Taking the Universe Up on the Opportunities Presented

As the day winds down, and I try to put together my thoughts on how things went, I wrap up the evening with a feeling of accomplishment and contentment.  Earlier this morning, I was presented the opportunity of taking one of the household cars into the dealership for a scheduled service as well as playing my role putting the finishing touches on Takada air bag recall, the largest automobile recall in history. Truth be told, I've come to enjoy taking the cars in for their maintenance because the time that I used to spend essentially twiddling my thumbs in the waiting area turns into an ideal time to put in a pretty long walk.

Today, I was not disappointed in that quest for a walk.  I managed to put in a solid nine and nine tenths miles while the service was completed.  Having that outlet helped me avoid the angst of having to wait about an hour longer than the service tech indicated at the beginning of the visit he thought it would take to get my car out of the shop.  I visited some familiar places, and actually had enough time to walk home and back to the dealership as well as visit some of my favorite haunts.  It was a pretty slow walk, and I was able to capture a record number of photos that got turned into panoramic shots.  Here they are in chronological order.

Buddha Panoramic Painting on West Street, Annapolis

I've passed this building a number of times, and for whatever reason the idea of capturing this painting on the facade of the tsunami restaurant.  The mural has been up since June of this year, and is apparently the subject of a court dispute between the restaurant's owner and the Annapolis City planning commission.   My impression of the painting is that it's in keeping with the character of this particular section of West Street and that it would be a shame to see a ruling that would require the painting to be covered up down the road. This photograph is one of my favorites of the walk.

Main Street Annapolis from Church Circle

I had to stand in the middle of the road to capture this shot looking down Main Street toward Annapolis Harbor.  It would have been nice to have this shot without any cars and a little bit better exposure, but the early morning walk down this quaint little street in the cool of the morning was both familiar and left me with a sense of calm.

Main Street Annapolis about halfway to the Harbor

The lighting in this photo is a little better, but I did capture too many cars.  It makes the scene look quite a bit more frantic than it actually feld.  On the right and left side of the photo, you can see that the City of Annapolis has once again instituted free parking (for three hours anyway) during the holiday season by bagging the parking meters.  Every year, I think this is a really nice touch, and every year I wonder if it will all come to an end.  Happily, the thirst for revenue has been held at bay for another year.

Severn River from Annapolis Harbor

After marching down Main Street, I stopped off at the City Dock to shoot a picture of the mouth of the Severn River leading out to the Chesapeake Bay from Annapolis Harbor.  Apart from the moderate upgrades in the surrounding technology, this area has largely remained unchanged for a couple of hundred years. Having left Texas to come to college up here on the coast, I often wonder how anyone likes to live in the interior of the country, separated from the water by hundreds if not thousands of miles.  Clearly lots of people like it well enough to keep doing it, but I have a hard time imagining moving too far away from the coast.  Views like this are a major consideration in that decision.

Pussers Caribbean Grille, Annapolis Waterfront Hotel, and St. Mary's Church across Ego Alley from City Dock, Annapolis

Ego Alley, Pussers Caribbean Grille, Annapolis Waterfront Hotel (formerly the Annapolis Marriott, renamed AWH but still a Marriott property), and St. Mary's Church are all Annapolis landmarks and each worth visiting in their own right.  This picture captures them all in one fun loving and compact view.

Spa Creek looking downstream toward the Severn River

One day a long time ago, a friend and I took a two and a half meter dingy out the mouth of Spa Creek on a mission to hang a banner from the Greenbury Point Shoal Light.  The banner may or may not have been successfully installed. I leave it to the imagination of the reader to fill in the blanks about the practicality, legality, and advisability of such an undertaking.

Spa Creek and Drawbridge looking toward Annapolis Yacht Club

I keep thinking each weekend that we've reached the end of the boating season, and based on the number of empty slips from boats that have been hauled out for the winter, I don't appear to be the only one with that opinion.  Against many odds, the weather is still amazingly good, and the river would have been a good place to be today.  As it was, walking around Annapolis was really quite nice as well.

St. Mary's Church from the Spa Creek Drawbridge

Wrapping up a record setting day of eight panoramic shots is this picture of St. Mary's Church from the Spa Creek (or Eastport) Drawbridge.  It was a great morning walk and a fantastic way to spend my automobile servicing waiting time.