"Martini Night", Farmers' Market, Baltimore, Cold Harbor

We searched diligently for a martini bar for Thursday night happy hour and the best we could do was A. Carroll's, a nice little place just north of the William & Mary campus. We got there around five-thirty and there were still plenty of seats at the bar. In fact we were the only people there until these three nice ladies came in and agreed to join us for a photo we could send back to all our "regular" friends at the Meritage in Encinitas. We're still looking. Maybe we'll find a good one in Florida.

Williamsburg Farmers Market

The Burg has a pretty decent Farmers Market every Saturday morning in Merchants Square.

We bought zucchini, tomatoes, basil, goat cheese, soft-shell crabs (fresh from the Chesapeake), shrimp, bread cookies and probably some other stuff I can't remember right now.

Baltimore

We took a couple days and drove up to Forest Hill, MD, just north of Baltimore, about 220 miles from Williamsburg. Driving through or around DC and Baltimore is almost as much fun as driving through LA.

We arrived on Fathers Day and had a great time. That's me and the grandkids, Malarie & Jacob and in the next photo is their dad, Mike. Jake enjoyed cruising on his electric scooter. I told him that in the old days, we actually had to peddle our bicycles to get anywhere. He said he still does that sometimes when he forgets to plug in his scooter for a charge.

Monday we drove into Bel Air for lunch and window shopping. We were joined by Caitlin, Malarie's friend, who will also be joining Mal on her trip to San Diego in August.

That night Jake had a ball game, the first game of the playoffs. Jake was the starting pitcher and struck out the side in the first and second innings. In the third, he got roughed up a little but his team ended up winning and Jake got a couple hits. Jake was one of two players selected from his team to make the league all-star team.

Every year when we visit I measure the kids height to see how much they've grown. They've both added about three inches since April of 2005. Here I am measuring Mal. She's 5'-3 1/2" now!

Cold Harbor

Driving back on Tuesday, we took a side-trip to the Cold Harbor Battlefield, the site of a Civil War battle in 1864 and also in 1862. The 1862 battle is known as the Battle of Gaines Mill. The area is about 20 miles northeast of Richmond.

These photos are mostly of the Gaines Mill area. We drove through the Cold Harbor battlefield but there really wasn't much to photograph. You can see a lot of evidence of both Union and Confederate trench works but not much else.

As I visit places like this, which are so quiet and peaceful today, it always seems eerie to imagine how loud and deadly these battles actually were.