Baltimore And Annapolis

Connor Plasse and his pal Robbie Grammer hit the North Central Railroad Trail yesterday afternoon and headed north, two 8-year-olds aboard their bikes on a quest for serious adventure. "There's this waterfall up here," Connor said. "With poisonous snakes!" "Maybe copperheads!" Robbie said. They pedaled off, leaving Connor's father, Scott Plasse, to follow and contemplate the fortune of living near one of the great destinations of Maryland autumn weekends - this broad path of hard-packed gravel, winding 20 miles along the Gunpowder River to the Pennsylvania line and beyond.

Still thinking about whether to go out and party on New Year's Eve? We know, we know. There's that little Y2K thing that may have some of you staying close to home and hearth. But here's a salute to the party animals among you -- and you know who you are. Let the celebration begin!Baltimore and Annapolis are both laying out the red carpet for the new year.In a change from past years, Baltimore's celebration will have no activities at the Convention Center."We decided to move it from the Convention Center because we wanted to make it available to anyone.

As a Volvo official formally announced the return of the Volvo Ocean Race Round the World to Baltimore and Annapolis yesterday, he urged local organizers to find a local entry to fuel the excitement."

Baltimore and Annapolis will again play host to the Volvo Ocean Race Round the World when the racing vessels set sail to circle the globe in 2001-2002, Volvo and local race officials will announce today.Propelled by the success of the 1998 stopover, the region beat out New York, Boston and Newport, R.I., to be the second U.S. stopover port next race. Competing to be the first U.S. stop are Charleston, S.C., and Miami. The selection of one of those cities is to be announced tomorrow. Fort Lauderdale, Fla., which played host to the racers in 1994 and 1998, is no longer in that competition.

75 years agoAnne Arundel will participate with other counties in a War Memorial Building in Baltimore. Each county panel will be 4-feet tall by 6-feet wide with an honor roll of the county in a symbolic setting. -- The Sun, Feb. 9, 1924.The Navy appropriation bill reported by the House will decrease the number of midshipmen at the U.S. Naval Academy. Three midshipmen will be appointed by each senator and representative, instead of the present five. -- The Sun, Feb. 10, 1924.Nine students at St. John's College have been dropped because of low scholastic standing and 10 others withdrew after being advised they were not fit for college work by President Enoch B. Garey.

Baltimore has a little less competition in its quest to bring the Volvo Ocean Race, Round the World back to the Inner Harbor -- and possibly Annapolis -- as Boston, New York and Fort Lauderdale, Fla., are no longer under consideration.When the world's top racing yachts circle the globe in 2001 and 2002, they will stop at two U.S. ports, and Baltimore is left to vie with Newport, R.I.; Charleston, S.C.; and Miami, according to race organizers.In 1998, the race stopped at Fort Lauderdale before coming to Baltimore.

An Orioles fan would like Ferndale. So would a Ravens fan.Hopping on the light rail, they could be at Camden Yards in a matter of minutes with no parking problems or worries about traffic."

The visit to Baltimore and Annapolis in the Whitbread Round the World Race has been a success on so many major counts -- there were spectators, there was publicity, there was even wind -- that some race officials feel almost certain the international competition will return to the Chesapeake."

From April to November, there is a casual celebration of a maritime heritage in the state's tidewater, but when the Whitbread fleet arrives Wednesday or Thursday, a 12-day festival of sail will be kicked off in Baltimore and Annapolis."

FISHPAW'S LIQUORS, a ramshackle package store perched at the entrance to the Broadneck Peninsula, is an amazing symbol of the change that has swept Anne Arundel County since World War II -- because it has hardly changed at all.Fishpaw's is a small, white, wood-frame building that appears to be held together by the crazy quilt of liquor signs that covers its exterior. The rickety structure looks jarring in an area where homes typically sell for $200,000 and double or triple that on the water.