Buffalo chicken sandwich and fries.
Suitably refreshed, we walked to the 1772 State House, the oldest state capitol still in continuous legislative use. As an additional claim to fame, it is the only state capitol also to have been the nation's, if only for a few months around the end of the Revolutionary War. Externally, the building is built of brick with a Grecian-style portico, topped with an elegant wooden dome and cupola.
The interior contained several historic rooms as well as the active legislative chambers, including numerous period paintings and state treasures. Underneath the dome stood a 1987 replica of the miniature sailing ship Federalist. The original was built in 1788 to celebrate the ratification of the Constitution, and presented to George Washington at Mount Vernon, only to be lost a few days later in a violent storm.
We then went around to the US Naval Academy, the navy's equivalent of West Point, and took a look in the visitor centre. There were many exhibits about life at the academy and in the navy, evidently in the hope of recruiting eager teenagers, and a stairwell dominated by the space capsule ``Freedom 7''. Launched aboard a Mercury-Redstone rocket, in this capsule Alan Shepard, alumnus of the Academy, became the first American in space. I had seen a Redstone missile, from which the rocket was developed, at White Sands and wondered at the time how on earth there was room for a man on top of it -- I now had the cramped capsule in front of me to see.
Jeff had been managing temporarily on a cheap 14 inch TV set but was in need of something larger better, and on the way out of Annapolis we stopped at a Circuit City store in order to purchase one. A member of staff did most of the work of getting the TV into the car. On return to Solomons we stopped first at the local Woodburns supermarket, a relatively up-market establishment which included various European imports among its stock (at a premium).
On return to the flat, we unloaded the television and moved it upstairs with the aid of a trolley and the lift. Once it was installed, we had the inevitable ritual of investigating its various features and flipping through the multitude of cable channels in the vain hope of finding something worthwhile to watch. Having failed to do so, we sorted out dinner, preceding it with a drink and some nibbles, taking care not to do impersonations of the President with the pretzels.
Dinner consisted of a salad followed by steak and sausages, with ice-cream for dessert. Afterwards we settled to continue the hunt for interesting viewing on the television, and also discussed the principal sights of New Mexico, as Jeff was scheduled to make a business trip to Albuquerque the following month and was looking to add on a couple of days for sightseeing. We eventually retired to bed around midnight.