High Milage Sunday

A little bit of early morning tardiness payed off rather handsomely today with a total of just under seventeen miles in the books by the end of the afternoon.  I headed out around 0800, and the start was far too late to take in the full glory of the sunrise, but the view over the river was still rather pleasant.  Once again, the relatively calm winds and reflections off the boat wake waves captured my attention, and I spent a little more time than really necessary trying to capture a good photograph.

Severn River about an hour after sunrise

This is a decent view although the Google panorama resulted in a bit of discontinuity in the waves.  The right hand side of the photo captured the relatively long period swell created by a boat heading up river just a few minutes before, but the overall impression of the photo leaves a little to be desired.  I can assure you that the view in real life was worth the short walk to view it.  The weather was fantastic with temperatures in the mid-50's at this time.  The final high for the day was just below 70 Fahrenheit, so it only got better from here on out.

Severn River a hour after sunrise, Shot #2

The lighting a waves were a tad more cooperative in this photo, but the gist of it all is about the same.  This is the dawning of another great day, and I was there as a witness near the beginning.

Annapolis Harbor with the Annapolis Yacht Club in the background center of the shot

One of my principle goals was the walk over the Eastport Bridge and take a gander at the carnage caused by yesterday's barbeque of the top two floors of the Annapolis Yacht Club (AYC).  It should be noted that I've been walking in downtown Annapolis for over a year now, and Sunday morning is always a relatively tranquil experience until about 1000 at least.  There are usually only a handful of people out and about, and vehicular traffic barely registers on a normal Sunday morning.

Annapolis Yacht Club After the Fire

Today's traffic was a different sort of animal all together.  I've had it in my mind that capturing images that centered on the beauty of the outdoors might one day might encourage folks to take up the mantle of pedestrianism.  Apparently, I've been approaching things incorrectly because while a beautiful sunrise or sunset can be reliably counted on four or five times a week at least, a fire at a yacht club is a relatively rare event.  This one brought out the "tourists" early on a Sunday morning like no sunrise ever has in the past.  In this photo alone there are at least seven folks that have come out to view the damage.  I had to wind my way through a small throng of people to get to this point, and the vehicular traffic was also noticeably denser on the Eastport Bridge.  If one wants to get people outside, one might consider channelling their inner arsonist because the torched building and campfire pall that it cast into the air drew people to it like moths to a flame...so to speak.

Weems Creek Around Noon

I wrapped up this morning's jaunt with a little over twelve miles, and I topped it off in the early afternoon with another hike that came in just under five miles.  It was a great day for walking, and I feel like I accomplished what I set out to cover.