Remember When . . . The Street Was Empty?

I had great fun this past weekend exploring Historic Annapolis with my friend Kimberly. I left the kids with David and her hubby Martin and we headed into the ever-lovely historic district, armed with a digital camera, a notebook, and a spirit of adventure.

Okay, so my camera battery died within fifteen minutes (I charged it, I swear I did! LOL), but the pen survived just fine, so it was cool. 😉 And a trifle cold, but we were well wrapped.

It was honestly a blast to play tourist in the town we’d lived in for years, to be one of those annoying camera- toting pedestrians who didn’t know where we were going, rather than a native on a mission to get from Point A to Point B. We started out at the Visitor’s Center, of course, and loaded up on brochures that probably won’t be all that helpful. The highlight there, though, was a 3-D model/map of the town, color-coded by what era each building was built in. Now that is a great way to see how little was there at the time!

Of course, there was track-lighting, and trying to get pictures proved a work in glare-dodging. =) Luckily, Kimberly knows how to do all those fancy photographer things, like playing with exposure and stuff. I think we got some decent shots.

After that I decided I should figure out where the house is that my heroine’s staying at. One problem . . . the street I’d put her on is kinda occupied by the governor’s mansion. Um . . . hmm. It wasn’t there at the time, I know–but what was? Well, so far as I can tell, not a whole lot. So I think it’s fairly safe to insert a couple random houses. Like, say, one on the left side that would give that oh-so-perfect view of the Liberty Tree. =)

The next highlight was plotting the heroine’s escape route from the State House down to the bay. Oh, fun. And oh, the looks we got as we stood there going, “Well she couldn’t run that way, she’d have to dodge all those little outbuildings. And if he’s following her, she’ll just take the quickest way she can . . .”