2-19-2011Natl Crypto Museum - Annapolis

Time to get out and see some sights. The Nation Cryptologic Museum has been on our list since we saw a sign for it on the way to BWI airport. It took a bit to find it once we got to the NRO campus - including being stared down by a very gruff looking guard who was simply tired of pointing people to the little side road to the museum. The museum is full of spy stuff - codes, ciphers, Enigma machines, space spook stuff. It was very interesting but we didn't want to spend too much time there.

The wind was howling outside and after about an hour and half, the power went out - and that was the end of our visit. On going outside we saw smoke from a wildfire off to the west. The wind was really strong.

We drove to Annapolis for a visit to the Academy. The wind was down some what but it was still a cool blustery day as we walked around the campus. we went to the chapel, John Paul Jones' crypt under the chapel, the museum, and toured the grounds. The back story about John Paul Jones was interesting -  the President at the time made a big deal about forcing the Navy to honor Jones as a hero, in order to produce a more dedicated professional corps of officers and thus the building of the crypt and making Jones into a theme was somewhat forced upon the Navy.

Afterwards we went into town and visited the Statehouse, which was closed the last time we visited Annapolis. It is a really fine little town.