John & Anne Wiley

2013/04/19

Almost

We enjoyed more time with lovely Linda over lunch, strolled Annapolis a little, then explored the Naval Academy. Anne was excited to finally visit it, since we’ve talked about it for several years.

2687 At Last

2687 At Last

Walking past some officer houses we wondered which places Cam had been to back in the early 1920s when he was here. The chapel building is beautiful, especially with the surrounding trees donning their Spring colors.

2690 Chapel

2690 Chapel

Inside we were impressed by this window depicting the remarkable and decisive Battle of Mobile Bay on August 5, 1864.

2701 Stained Glass

2701 Stained Glass

Dahlgren Hall has some interesting exhibits, including this early Wright Flyer the brothers built for the Navy.

2695 Wright Flyer

2695 Wright Flyer

The massive Bancroft Hall dormitory houses all four thousand-some students, so surely Cam was often in this large central room for events.

2730 Bancroft Hall

2730 Bancroft Hall

Then a cab out to the airport and up on our way toward White Plains, NY. I’d been watching the weather, and aside from some low clouds around Philadelphia the forecasts and reports looked good. So I wasn’t troubled by this line of a few clouds ahead in an otherwise clear sky.

2743 Clear Skies - Almost

2743 Clear Skies – Almost

We enjoyed more river and bay scenes with pleasing mixtures of colors, shapes and textures like this.

2746 Land/Water Dance

2746 Land/Water Dance

Then over mostly farmland, with an endless variety of crops and buildings to entertain us (even though I was noticing more clouds ahead).

2756 Color Farm

2756 Color Farm

After trying several different altitudes in collaboration with several very helpful people at ATC, I gave up on the predicted easy path and headed out to the coast based on some better reports there I was picking up on the radio. To my surprise we happened to reach clear air very near this coaster pier made famous by Hurricane Sandy.

2764 Water Ride

2764 Water Ride

We saw plenty of construction along this shore, but sadly also much demolition and many empty lots that clearly had buildings before the storm. Even this house that had apparently been relocated from the shore into the bay behind the barrier island.

2777 Bay View Home

2777 Bay View Home

But as you’ve guessed we had our own storm to deal with, and as we approached the city I decided to give up on White Plains and land instead at Linden, NJ. It’s an airport that had been recommended to me years ago before our first Big Adventure, so I’m glad to have finally visited. Tomorrow we might get lucky and make the quick hop to White Plains, but more likely Tripp will be living here while we take trains for a few days waiting out storms.

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