NWR - things to do in Annapolis

LauraT25

Hey ladies!  I have to go to Annapolis sometime soon to get our marriage license, and I was wondering if any of you have recommendations for where to eat and/or stuff do to while we're there.  It's almost an hour drive, so we're taking time off work, and I figured we'd make a day or at least a half day out of it.

TIA!

christinelyn0131

Go to downtown!

There's a bunch of cute shops and restaurants (and local attractions, aka the naval students. mmmmm)

You can take little boat rides and stuff like that. It's totally worth a day out!

LauraT25

So, I've never been...what exactly is 'downtown'?  Will I be able to find it easily?

It's probably in the same area as the courthouse, I'd imagine...I know, I sound like an idiot right now.

dawnmhayden

Annapolis is so cute!  I love it there!  The downtown is pretty easy to get to but I am yet to figure out the parking situation :-)

Here is a website with maps:

http://www.visit-annapolis.org/

LauraT25

Thanks!

mkovacik

I live in Annapolis and it's a great place to visit.  There are lots of really good places to eat, depending on what you like. 

Sushi- Joss's
Crab Cakes/Raw Bar - McGarveys
Wings/Bar Food - Acme
Upscale Seafood - Carrol's Creek (accross the bridge)
Outside Seating/Atmosphere - Sly Fox (off of Church Cir. right next to the courthouse)

Parking is hit or miss downtown; bring quarters for meters.  Or there is a parking garage off of Duke of Glouchester (cash only). 

As far as touristy stuff to do, you're pretty limited to shopping downtown or touring the naval academy.  Oh and all the Navy students you see in uniform are freshmen or sophmores in college; so be careful how much you drool haha!!

smange10.10

There are a bunch of shops and things on West Street near the water.  If you are looking for a good lunch place - check out Chick and Ruth's.  The food is delicious and it was featured on Man vs. Food!  It's just a deli and has amazing milk shakes.

The Annapolis Town Center is really nice too.  It's further down West Street (away from the water), closer to the mall.  There are a bunch of restaurants there and a handful of shops - they're still building.

Cosmocity

I was going to reccomend Joss's! I see someone else said it to, great food, cute setting! Annapolis, unfortunately, looks more like the tourist trap it is with over priced "boutiques" which generally never have anything all that special or unique, it's sad!

But it's still beautiful! Inner dock is always charming, there are old buildings and some cute shops on Maryland Ave!

12.	Merge onto US-301 N/US-50 E		1.0 mi
13.	Take exit 23 for MD-450 E		0.1 mi
14.	Merge onto Riva Rd		26 ft
15.	Turn left at West St		2.0 mi
16.	At the traffic circle, continue straight to stay on West St		0.7 mi
17.	At the traffic circle, take the 3rd exit onto Duke of Gloucester St		0.3 mi
18.	Turn left at Green St		0.1 mi
19.	Take the 1st left onto Main St

Once you're on mainstreet you'll see garages, side streets and parking lots!
Annapolis is still a blast, I just think it used to be better

lisab613

wow, i'm so glad i came across your post! i live in annapolis and we're getting married here AND i just updated our wedding site with stuff to do in town. check it out, PM me if you have any questions. The court house is on Church Circle and most of the things I've referenced are right around there.

LauraT25

Oh wow, thank you so much everyone! 

Lisa - I feel like such a creeper because I just bookmarked your wedding website.  BTW, not to scare you, but it is generally not recommended to post your actual wedding website (even though it is SUPER helpful to me at the moment!) because there are some weirdo lurkers on the Knot and the site contains so much personal info.  You might want to edit it out of that post, and just PM it to people in the future if needed.

lisab613

i hadn't thought about that! thanks. i hope you have fun in annapolis! it was so weird, i had literally just updated all that stuff yesterday.

SweetCFly

We went to Annapolis for our mini-moon!  It was so fun, and I told DH I wish we could live there!  haha.  I don't think I'd been to the downtown area since our 4th grade field trip to see the State House.  And DH and his parents took me when I was in college to a Navy football game, but we never made it to the downtown area, it was a rainy day. 

We had our first married dinner at Carrol's Creek and it was delicious.  I have heard the Chart House is also very good, but I think it's a chain.  We had brunch on Sunday at Pusser's and it was sooooooo good.  But very crowded.  I definitely recommend the Sunday brunch if you can do it, but get there early if you want to sit outside.  We sat inside and I think the atmosphere was definitely much better out on the water but oh well, we didn't get there until about noon. 

We parked on the street... there's tons of shopping downtown but that's pretty much it other than taking in how cute it is.  We didn't have time to tour the Naval Academy, but we did drive around a little bit in the car to "explore" before heading home. 

LauraT25

Lisa - It was just my good luck that you put all that stuff in your bio!  And don't worry too much about getting stalked - I don't think it's that common, it's just a good idea to avoid it, KWIM? 

Sweetcfly - I think I've been to the Chart House before, but it was a long time ago.  Also, I love your sig pic.  It makes me so happy when the married ladies change their pics so I get to see more!