Weekend in Maryland - Friday Afternoon

This weekend we are spending time in Maryland. Our objective is to see the Seattle Mariners beat the Baltimore Orioles. We are staying at a lovely bed and breakfast in Chesapeake City, Maryland, called Inn at the Canal.

Kenji has been getting up at 4:30am for work all week long, and last night he didn't get home from work until almost midnight. Therefore, upon our arrival at the inn, he's curled up and gone to get some shut-eye. I decided to take a stroll around Chesapeake City to check things out.

Once again, it is a glorious day, still the perfect temperature of warm. Chesapeake City is a quaint little tourist town, just across the state line from Delaware. It seems to be the perfect weekend to be here. Shops that were in hibernation during the winter months have just reopened, and there is only a tiny trickle of tourists.

First I wandered around the shops for a bit. I love how all the beautiful old buildings are packed together so closely, with their front porches right up alongside the sidewalk, giving Chesapeake City a very intimate feel. Someday I'd like a house like this one with a nice front porch to sit on and say hi to my neighbors as they walk by. So far, all the shopkeepers I've encountered today are genuinely warm and friendly - they are not pushy salespeople, and nor do they ignore you when you walk into their shops.

I also like how many of the houses here are painted in funky colors. I really liked this blue houses' pink windows with yellow trim:

And yes, the window is an image I doctored up a bit before adding to this post. I didn't like how the windows' reflections distracted from the colors of the paint, so I got rid of them.

Next I checked out the canal area of Chesapeake City. I was pleased to find a swing set in a little park that was just the right size for me. Since I was on my own, I took a picture of my swinging feet and my shadow, to prove that I indeed played on the swings today. Um, I added the motion-blur into the photo with Photoshop later on. ;)

Leaning back in the swing, looking straight up to the sky, I saw three hawks circling around. I think they must have been planning their dinner. ;)

It also pleased me to see that Chesapeake City has a little public horseshoe game area. Not that I play horseshoes, but I might if I lived here.

So now I'm making use of the back porch at our inn. I found this birdhouse the innkeepers have used to decorate the wicker coffee table. It tickles me to see that the bird must go inside the cat's belly to make use of this birdhouse. =)