On day 2 of the painting project, I needed to again keep Pebble busy and out of the house. The day before, we had explored Fort Smallwood Park, so this time we headed to east to Annapolis. I had a doctor’s apt out that way, and, since Pebble had never seen downtown Annapolis, why not explore? We parked in the Noah Hillman Parking Garage located at 150 Gorman Street in Annapolis, although we didn’t use that address to find the garage. I just drove down Duke of Gloucester Street from the Church Circle, until I saw the signs for garage parking on the left. Easy as pie! Well almost… The elevator was broken the day we were here. I had to carry the single stroller, plus backpack and cooler, down 3 flights to the ground, and then back up at the end of outing. Good way to get a workout in!
Leaving the garage behind, I pushed Pebble in the stroller over to Main Street where we made a right, and headed downhill. We stayed to the right at the circle where Main Street and Compromise Streets meet, and walked down Compromise Street to Newman St. From the corner of Compromise and Newman, we could easily see Newman Street Park. It is a shady playground, covered in mulch, and partially gated, the gate being only on the Newman Street side. The back end of the playground is open to Annapolis Elementary School, and, as we discovered, the school kids use the playground at recess. Pebble didn’t seem to mind the multitude of kids running amuck around her, she just set out to explore what she could.
The playground has two sets of swings plus a small playground structure for the littles, and a much larger structure for the older kids. This is not a shiny and new playground, but rather a playground that has seen a lot of hard use. The playground is built on a slant, and there were a few slides on the smaller play structure where the end of the slides were a bit high off the ground. Think knee to thigh high on someone who is around 5 feet tall. Not a problem for Pebble, but maybe the younger set. There was also a platform on this structure that is open on two sides, and it wasn’t a little drop to the ground. Just food for thought, and a heads up for those that read this blog and plan to come here. Pebble never even noticed these issues, and we didn’t let it detract from the fun we had here.
Pebble began her exploration on the younger kid structure. It had a tunnel to crawl through, and Pebble loved playing peek-a-boo with me through the holes in it. She was soon drawn, though, to the bigger structure. Like Fort Smallwood, the structure had ramps that led to multiple platforms before steps led up to the highest levels. There were even jumping stumps, which Pebble managed herself, to my surprise! She’d needed a hand the day before… I couldn’t believe the number of slides crammed onto this structure. There was a set of double slides, a set of triple slides, plus numerous single slides, sprouting from all over the place. Monkey bars, a small cargo net to climb, a large rock wall to scramble up, and more!
I asked Pebble if she wanted to eat lunch at one of the benches, but she was having too much fun. I ended up following her around with my sandwich in my hand. It took more than an hour of solid play before Pebble wanted to listen to her stomach, and eat some lunch. After lunch, we decided to walk back up Compromise Street and over to City Dock. Pebble spotted ducks near the Alex Haley Memorial, and had a blast chasing the poor birds until they all took refuge in Spa Creek. We walked until we had a view of Annapolis Harbor, and saw one of the scenic tour boats steaming back to dock.
At one point, we passed a woman feeding her dog some doggie ice cream. Pebble told me it wasn’t fair that a dog got ice cream and she didn’t! Yep, I caved! We stopped at the Annapolis Harbormaster’s Office to use the public restrooms, which were very clean! Then we walked over to Storm Bros. Ice Cream Factory, next to Armadillo’s Bar and Grill, 130 Dock Street. The shop wasn’t too busy, and Pebble was able to sample the flavor she was interested in before I bought her a kid sized portion. Pebble’s ice cream was bright red, yellow, and blue, and was called Superman. I purchased a kid sized portion of Minty Moosetracks for myself. We walked back to the area near the Alex Haley Memorial, and settled down to watch the boats and the birds while eating our ice cream.
When our ice cream was gone, we slowly retraced our steps back uphill to the parking garage. There is a pay station on the main level for the garage where you need to pay before returning to your car. It cost $10 for the two plus hours we had spent here, which wasn’t a bad price to pay after such an amazing afternoon with my little. Pebble spotted a bunch of other ice cream shops as we drove up Main Street after leaving the garage. She wants to come back just to sample the other places. Pebble also wants to take her ice cream back down to City Dock to eat and watch the ducks. If ice cream isn’t your thing, there are plenty of other shops and museums to explore downtown, plus the playground! We will be back! Happy trails!
