It was a good idea. The Waterman's Appreciation Day in St. Michaels had several things I look for in a day out: all-you-can eat crab, the chance to see a new place and a boat-docking contest. I had no idea what it was, but it sounded...interesting, with a touch of the redneck flair that I've come to enjoy since leaving North Carolina.
Twenty minutes into the trip, it was looking more like a questionable idea. Rain was coming down in sheets, the kids were whining, and the GPS was pointing out that St. Michaels wasn't an hour-and-a-half away; it was more like two-and-a-half hours away.
Then we got there, and it seemed like a no-doubt-about it bad idea. It was still raining. The crab tables were soaked and getting wetter. And we witnessed a near fight that made us wonder what kind of event we had wandered into.
But the kids looked around and saw possibility. A small, child-sized skiff to climb in. Oyster rakes to try out, crabs in a holding tray to poke at. The museum had several exhibits that might not have been made for kids, but that they certainly liked: an authentic lighthouse with old-time stoves that opened and closed, a luxury cruiser from the 1950s that they could climb in, an old Pilot House boat that they could....climb in (is there a pattern here?).
Taking them around to the different places took a long time - longer than the rain lasted. Pretty soon we were sitting at a relatively dry table, eating crabs and hot dogs and thinking this place wasn't half-bad. Then we moved to the side of a dock, where we shared corn on the cob and cheered on the crews of boats in the docking contest (we're still not sure what that was about).
Against the rain-soaked odds, the kids were able to look around and find the fun in what seemed like a hopeless situation. I knew there was some reason we were keeping them around.
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