Annapolis Sailboat Show

Oct 5 thru Oct 7

—Blogpost written by Bob

Friday, October 5

It is nice and cool (in the high 60’s) this morning for our visit to the Annapolis Sailboat Show. The sky is overcast and gray but no rain is in the forecast. I’m sitting in the cockpit drinking a cup of coffee and keeping an eye on our cats as they meander around on the deck. They seem to enjoy their “outdoor time.” Captain Jack, our orange cat, likes to go off the reservation occasionally but he comes back onto the boat when I clap my hands.

Two slips away from ours, a couple is renovating a 45-foot house boat. We’ve been thinking about buying and renovating a similar house boat when we retire from cruising (maybe 8 to 10 years from now).

A nearby 45-foot house boat
being renovated.

We own our boat slip—so, it would be a simple transition except for the emotional investment I have in Rainy Days.

We got to the boat show by about 10:30 AM and proceeded to meander through all the exhibits like we always do.  The following images tell our story of the day:

All the flags advertise new boats. 

We had lunch at the Fleet Reserve Club--they
have fantastic roast beef sandwiches!

Dinghies below the north side
of the Eastport Bridge.

We left the boat show at about 2 PM and headed back to Baltimore.

Saturday, October 6

Again this morning, the sky is overcast and it is cool outside. Occasional drizzle is in the forecast. For a change, we have nothing planned for the day. (Tomorrow, we will be going to the Mid-Atlantic Tiny House Expo in the Hartford County Fairgrounds in Friendship, Maryland.)  It is Fleet Week in Baltimore and an air show featuring the USAF Thunderbirds will take place right over our boat today.

Lola on the starboard deck, enjoying her
"outside time" in the morning.

We had a light breakfast in the boater’s lounge, a Saturday morning ritual. We decided to accept the low (but recently increased) offer of our old car’s replacement value—it was not sufficient to buy a replacement car. This whole thing has dragged out way too long! 

People gather at the junction of C Dock and
P Dock to watch the air show.

One of the jets in the air show--this
one was not a USAF Thunderbird!

Because of the overcast sky, the air show was underwhelming.  

Sunday, October 7

Today we visited the Mid-Atlantic Tiny Home Expo at the Howard County Fairgrounds in Friendship, Maryland.

Most of the tiny homes were set up in the middle
of the main exhibit hall with vendors
on both sides of the hall.

This is the back of a typical tiny home,
built on a trailer body.

This is an expandable tiny home, to create
more width than allowed to be
transported on the highway.

There were two bus homes.

Altogether there were about a dozen tiny homes, most exhibited indoors.  There were a few campers on display outdoors, even a 30-year old Airstream trailer for sale ($20,000).  None of the tiny homes were outfitted as good as our sailboat (which is also a tiny home).  The sizes of the tiny homes ranged from about 200 to 500 square feet and ranged in price from about $5,000 to $45,000.  

We have 11 days until we leave to go south for the winter.  Stay tuned for our last minute preparations...


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