Greetings from Solomons

Since we didn't go to the coast for the Fourth of July weekend like lots of people we know, we spent most of Saturday in Solomons in Calvert County doing beachy summery things! We started at Annmarie Garden, which was having a sea glass and beach craft festival similar to their Artsfest and winter holiday market, so lots of jewelry, mirrors, and household items made of glass. We ate sandwiches at their picnic tables, then headed to the Calvert Marine Museum, which we haven't visited since we had kids at home -- the aquarium, fossil, and Maryland history sections are larger and we got to see rays and skates, pet starfish, watch otters sleep to avoid the heat, tour the Drum Point Lighthouse, look at lots of boats, and spot crabs in the water. 

 We stopped at Cone Island on the Solomons Island Boardwalk to get soft serve dipped in chocolate and admire the gulls, cormorants, and Governor Thomas Johnson Bridge to St. Mary's County over the Patuxent River. Then we drove to Flag Ponds Nature Park and walked the half-mile path through the woods to the beach on the Chesapeake Bay, where we waded -- there were a few too many jellyfish for us to want to do any serious swimming -- and saw schools of fish and a few crabs in the warm water. We stopped for Impossible Burgers at Burger King in Dunkirk on the way home, which involved driving through the thunderstorm that crossed the Eastern side of the state, and now we're watching the season finale of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.