After lunch, I fiddled around the apartment and chatted on AIM for a bit. Then around 3:30pm I left for a drive to Annapolis, MD. It took about 35 minutes to get there and was a quite easy drive - beltway to Rt. 50. Annapolis was a cute little city... another very historic area; those seem to be pretty common around here. I also got to see the Naval Academy in person for the first time (which is kinda funny since I almost applied there). Annapolis was small enough that I could park my car in the garage at the Visitors center and just walk to everywhere I wanted to be... so I did. I stopped at the visitor's center first and the lady there gave me a map and circled all the important historic sites for me... so I just followed that around. And of course, took plenty o' pictures.
An interesting street corner - The Mary-land Inn
Maryland State House
I'm pretty sure this was the backside of the US Naval Academy Chapel
Armel-Leftwich Visitor Center at USNA
Looking out on the harbor from the campus of USNA
Okay I'll say it.... 'fly navy' (phew... that was tough for an air
force girl... but I do appreciate a cool plane!)
Chapel
Front of Chapel
Looking out on Macdonough Hall
After walking around the naval academy campus, I walked down towards the harbor, grabbed a milkshake, and sat along the shore while I drank it. After that, I decided to start walking back towards my car. I stopped in some of the shops along the way... but made it back to the parking garage around 7:30 pm, when I was stopped by some big pregnant lady.
She wouldn't leave me alone - said her van broke down and she needed a ride to get her paralyzed daughter from some hospital or something... normally I wouldn't let some strange woman into my car, but we were in this closed in area right outside the garage and I couldn't get out... Looking back on this now, I should've said that I wasn't leaving or I didn't have a car... or better yet I could've just said "No kapeish" in my best italian accent and hoped she didn't for some weird reason know italian. But you know how things go by so fast when you're there and you don't have a chance to think about it..
So I finally gave in and said I'd give her a ride. Well, we got in the car and she was giving me directions which ended up being that she took me to some driving circle and then woudln't tell me where to go... Here she said that she needed help getting her daughter home from the children's hospital since she was paralyzed... needed money for a cab which turned out she wanted me to give her $40 for this special taxi for handicapped people. I didn't have the money nor did I want to give it to some strange woman. But she wouldn't give me the next directions or get out of my car until I agreed to stop at the bank. I was actually getting kind of scared at this point. Some strange woman in my car, in some strange city I'd never been before, my phone working on a touch-and-go basis and not even letting me see my phone book anymore so I wouldn't be able to find anyone I know from this area. So I finally gave in... I guess I figured it would be better to lose $40 than to be mugged.
She kept promising to pay me back... said she had a check from the naval academy (her apparent place of work) that she hadn't been able to cash yet since the banks were closed. Anyway, then I had to stop for gas.
Then finally she gave me directions to where she wanted me to drop her off. I gave her my address where she could mail the money she was paying me back... apparently she's paying me back the $40, plus $20... but for some reason I don't think she's going to send it. We'll see though...
But I finally made it home around 9pm. and I'm safe so that's the most important thing.
