July 15-22 - Cambridge, MD

We had a beautiful ride up the Choptank River, as featured in Mitchner's 'Chesapeake'. Our destintion was Cambridge, MD, where we stayed at the City Marina.

There are many positive aspects to Cambridge. The natural setting with trees, marshes and water is gorgeous. There are blocks of beautiful historic homes and ambitious projects to bring tourists. The Hyatt hotel and resort at the edge of town appears to be very busy and popular.

However, there are some definite negatives....the downtown has many empty buildings and there is a rundown feeling to much of the town. The City Marina was rebuilt a year ago, however it doesn't seem that anyone familiar with boating was involved in the project. Among other things, they put in fixed docks, when most recreational boaters far prefer floating docks. There is a very attractive visitor center, but it is not easy to find and there is no way for a boater to tie up with a dingy.

Those things said, we had some very enjoyable and busy days in Cambridge. It was ideal for dingy rides up the Choptank and scooter rides were once again a wonderful option. We visited a wildlife refuge. Twice we took a taxi to the Hyatt for golf. The course is just beautiful, extremely well maintained, immaculately manicured, with many nature areas left intact. We were very excited to see a bobwhite.

We celebrated our fifth anniversary in Cambridge. Obviously this called for a regal dingy ride to the world famous Suicide Bridge Restaurant....conveniently located next to the Suicide Bridge in Secretary, MD.
The Suicide Bridge.
You'd think a suicide bridge would be a huge, tall, massive structure over a roaring river. Team Finnegan enjoying our festive Chesapeake wedding anniversary
On the Chesapeake, they eat blue crabs. This is a cult and social bonding event, as far as I can tell. We once had lessons from a server as to the intricies of eating blue crab. For all of the work you go to for the teeniest, bittiest bit of meat, I'll take mine in crab cakes. However, a crab feed is wildly popular. I asked a couple of diners if I could photograph their feast. Note the brown paper on the table. Not shown in the photo are other essential utensils...the wooden hammers, the crab claw breakers, the little picks and of course, the mantatory crab bibs.