Sorry, folks, park's closed!

We were in Annapolis this past weekend.  Busy weekend for us since we were doing lots of research and had friends from KC to hang out with.

S/V Veranda did a good job of summing up the weekend. Rain, rain, and more rain and an interesting high high tide which made for some good puddle jumping since it was coming up through some of the drains.

From what I could see, I would invest in Helly Hansen stock.

Umbrellas are now added to the list I started awhile back here.  What most pissed me off about that was the people using umbrellas were also in FULL foulie gear including the pants and boots. WTF?  At that point people, an umbrella is like wearing a belt with suspenders, just a tad bit overkill.

Oh wait, you didn't want to mess up your hairdo. Okay, I get it.  No, not really.  So says the chick who looked like a drowned collie in foul weather gear.

I amused myself to say, hey, I need to find my husband, he's wearing grey foulie jacket with a bright yellow hood.  Any of those around here? (Except his said America's Cup, boo-ya!)

Our last day, we decided to go over to USNA to walk about.  We saw people there, so we knew we could get in the front door so to speak.  They were advertising an exhibit about the 1812 War.  Tim was stoked. He's a bit of a Naval Military History fanatic.

I warned him.  I really, really did.

We saw this:

Which almost resulted in this:

The first Vacation movie. My hubby's all time favorite.

We were able to find the one hall that had part of the exhibit and was still open.  However, walking into Mahan Hall's GIANT doors when the place was practically deserted...

CREEEEEAAAAAAK! (echo echo echo echo)

My spouse:  Well, that wasn't creepy at all, was it?

No, I didn't take pictures.  Should have.

We did meet a family from Germany that I felt really sorry for. Vacation specifically to see boat show and Washington DC.  Whoops!

As she said--we got to take pictures of the monuments from really far away.  And they laughed.  And they were COOL.

I think they should get a refund.....

Crack Lighter-Smithsonian Edition

Okay, so, not necessarily crack lighter, but "utility" lighter. What-freaking-ever.  We always called them crack lighters.

The point is, we've had one in our house for a decade now. Works like a charm.  Outlasted about five others and at least two starters on the 'automatically' lighting grill (oh, and gas stovetop inside, grrrrrr)

Why is this lighter so special?  Because it doesn't have one of those safety trigger thing-a-ma-bobs on it.
Point. Press. Light.   Not. Point...oh crap, I'm holding it wrong so I can't get the safety button pressed now I'm good, press, maybe light half the time.

It's a family member now.  I will literally find away to have it rebuilt if it finally goes dead.  Has ANYBODY found a 'utility' lighter without the safety catch on it? Please send to me.

If you are wondering, the switch to the side is HOW BIG YOU WANT THE FLAME.
No safety shit here, nosiree.