Saturday

Today is a gorgeous day, and since Kathleen had to run out to Annapolis to pick up her packet for the 10 miler tomorrow, I went out for a ride around the city. I went around the Inner Harbor which was pretty packed, then out Key Highway to Port Covington. This area is home to the Wal-Mart, a failed Sams Club, some sailboat businesses, and the Baltimore Sun printing plant. While out there I spotted my favorite feature of the Baltimore Harbor, the Cape Washington, and the Cape Somethingelse tied up on the other side of it.

We have lived here since 2004 and neither of those ships has ever moved from that spot. When you go by at night, the lights are on, but nothing is every happening. I have to admit that I am pretty curious about it at this point, but no answers so far. After a moment of pondering, I wandered around the Wal-Mart complex, just to see where the roads go, but they all were dead ends. So I went back through Federal Hill and up to Pratt Street, then up Calvert Street to North Avenue to Greenmount to complete the loop. At Fayette & President Street is the Shot Tower.

This is how you make shot for a musket. You have hot molten lead at the top, and when you drip it down the tower, as it falls it forms a perfect sphere then lands in a vat of water at the bottom to cool it. Pretty neato I think, and if you look at the page I linked above, it was the tallest building in the US until the Washington Monument was completed after the civil war. I rambled on through Little Italy, and then back up Fleet to the homestead.