The Castaway Hotel - 1 - 26. Chapter 26 - The Delmarva Peninsula and Baltimore

We ate an early breakfast and left Virginia Beach, marking the beginning of our third and final week of vacation. We began this leg of our journey by crossing over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, which covers the twenty miles distance between the Virginia Beach area and the lower part of the Delmarva Peninsula. Delmarva is an abbreviation for the three states that share the peninsula, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia. Along this engineering marvel are four man-made islands, which begin and end the tunnel portions of the roadway, and those two underwater sections, each a mile or so long, take you under the shipping lanes of the bay.

The boys had their noses pressed against the windows as I drove onto the bridge, because they wanted to take in the magnificent view. “Wow, look at all that water,” Ricky announced, impressed by what he saw.

“Yeah, and this bridge is really long and way high up,” Jay added, so as not to be outdone.

That caused Brandon to duck away quickly, which he did a few more times as we crossed, but I think I was the only one who noticed this. The others were too busy looking around and commenting about the things they saw. As we approached the first man-made island, Sea Gull Island, I decided to stop at the rest area, telling the boys it was so they could stretch, use the toilets, get a drink and check out the view for a few minutes. However, my main reason for doing this was to make sure Brandon was okay.

As the others made their way to the restroom, I pulled Brandon aside. “Are you all right?” I asked, concerned.

“What do you mean?” he responded, although I could tell he was bothered by my question and hiding something.

“I noticed your reaction in the car as we crossed the bridge,” I informed him, which caused him to blush and look around, to see where the others were.

“I’m fine,” he answered, although not convincingly.

“Do you have a problem I should know about?” I pushed. He blushed again.

“The doctor says I sometimes get acrophobia, but don’t tell the others,” he quickly added, while looking around again. “That’s a fear of heights.”

“I know what it is,” I informed him. “How bad is it?”

“It’s not that bad, but it does affect me sometimes,” he admitted. “It’s just that this was one of those times. It was only because I saw how far we had to travel and much of that over the water, and then I kind of began to worry that something might happen, which would cause us to fall. I know now how silly I was being and I don’t think I’ll have any more problems.”

As we continued discussing this, he also admitted he’d had a little problem when we were in the Washington Monument, although none of us had noticed it at the time. This was most likely due to the fact that we were all too absorbed in seeing everything we could at that point. I asked him if this was something I should be concerned about in the future, but he assured me it wasn’t. After promising me that he would let me know the next time it bothered him, I agreed to keep his secret and not mention it further. This seemed to satisfy both of us, so we didn’t discuss it in greater detail.

We both set off again for the restroom, when the others came rushing out, questioning where we had been. I told them that they had all rushed off so quickly that I could only point out what I saw to Brandon. When they wanted to know what it was, I told them we had seen something swimming in the bay, but we were too far away to tell what it was. Immediately, the others rushed off to see if they could spot whatever it was, as Brandon and I continued on. Once we were alone again, Brandon thanked me for providing that cover story and keeping his secret.

After taking care of my physical needs, I did decide to check out some of the scenery. Looking at the bridge from this vantage point was actually quite impressive. First, there’s the awesome sight of the bridge structure, as it extends out over the water in both directions, like a pair of ribbons floating above the vast blue expanse. The bridge is a truly breathtaking sight and an engineering marvel. Seeing how it snakes its way through the air, and then suddenly dives beneath the bay when it gets to the island, almost makes it appear as if it’s incomplete or has possibly collapsed. Then it reemerges on the next island, only to repeat this illusion at the final two islands.

After getting everyone back in the van, we continued our journey, crossing the remainder of this extensive section of highway and finally reaching the mainland again. As soon as we arrived on the peninsula, we headed north, stopping occasionally to stretch and look at some of the local attractions.

When we stopped for lunch, I announced we’d be going to a baseball game that evening. At first the boys were very excited, but then they became a little disappointed, after I explained the game would be between two minor league teams and not their major league counterparts. With that in mind, we drove to Salisbury, Maryland, home of the Delmarva Shorebirds. It was a nice, modern stadium and I had been told everything would begin in the early evening, which I thought was kind of unusual. However, I soon discovered why this game was scheduled earlier than normal. Unbeknownst to us, this was one of their promotional nights, where the young people in the stands were going to be given a chance to go out on the field and show off their skills.

This competition was open to anyone, ages eight to fifteen, and divided into age brackets. Each child would be competing in three main categories, which included throwing, hitting and base running. Once the boys learned about this, they informed me that they wanted to participate too, so I allowed them to go down to the field and sign up. It just happened to work out that Ricky and Jay would compete in one division (12-13), while Danny and Brandon would be pitted against each other in another (14-15).

The throwing competition was divided into two categories – distance and accuracy. The distance portion was done with the boys standing at home plate and throwing toward the outfield. They were given three attempts, with each throw being marked. Their best effort was then measured and the distance was recorded for points. For the accuracy portion, the boys went to the outfield and made throws to home plate. The younger pair took their throws from just behind the infield, about five yards onto the outfield grass, while the older boys started about twenty yards farther back. The goal was to aim at a barrel, which had been placed on its side at home plate, with cones placed on either side of it. The participants earned points according to how accurate their throws were. They were given three throws and scored ten points if their throw went into the barrel, six points if it passed between the barrel and the cones three feet on either side of it, and three points if it went between the two sets of cones, with the outer cones placed six feet from the barrel.

To compete in the hitting contest, each boy was thrown six pitches and then rated on what they did with them. They were given one point for making contact, which included foul balls, three points for an infield hit, six points for a fly ball landing on the outfield grass, and ten points for any fly ball landing over a chalk line that ran across the center of the outfield.

The final competition was the base running, and the boys were timed as they ran from home plate and back around to home plate again. They were then given points for their speed, as judged by a stopwatch. They could make up to two runs, if they wanted, but only their best time counted.

After the competition was completed, the boys’ totals were read and all the contestants were given Shorebirds baseball caps, one of the baseballs that had been used during the competition, a small, souvenir bat (imprinted with the Shorebirds’ logo on it) and a complimentary program for the game. It had been quite an undertaking for the sponsoring team, but the effort was greatly appreciated by the participants, the participant’s parents and everyone else in attendance.

All the boys had done quite well and had a great time, but I was in awe of what they had done. Compared to their competition, they were well above average. All the participants were also congratulated by the members of both teams and given a chance to stay on the field while the teams warmed up. This allowed them to chat with and get autographs from the players on their programs. When they came back to join me, they were a bit winded and ready to sit down and enjoy the game.

Before they got settled in, however, I took them all to the concession stand to grab something to eat. Due to the fact that we had to get to the stadium early, we hadn’t eaten dinner yet, so I let the boys get whatever they wanted here. There was actually a pretty good selection and it was fairly priced, especially when you consider what I’ve seen at other similar places, and it turned out to be quite tasty. We took everything back to our seats; so we’d be able to sit down to enjoy what we purchased. Surprisingly, we actually were able to finish our meal before the game got started, so we were able to enjoy the action from start to finish.

It ended up being a pretty good game and both teams played extremely hard. To use the word hustle to explain the effort everyone put out would have been an understatement. I wondered if the players might have had a little extra motivation, after watching the young people compete earlier. I have a feeling they didn’t want to appear as not putting forth the same amount of effort or being outdone by their younger counterparts. I know we all enjoyed the game and realized the boys would have many lasting memories from this outing, which would make it mean even more to them later.

After the game, we drove the rest of the way up the peninsula and found a motel across the bay from Annapolis. We checked in, cleaned up quickly and then went right to bed, because we were all quite tired from the day’s activities, including the long ride. The boys were more weary than I was, because of all the energy they’d expended during their activities at the ball field, and I’d even noticed them dozing off in the van, before we stopped at the motel. I spent the night cuddled up between the two younger monsters, as they made sure to remind me it was my turn to sleep with them.

The next morning, we crossed the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, not to be confused with the Bridge-Tunnel we had crossed the previous morning, as we made our way into Annapolis. This bridge is four-plus miles long and entirely above the surface, but it also has some breathtaking views, as we drove toward the US Naval Academy. I watched Brandon in the rearview mirror, as we made our way over the bridge, to see if he was having any difficulties. I was concerned because we would stay on this bridge for quite some time and it seemed even higher than the one he’d had trouble on earlier. To my relief, and his, he managed to keep his attention focused inside the van and avoided looking out the windows and suffering through another acrophobic episode.

Once we arrived on the other side and parked, we began our sightseeing of Annapolis with a walking tour of the Armel-Leftwich Visitor Center. We followed this with a visit to the Preble Hall Museum, which contains numerous artifacts and displays relating to sea power and naval history, and then finished up this somewhat brief stop with a visit to the Chapel, under which lies the crypt of John Paul Jones, a US Naval Hero of the Revolutionary War.

“Isn’t he the guy who said, ‘Don’t fire until you see the whites of their eyes?’” Brandon asked.

“Close, but no cigar,” I teased, although none of the boys got my joke. “Right war, but wrong branch of the military. That comment was supposedly made at Bunker Hill, but Jones’ famous quote was, ‘I have not yet begun to fight.’”

“That’s right,” Brandon agreed. “I guess I got confused.”

“So that’s why he’s buried here?” Jay wondered.

“In a round about way, yes,” I answered. “Although he was never fully recognized for his achievements in his lifetime, he was given this honor after his death, by burying one of our greatest naval figures under the chapel of the U.S. Naval Academy.”

“So they had a big funeral for him?” Ricky asked.

“Not when he died,” I informed him. “He died in 1792 and was buried in France, but he was moved here and honored in 1913, in a ceremony presided over by President Theodore Roosevelt.”

“I guess it did take them a long time to honor him,” Danny added, with a touch of sarcasm.

After we completed everything we wanted to do there, we stopped for lunch, before we continued our journey. During our meal, the boys started pestering me to find out what we were going to do next, so I informed them we’d be spending a little time in the Baltimore area, but that was all I would say. I wasn’t about to divulge exactly what I had planned, even though they whined, teased, pleaded and even tried to make deals to find out what we were going to do there. Although they expected me to stand my ground, I think they were still a little disappointed when I didn’t give in. They were well aware that I wanted to keep certain parts of the trip a surprise, even though I suspected they might be able to guess at least part of what we might be doing there. After getting back on the road, I drove until I reached our next stop, a hotel just south of Baltimore. It’ll be here that we’ll spend the next three nights and two days.

We checked in, unloaded our things and then cleaned up for dinner. After we ate, we went back to the room and I made sure we watched the Baltimore Orioles baseball game on television. The boys had no problem with that, seeing the Orioles were playing the NY Yankees, one of their favorite teams, and they cheered loudly with the action. All four of them took their showers during the early innings, so they wouldn’t miss any of the action during the crucial finish, and they were all done in plenty of time to watch the end of the game. In fact, the game went into extra innings, so we ended up staying up later than I had planned, as none of us wanted to go to bed before it was over. After the Orioles pulled it out in the bottom of the eleventh, we turned in, with the boys slightly disappointed.

Tuesday morning, after grabbing a quick breakfast, we made our way to Fort McHenry National Monument, for a quick tour. Fort McHenry is a star shaped fort, which came into existence in 1776, to defend Baltimore from an anticipated attack by the British. The fort is strategically located along Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, with water protecting it on three sides, yet it was far enough away from the city so it wouldn’t endanger it, should the fort come under attack. It was eventually named after James McHenry, who served as Secretary of War under George Washington, and the fort was the key to the victory over the British during the Battle of Baltimore, in the War of 1812. It was the brilliant defense of the fort during this battle that inspired Francis Scott Key to write the Star Spangled Banner, the words to the US National Anthem, which he penned over September 13-14, 1814.

“So he wrote the words as a poem?” Danny asked, as he learned about this historic event.

“Yes, but it was later set to the tune of a popular English drinking song,” I added.

“So, he didn’t write the music and what we are singing is the music of an old drinking song?” Brandon asked, surprised.

“Same tune, just different words,” I explained.

“And it was written about that funny looking flag we saw when we stopped in Washington,” Jay added, “the really big one with the fifteen stripes and fifteen stars.”

“Yes, that would be the same one,” I agreed, impressed that he had put it all together.

The boys soon learned that the fort never came under attack again, although it did become a pivotal location during the Civil War. That was due to the fact that the Union wanted to keep the fort out of the hands of those who wanted Maryland to secede from the Union and join the Confederacy. It remained under Union control throughout the entire conflict and Fort McHenry remained an active military post or served as a military hospital until 1925, when it was declared a national park. In 1933, it was redesignated as a National Monument and is currently the nation’s only Historical Shrine.

After stopping for a quick lunch, I took the boys to see the Babe Ruth Birthplace and Museum. Babe Ruth was a huge baseball star of the 1920’s. He was born and grew up in the Baltimore area, mainly in an orphanage, but played most of his career for the NY Yankees. He was someone I knew the boys would be interested in learning more about, so I made sure to include this in our itinerary.

“So he was the first real home run king?” Jay asked, in an attempt to clarify this information.

“Absolutely,” I agreed. “His single-season home run mark of 60 stood from 1927 until 1961, and his career record of 714, which was set in 1935, wasn’t broken until Henry Aaron surpassed him in 1974.”

“Look at his bat!” Danny exclaimed, while gawking at one of the bats Babe used during his career. “It so big and so dark. It would be like swinging a log.”

“Yes, it is quite a bit larger, and heavier, than the bats we’re used to,” I agreed, before we moved on.

The museum contained not only items pertaining to Babe Ruth, but also things related to the Baltimore Orioles Baseball team. Being huge baseball fans, we all truly enjoyed this visit, but there had been an additional reason for them finding it so interesting. I had actually set up our visit to the Museum by getting the boys to watch as many of the Oriole baseball games as I could find on television leading up to this, so they would be able to identify with the team and appreciate what they saw even more.

We had dinner near the stadium, at a rather nice restaurant, and then I decided it was time to announce my next surprise. I reached in my back pocket, pulled out my wallet and reached inside. The boys thought I was merely getting ready to pay the bill, so they were quite surprised when I held up five tickets for the Oriole baseball game that evening, at Camden Yards. I had purchased these tickets in advance and had them sent to the house before we left on the trip. They were ground-level seats, just to the left of the third base or visitor’s dugout. The Orioles were still playing the New York Yankees, which is the favorite team for three of the four boys, with Jay being the only exception. He likes the Pittsburgh Pirates, a team in the National League.

“We’re actually going to see the Yankees play?” Ricky gasped.

“And we’re sitting near their dugout?” Danny marveled.

“Do you think we’ll be able to get any autographs?” Brandon wanted to know.

“It’s possible,” I agreed.

“And we might be able to catch a foul ball?” Jay asked.

“That too, but that’s why I made sure to get ground seats,” I quipped. “I didn’t want you falling off the upper levels while diving for a pop foul,” I added, which drew an immediate reaction from all four boys.

“That was mean, Pop,” Brandon chided, with the others agreeing.

“Yeah, I thought you weren’t going to pick on me about that any more,” Jay added, feigning a pout.

“I’m sorry, Jay,” I admitted, “but old habits die hard.”

“Yeah, and all of his habits are really old,” Ricky countered, which drew a round of laughter and gave me a shot, which made Jay feel as if he’d gotten even too.

It was an exciting game, with the Orioles losing by one run. The Yankees had managed to score twice in the top of the inning and the Orioles weren’t able to do the same, much to the boys’ delight. It was late by the time we got back to our room, so I told the boys they could take their showers in the morning, instead of tonight, and we ended up going straight to bed.

The next morning, after getting everyone cleaned up, we stopped and had a rather large breakfast, before going to the National Aquarium, where we spent most of the day. The Aquarium had numerous exhibits, some which were similar to things we had seen before, but most of these displays varied slightly from the others we had viewed. Throughout the course of the day, we saw sharks, seals, a giant Pacific octopus, moray eels, venomous snakes, and a life-size model of a Humpback Whale. We also ‘toured’ a South American rain forest, ‘visited’ a sea cliff habitat, ‘moved about’ an Atlantic Ocean coral reef, spent time in the children’s cove, which contained all kinds of crabs and lobsters, and watched a dolphin show, among other things.

Following the dolphin show, we decided to walk over to the tank where the performance had taken place, so we could get a better look at the dolphins. As we were approaching it, something else happened. A little boy, who was about two or three years old, was walking with his parents in front of us. Suddenly, and without warning, he jerked away from his mother and squatted down directly in my path. Instinctively, I tried to avoid crashing into him, knowing I’d hurt the kid if that happened, and in the process, I slipped on the wet pavement and ended up losing my balance. Instead of landing on the little boy, I careened off to my left and ended up knocking over Brandon and Danny and landing on them instead. I didn’t actually hurt either of the boys, but the four of them weren’t about to let this slide so easily.

“Are you boys okay?” I asked, concerned, as I helped Brandon and Danny back to their feet.

“Yeah, but that was a real swift move, Pop,” Brandon teased, as he stood up.

“And you call Jay clumsy!” Danny added, driving home the point.

“You should apologize to Jay right now,” Ricky insisted, trying to make me feel as if I were being scolded. “That was worse than anything he ever did.”

“Hey, I was just trying not to hurt that little kid,” I responded, trying to defend myself. “I didn’t have much time to react and then I slipped on the water.”

“Yeah, sure,” Danny replied, not buying my excuse. “Admit it. You are just as big a klutz as Jay is.”

“Hey, watch it!” Jay protested. “I only mess myself up most of the time. I don’t usually knock others over or fall on them.” He added, trying hard to keep from laughing as he said this.

“It wasn’t clumsiness,” I countered, “well, not exactly. If I hadn’t tried to keep from bumping into that child, I wouldn’t have slipped and ended up knocking Brandon or Danny over either.”

“Yeah, and if it wasn’t for that step at the White House or that uneven sidewalk at the National Zoo, I wouldn’t have nearly fallen down those steps or knocked that trash can over either.”

“Touché,” I said, seeing Jay’s point. “Point, set and match to Mr. Curtis.” The boys were all giggling now.

“What about at the restaurant and the blacksmith’s shop?” Brandon asked, referring to the water glass Jay had knocked over and his losing his grip on the blacksmith’s hammer. Suddenly, the other three boys gave Brandon dirty looks; to remind him that was something he wasn’t supposed to be bringing up. Brandon blushed, when he realized his error.

“Hey, that was different,” Jay protested.

“Okay, Dad, “ Ricky interrupted, in an attempt to draw the attention away from Jay. “We won’t say anything more about what you did here, as long as you don’t pick on Jay any more. Right, Jay?” Jay nodded, happy to go along with Ricky’s suggestion.

“Okay, deal,” I agreed. I would have consented to almost anything at that point, just to get them to stop ragging on me about what had just happened.

After that little incident, the rest of our day went smoothly and we had a great time. In fact, we actually got so involved in the other activities and found everything so fascinating, that before we knew it, we had missed our afternoon meal and it was about halfway between lunchtime and dinner. I quickly decided we’d stop for an early dinner instead, allowing the boys to fill up before we went back to Camden Yards, for another baseball game. I figured if the boys got hungry later, I’d buy them something at the ballpark, but it was too expensive to buy everything there. This time, we had seats on the second-level behind the first base or home team dugout, which gave us a chance to get a little different view of what was going on. The Yankees put on a hitting display tonight, cranking out six homers and demolishing the Orioles. Again, it was late when we returned to our room, but this time it was because of all the hits and many pitching changes during the game, so we skipped the showers again and went directly to bed.

The following morning, which was Thursday, I woke the boys early, so they’d have plenty of time to clean up and eat before we headed off to make our last visit to an amusement park. This time we were going to Six Flags. Once we got there, I was content to let the boys enjoy themselves on their own again, while I maintained a base location where I would spend the time I wasn’t with any of them. Of course, every so often one pair or the other would whisk me away to join them on some ride, and I always honored their requests. Not only did I enjoy spending that time with them and watching their pure delight as we rode the various attractions, but I thought it was very sweet that they still wanted to make sure I was involved and having fun myself. The boys always seemed to want to take me on what I’d call the thrill rides, where you’re either going fast, riding upside, going very high into the air, being shaken about or a combination of those things. I was beginning to wonder if it was so I’d have fun or for them to see how long the old man could take such abuse.

The four of them went non-stop, from the time we arrived to until the park closed, with only a few breaks to eat in between. By the time I loaded them into the van and headed out of the Baltimore area, we were all ready to move on. I had no reservations for a motel room this evening and merely planned to find someplace to stay along our route. I was sure we’d be able to locate something appropriate, even though most of the ride was out in the middle of nowhere, or so it seemed. As luck would have it, we ended up spending the night in Maryland, at an older, but still more than adequate motel, and it wasn’t very far from the Pennsylvania border. Being quite fatigued, none of us did much more than take a quick shower before turning in.