Though we met and dated briefly while living in Houston Texas, Michelle and I agree that our life together began in Annapolis Maryland way back in 1986. I was managing the Annapolis office of Backyard Boats and when Michelle moved up from Texas, she took a job working for a bank in downtown Annapolis. We were young, dead broke, and in love. It couldn’t have been any better!

Fast forward many years, through multiple moves, raising 2 children, a nursing degree, a successful business venture, a lot of laughter, and a few tears – here we are, back in Annapolis again, but this time aboard Roam! What a ride it has been for us both!!

Clark & Michelle in 1987		And here we are in 2017

Oubstinibly we came for the Annapolis Boat Show, but we really came because Annapolis has a special place in our hearts and it feels good to come back to a place that feels so much like home. We love everything about this place, during this time of year. We love the crisp fall weather. We love the colorful trees. We love to have steamed crabs, boiled shrimp and fresh Maryland corn with good friends, eating, laughing, and enjoying a warm fall evening. We love sitting on a downtown bench in the morning with a hot cup of tea and watching the wide variety of people going about their day. We love the Naval Academy Cadets all dressed up in their winter blues. We love walking around state circle late on a cool evening, so still and quiet and majestic.

Annapolis is one of those cities that changes, but is still very much the same. The other day, we were wandering around the city and managed to find ourselves at the Ram’s Head Tavern at lunch time. When we lived here, Ram’s Head was a 6 table basement bar that served cold beer and warm sandwiches. Today they’re a major musical venue in the area and they own the entire building! To the owners’ credit though, they’ve kept the old, original bar just like it was in the old days and the sandwiches and beer are as spectacular as they were in 1987.

We did manage to get to the boat show last week and we’re going to go again this Friday to see if we can find a few items to upgrade ROAM. We’ve also had several wonderful dinners and visits with old friends here. We even had dinner last night with a group of Manta Catamaran owners. It has been great to catch up with old friends and meet a few new ones as well.

Weather permitting, we’ll leave here on Saturday and head over to the Eastern Shore for a few days before continuing our migration south.

I’ll end here with a few pictures that we’ve taken during our time in Annapolis. Like Turtles returning to the same beach year after year, we’ll be back.