Waterworks Park Annapolis – Part 1

A scheduling snafu on the last day in April resulted in me having an entire day to kill in Maryland before my flight left for England at 9:30 pm. I did a few searches of how to spend a day in Baltimore, but decided against it. I LOVE the city of Baltimore – I seriously love it – but I’ve seen a lot of it, and so I weighed that against remaining in Annapolis where I had the convenience of a hotel to hold my luggage, and a staff there that knows and trusts me. I decided to stay and explore more of the Annapolis area.

I chose a park that was very close to the hotel, so I could take advantage of their free shuttle. I have actually been to this park – I walked there from the hotel, which took about 45 minutes. And with the 45 minute walk back, my time inside the park was brief. This time I spent a full three hours walking the miles of trails.

The shuttle van driver had never even heard of the park, and registered some doubt. After his GPS sent him the wrong way I talked him into trying one more time to get us to what I thought would be a small parking area. We found it, and found some folks fishing at the creek there in some kind of club. It was at the edge of a reservoir, and the creek was formed by water spilling from the dam. My van driver was happy to discover this place, and is determined to bring his grandchildren back in the future to fish the creek.

Before walking the trail, I wandered the Waterworks property and took photos of the interesting buildings.

The van driver finished talking with the fishing men and women, and had taken a critical look around the place, with only the buildings, a dam, and a few people. As he left, he pulled the van to a stop beside me and suggested I go somewhere else. I can’t remember the name of the other park he liked better. “I can take you there!” he offered, generously. “It’s much better than this one. It has a beach and wide open space, and lots of things to do. Playgrounds for the kids, dogs can run around, picnic tables to have your lunch at…much more to do there. This place hasn’t got anything.” (I’m not sure if he noticed that I had no children, dogs, or food with me)

“That depends on what a person wants,” I said with a smile. “This park is enormous. All that forest you see? (I gestured) It is filled with miles of trails and shade. I’ll be fine.” He was not convinced, again explaining that the other park is a great place for families and many people go there. “Tell you what,” I said. “When I’m done with this one, I might ask you to take me to that other park.” He was satisfied with that, and drove away.

Finally I started walking the trail.

I saw a dark bird right at the trailhead. It seemed black, with black feet, so I’m guessing a male Grackle or male Brewer’s Blackbird, since they are common here. Both of them have yellow eyes, but I don’t see yellow eyes on this bird, so maybe it’s a female. That made me start watching for birds. I found several.

That was such a great collection of birds that I’ll just leave you with them. Tomorrow I’ll send off part 2, which is just a hundred photos of the beautiful trail. (Spoiler alert: I had a splendid time and felt no need to move on to a different park with children’s playgrounds and picnic tables and dogs.)