'Naptown: Annapolis, MD

I took a nice long weekend up to Maryland, Virginia and DC a couple of weeks ago, and my god I didn't think you could fit so much into a weekend!

First stop on the trip was Annapolis, MD, where my bf considers "home." I'd been hearing since the day we started dating how much better the crab cakes are in Maryland so there was a lot of anticipation and suspense leading up to the trip.

My boyfriend was the master tour guide this weekend and made the most of our 18 hours in the town. We stayed at the Marriott Annapolis Waterfront, probably one of the best places to stay if you really want to see everything Annapolis has to offer (one of the nearby bed and breakfasts would also be an excellent choice). From there, you can pretty much walk anywhere and one of the prime watering holes, Pusser's, is located within the hotel.

This is how we spent our time in Annapolis:

McGarvey's Saloon & Oyster Bar, 8 Market Space: bf worked as a bus boy and bar back here. Supposedly great any time of day for food and late night for drinking. I had my first vegetable crab soup here which was good. We also had the steamed shrimp which is a long time fav of the boy, but shrimp really isn't my thing.

Pusser's Happy Hour: live music, on the water, great crowd and $6 for two beers!


Annapolis Yacht Club: Located at the mouth of Spa Creek, we got into this members-only spot because the bf's parent's friends who invited us over for some pre-dinner drinks. We weren't allowed to leave without first trying the crab chowder, which was incredible. I might say it was almost better than the clam chowder we had in Newport.

Lewnes Steakhouse. 401 Fourth Street: My boyfriend's favorite spot for steak and crab cakes. I must say they were some damn good crab cakes! They also have Shafer on their wine menu, another favorite of my boyfriend's. The waiter polished off our meal with a giant ice cream sunday, which after about 4 drinks was completely impossible to avoid devouring.

Armadillo's. 132 Dock Street: We went directly upstairs for the live music. Not a bad spot but it was early and yet much of a crowd.

Federal House Bar. 22 Market Space: Nice spot, just stopped in for a drink. Pretty tipsy at this point so don't ask me details!

Acme Bar & Grill. 163 Main Street: Rumor on the street was that this was where all the underage kids went up until recently, when a guy left here drunk and crashed his motorcycle with a girl on the back, killing them both. So now, they REALLY check your ID when you come around. It was still a little early in the night so there weren't too many people here, crowd in my opinion was a little sketchy but I can't really judge based on one visit.

Rams Head Tavern, 33 West Street: A actually really liked this place. They had live music upstairs, a patio out back, a "tea room," and a cozy pub in the basement. They brew their own beer and offer a "World Beer Club" where participants drink all 100 beers listed on their passport and are rewarded with an engraved plaque that hangs on the walls of the basement pub.

Chick and Ruth's Delly, 165 Main St.: a classic but unique diner. In my opinion, a must try spot. I absolutely fell in love with the quirkiness of this place. We both had the crab omelets, which were to die for. I had thought about taking the healthy option and subbing out the Famous Delly Potatoes, but when a food item is preceded by "famous" it's hard to resist, and they were well worth it. This place has a huge menu and is reasonably priced. [I subsequently met someone in FL who was from Annapolis and they said the bloody mary here has crab in it and is to die for - so mad I didn't have one!]

Annapolis Book Store, 35 Maryland Ave: I stopped in here because I wanted to get the Annapolis Junior League cookbook (Of Tide & Thyme) recommended to me by the ladies we met at the Yacht Club. The place was a huge disorganized mess with piles of books all over the floor but they did have some interesting items throughout the shop and a coffee bar/cafe. The woman had one copy, which had a damaged binding and she gave it to me for half price. Can't wait to try some of the recipes!

US Naval Academy: we took a stroll through the campus and checked out the gift shop where my boyfriend worked as a teenager. An absolutely beautiful college campus.

Pictures to come soon...