Sunday, December 30, 2018

Vacation, Day Nine


It was a gorgeous day, Saturday, the 29th of December in the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand and Eighteen. The rain had ceased and everything was shiny.

The view out the dining room window -


We've been seeing that particular family of deer off and on since we arrived, today they came to our place for breakfast. Mama and three young'uns in the photo. All the aunts and perhaps a cousin or three came by later. There were at least eight clearly visible.

No doubt you're all wondering why we're in Annapolis as opposed to Alexandria. Well, we have new friends in Annapolis who kindly offered to share Christmas with us. How could we refuse? Bigs things are in the offing. We shall see where the road leads. For now, suffice to say, we've been having a wonderful time. (Yes, I am being mysterious. Patience my children, patience.)

After a lovely breakfast at Miss Shirley's Cafe in Annapolis, we headed down to visit the Academy. It was a great day for it.


That's the entrance to Bancroft Hall, home to the Brigade of Midshipmen, when they're in town. The new friends we have in Annapolis are in the photo. For those who are wondering, I took this shot intentionally. The brightness of the sky almost obscuring the entrance to Bancroft, gives it an almost ethereal feel. Well, it does to me.

I'll tell you, with no shame at all, some of the exhibits within Memorial Hall inside Bancroft had me all teary eyed, must be a lot of dust in there. But seriously, seeing names from history listed therein, both famous and little known, seeing the names of the Academy's fallen, people who as young men and women walked those halls, really got to me. I knew some of them, not personally, but through other friends in the Navy.

The history which echoes within Bancroft Hall is almost staggering.

Ship's Bell, USS Enterprise (CV-6)
Just inside Bancroft Hall, Commandant's Office to the left of the Christmas tree.
Of course, we had to visit the Naval Academy Chapel -

I saw the hymn number, it rang a bell. I noted that the Academy uses the same hymnal as my own church.
# 808 Eternal Father, Strong to Save
The Middies have a beautiful chapel.

History is every place you look -

Monument for the Centennial of the U.S. Submarine Force
It is also the resting place of one of our first naval heroes -

Commodore John Paul Jones lies below the Chapel.
We finished the day's sightseeing at Reynold's Tavern, the ladies had high tea, the men had actual food. Bangers and mash for me, chased with a favorite at Christmas, Stella Artois.


It was a fine day.




24 comments:

  1. I was staying away from the dust and pollen until the Academy choir started singing Eternal Father in my mind.
    I can only imagine what hearing a pipe organ concert would sound like in the chapel.

    We've visited both of the Academies near us, and maybe we will get out to Colorado one of these days.

    Nice teaser. I'm going to stay tuned to this station.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Would love to hear the pipe organ in that chapel. Looks like good acoustics.

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    2. Beans - I would love to hear that organ.

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  2. That is quite the chapel there Sarge, also staying tuned.

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  3. Sunshine!! And deer! How can you tell hunting season is over? The deer come back out in the daytime...

    Beautiful chapel, neat monument with the sub breaching...thought that was a movie thing...do they really do that normally?

    Having to be patient some more...ok, I can do that, but, just hurry up!! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Subs will do that when they need to get "on the roof" in a hurry.

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  4. I will add that to my to do list when my wife and me visit DC next year.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I know what the secret reason for Annapolis is.....
    You're being considered for SecDef. Yep, that's the ticket!
    Other than the job is thankless with extremely long hours and the only perk is there's a guaranteed parking space for you in the Pentagon Parking lot, I don't know why you wouldn't take it.

    In all seriousness, Merry Christmas and may 2019 be an even better year than all your previous ones.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. SecDef, hhmm, as cool as the job would be, I doubt I'd care for the hours. But if my country calls...

      Merry 6th day of Christmas!

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  6. Great update. Looks like you are not having any problem "seeing" the sights. Happy New Year to all!
    John Blackshoe

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    Replies
    1. Weather has been pretty good as well. The one rainy day we had, we went to the movies. Also a lot of fun.

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  7. But will the fish-staff and cat-staff approve of the upcoming changes we are staying tuned for?

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    Replies
    1. I doubt they'll even notice. But ya never know.

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    2. Ima gonna hafta sit on my hands and not type speculation after speculation as to your nefarious and non-nefarious schemes and plans.

      But I wanna, I wanna!!!

      Delete
  8. A very nice update on and pictures of your vacation.

    Thanks for the post.
    Paul L. Quandt

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  9. Hmmmm, could it be... Nope. But maybe.... nope. You're killing me here, out with it!

    Happy New Year to you and yours.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Right back at ya Flugelman!

      (Y'all know patience is a virtue, right?)

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    2. Rolling over and letting people have their way with you is also a virtue, but not one Flugelman nor the others here will most likely be tagged with.

      Plus... Think of all the flugels out there if your holding onto state secrets does cause Flugelman to be killed. All those lonely flugels which will find their ways to your door because your actions croaked the only one who can keep the flugels at check...

      Oh, and happy new year to y'all and y'alls!

      Delete

Just be polite... that's all I ask. (For Buck)
Can't be nice, go somewhere else...

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