Baltimore

Saturday 6/1 we arrived in Baltimore Anchorage Marina where we will be staying for a month.  

As we approached the Baltimore Harbor we passed under the destroyed Francis Scott Key Bridge.  The bridge was hit by the container ship Dali on March 26th causing the center portion of the bridge to collapse.  The waterway was closed to all ship and boat traffic for about a month while they cleaned debris from the channel.  There was limited access in April and May and it wasn't until June that the channel was clear for normal ship and boat traffic. 

Clean-up was still underway as we passed through. 

The picture below is of the container ship Dali, which hit the Francis Scott Key Bridge.  You can see the damage she suffered, the entire front of the ship, including the cargo bins were smashed.    

Ships in the harbor. 

We stayed in Baltimore Anchorage Marina.  It is in a great location with a long boardwalk at the end of the docks in the harbor.  Floating pool out on that dock.  Continental breakfast every Saturday and live music every Saturday evening!  All included with your dock.  Shopping access is great with a Safeway grocery store right across the street.  Not to mention there is a West Marine and liquor store a short walk down the street.  Just short bike ride a way, there is a Sketchers outlet store, Nordstrom Rack, Target, Chick-fla-la and much more! 

Local knowledge gave us a head's up on a great neighborhood bar with daily specials just across the street called The Stackhouse.  You'd never know it was there if you were just driving by.   Great burgers, homemade fries! 

We are in the Canton area and it is known for being the location of the historic American Can Company.  The Stackhouse is full of memorabilia from that time.   

 

We went to a Baltimore Orioles home baseball game in Camden Yards.  

It wouldn't be us if we didn't get the chance to visit the Horseshoe Casino Baltimore!  Just so happens on Wednesdays they offer a special drawling for seniors, which yes.....we qualify.  They pick three lucky seniors who each win $555 of free play.  We were eligible and made sure we were there (except for when I was in Ohio), but after 4 tries, no winner.  

We also came the closest we have ever been to a tornado while in Baltimore.  One evening we got an alarm on our phone warning us of a tornado being spotted in the Baltimore City area.  Shortly after that the rain stopped and there was this eerie silence....it was too quite!  Then out of nowhere this big gust of wind hit us and of course I ran outside to see....yep, it looked like a waterspout or tornado moving right through the marina about 3 piers down.  

The next day I took Roxie for a walk to survey the damage.  Luckily, it didn't look like anyone in the marina had sustained any damage, but as we walked down the waterfront I found a lamppost took a direct hit, also saw a couple of sun canopies shredded on the condo balconies, and a couple table umbrellas thrown around.  On the parking lot side of the condos, there were shingles and tree branches on the ground.  

The 2nd week of our stay happened to be Fleet Week in Baltimore.  I had flown home for a meeting at work and Bill stayed with Roxie at the boat to replace our vacu-flush heads with new electric toilets and replace all the black water hoses.  He said there were all kinds of ships and aircraft moving in the harbor and in the sky.  

Replacing the heads!

Bill took a break from the potty work and went into the harbor to see the ships.  The jets were hard to catch on camera.

The last two weeks in Baltimore were busy with projects.  I've been wanting to give Cheers a little face lift in the salon and master cabins.  It's not as easy as just going to the store and picking something out although we could have shopped at Target...but we ended up ordering from Amazon and Kohls.  We got new table lamps for the main salon and comforter for the master cabin.  I finally sent some pictures from our trip to the Bahamas off to have them made into canvas prints to hang in the cabin.  Bill worked on polishing the boat sides and I polished the stainless.  So many projects and so little time!

We had gotten spoiled with having a grocery across the street and now that it was time to get back out on the water we had to reprovision.  A couple of trips with our cart back and forth and we should be good for a couple of weeks!

On to the next adventure!