I Do Love A Man in Uniform!!

Annapolis – not only Maryland’s state capital but home to the U.S. Naval Academy (USNA). Full of history, and only a 30 minute drive, that’s where we headed Wed. morning. Our first stop was the visitor’s center, where we watched a brief film, “To Lead and To Serve”, while waiting for the guided walking tour to begin. After the film we still had a few minutes so looked at some of the exhibits which include the Mercury Freedom 7 capsule flown by USNA grad, Alan B. Shephard, Jr.

It was time for the tour and our guide, Betty, must have thought we were all in training to join the academy! She was about our age but kept the pace at a good clip because we were “on a schedule”. If you didn’t stay up with her, she didn’t wait for you before she starting talking about the next stop! The tour was to last 1 hr. 15 min. so I guess with as much ground as we covered, had we gone any slower it would have taken much longer. But good grief! Anyway, I digress.

The student body consists of 4,440, and we were amazed at the strict criteria required to stay in the academy and graduate. Little things that you would not even think about. She said that if you don’t know how to swim when you arrive, you will by the time you graduate. It’s a requirement with specific benchmarks to be achieved each year. There is an Olympic size pool, and the student must swim four lengths of it by the end of the first year to pass. The criterion only gets tougher each year, but anyone who does not pass the criteria will be dismissed from the academy.

Students must be in top physical condition. They are required to be part of some athletic team, whether competitive or intramural, all four years. Learning to work as part of a team is critical in the development of these young men and women.

Every student has a full scholarship to the USNA and only a Bachelor of Science degree is offered. In return for their schooling, they are required to give five years of service after graduation. Some other famous grads are John McCain, Jimmy Carter, Jim Lovell, David Robinson, and Roger Staubach, all of whom had to give their five years of service before moving on with their professional careers. Yes, even Heisman trophy winner and NFL quarterback, Roger Staubach.

The entire student body eats breakfast and lunch together all at the same time. As you can imagine, being a military facility the entire process is extremely organized and well run. Run by an outside agency but overseen by a naval officer, just setting the tables takes the staff 3 hours! To show just how organized this process is, the entire mealtime process is completed in 30 minutes.

One of our stops on the tour was Memorial Hall within Bancroft Hall. Bancroft Hall is the 2nd largest dormitory in the world, and Memorial Hall is where scrolls and plaques commemorate alumni lost in battle and those who lost their lives while still midshipmen.

Another stop was the Chapel, a fairly simple church with beautiful Tiffany stained glass windows. There is one pew set aside that is dedicated to the memory of all POWs and MIAs, and no one is allowed to sit in that pew. In the basement of the Chapel is the crypt of John Paul Jones, America’s first great naval hero, who is best remembered for saying, “I have not yet begun to fight."


When the tour was over, we headed for Dahlgren Hall to have lunch at the Drydock Restaurant right there on campus. As we drove back home, we passed the Navy-Marine Corps. Memorial Stadium. On both sides of the stadium, the seats are painted bright blue with yellow paint on some seats that spell out the words GO NAVY. Though this stadium has never hosted the Army-Navy football game (the game is held on a neutral site), Navy has won the last 5 years and the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy is proudly displayed in Bancroft Hall.















The historic district around the USNA is very quaint with narrow streets, brick sidewalks, and a gazillion shops and restaurants. Located right on the water, there are plenty of ships and boats.

Though Thurs. was our one year anniversary of being on the road, we didn’t do any celebrating or go anywhere that day, but we did take another drive into D.C. that night. This time we left a little earlier (6:45 p.m.) and drove to the Thomas Jefferson Memorial. After hanging out there for a bit (mainly watching the comings and goings of all the high school students in town on tours), we headed towards the Washington Monument. As we arrived “The President’s Own” U.S. Marine Corps band was just finishing a summer concert (http://www.marineband.usmc.mil/). From the monument we walked back to our car, which was parked across the water from the Jefferson Memorial and took some great photos with our tripod from across the waterway. Then we drove over to the U.S. Marine Corps War Memorial, a huge bronze replica of the raising of the flag at Iwo Jima. It is truly an awe-inspiring monument. From here we drove out to the Washington National Cathedral, quite an impressive site. Unfortunately, it wasn’t open (imagine that at 11 p.m.!), but maybe one of these days I’ll get to see the interior. Anyway, here are some photos of the sites we saw that night, some taken from across the way with tripod and zoom lens. Some incredible sights!





































Russ still isn’t feeling good so we’re taking today as a day of rest. Tomorrow (Sat.) we leave for Millsboro, DE, so I can visit with my sister for a few days as she lives about 20 min. from there in Rehoboth Beach, DE.