What's Going On?

     It has been a while since I last posted and it was my intention to bring this blog up to date by now.  Ah, but the best laid plans...  We parked the boat the first week in June and I headed off to Tucson to await the arrival of our newest grandson Tanner (born June 16 to Jeff and Cindy)) and Art headed to Iowa to visit his family and help out.  And when I found a moment to sit down and work on the blog, I discovered I had not downloaded our photos since I last wrote in Annapolis.  Art has our camera with him in Iowa, so I will have to wait until I return on June 28 to continue this story.  Bear with me.

Annapolis, Maryland

     I am going to have to divide this post into two parts: the city of Annapolis (which is also the capital of Maryland) and then the Naval Academy, which was just as much fun to explore as the city.
     We cruised into Annapolis and went right downtown to the city docks, probably our most spectacular mooring in that we were right in the middle of everything!  Check this out:

     And here is another view of our location.  Our boat is the one in the middle:

     We were surrounded by great places to eat and drink (right across from the boat):

     And good friends to eat and drink with (these are all fellow boaters):

     This is a view from the back of the boat looking towards the city.  You can see the capital dome a little to the right and it was within easy walking distance.

      On the left side of the photo above is Main Street, lined with great shops.  There was everything there, including maritime antiques, all kinds of art, designer clothing, tourist shops and every kind of food, snack and drink establishment imaginable.  One of the more unique places we went for breakfast was Chick & Ruth's Delly.  It is a tiny place, and even the booths and tables are small--you'd have a tough time here if you're too fat.  Every morning, at 8:30 sharp, everyone in the restaurant stands up to say the Pledge of Allegiance.  We thought that was pretty cool. Here is a shot of that unique place:

     We saw a lot of patriotism in Annapolis.  On our second day there, all the flags in the state we flown at half mast for the funeral of a soldier from Maryland who was killed in Afghanistan.  That really blew me away--the entire state salutes any Maryland soldier who is killed.  I wish all the states would do that.  This next photo was taken from the World War II memorial in Annapolis, looking back towards the Naval Academy, and you can see the flags at half mast:

     And when we weren't walking around town, shopping or eating, we had constant entertainment at the docks, as you can see below:

A boat load of tourists going by.

A flotilla of kayakers passing through.

And a group of midshipmen and their dates.

   And check out the street scene right next to our boat:

     We spent six days in Annapolis and it was barely enough time to do and see all that was there. And one of the most interesting days was spent at the U.S. Naval Academy, the subject of my next post.

      

Solomons, Maryland

     Solomons, Maryland is both a village and an island, which is connected to the "mainland" by a car-length long two-lane bridge.  Most of the tourist activity is on the small, one-mile long island where we found lots of seafood restaurants, typical tourist shops and a maritime museum.  Across the Patuxent River from Solomons is the Patuxent River Naval Air Test Station, a huge facility, and so we also saw the occasional fighter jet roaring overhead as we walked into town.  Here is our first look at Solomons (the island part) from the water coming in:

                 And here it is from land, with Art standing in front of the entry to their Riverwalk area:

     I was on a mission from the moment we crossed into Maryland to eat my way through the crab population, and so that was my first order of business.  Here I am at Solomons Pier Restaurant waiting for my first plate of crab cakes:

     And after that, I had crab again for dinner (we went out with friends who have a home there), and once again the next day at Stoney's Kingfishers Seafood House.  I was finally getting my fill, but that hasn't lasted--I need to devour a few more crabs before I move on.
     Solomons is also a boater's paradise, with more sail boats than power boats.  We were  impressed by the beauty of marina after marina filled with sailboats as you can see in this shot Art took late in the day:

     There were plenty of power boats there too and I wouldn't be surprised if there were more boats than people in this area.

This is a view of our marina.

     As you turn into Solomons from the Patuxent, there are several creeks branching off from the main harbor and they are well worth discovering. And so one evening we lowered the dinghy, picked up some friends and headed off to explore:

 These little outings are called "cocktail cruises," and I am sure that is as much a reason for our smiling faces as the scenery was.  Sadly, I forgot my camera so I don't have any photos of the spectacular houses to share.

     Our next stop is Annapolis.

First Day on the Chesapeake Bay

     We stayed in Portsmouth a day or two longer than we had planned because of stormy weather.  Boating on the Chesapeake in bad weather can be uncomfortable at best and downright dangerous at worst.  In addition, this was the largest body of water we have been in on this trip--no more meandering down scenic canals and rivers with the occasional wide water areas.  It was time to ramp up our piloting skills.  Up until now, we were just following the ICW and we had lots of channel markers to guide us along --you saw plenty of those in my photos, usually with a nesting osprey sitting on top like this one:

     Now we actually needed to read the navigation charts and plot out a course.  And we had to look for waypoints and use the compass to move us along instead of following the markers.  Here is a photo of the first waypoint we came to in the Chesapeake--I think it looks like a dwarf lighthouse, which is what it really is.  They aren't very tall as you can see in relation to our boat on the far right:

      The best part is that they have some pretty cool names.  This one above is called Wolf Trap, then we passed Thimble Shoal and then this next one is Point No Point:

     And my last bit on this subject is this real lighthouse (Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse) out in the Bay that had lighthouse keepers living there until it was fully automated in 1986.  I think I would have to pass on the opportunity to live and work in a place like that--I bet Dominoes doesn't deliver to this location:

        At the end of our first day on the bay, we found ourselves in a little town called Deltaville on the western shore.  There's not much there other than a lot of businesses associated with boating and so we stayed put at the marina and enjoyed wine and cheese (and then more wine) with our fellow boaters:

Can you find me?  Art?

This was the dockmaster's office and we partied on that porch.

And here we are, first boat on the left, all tied up just a short stagger away from the party area.  Most of the other boats there were also doing the loop so we were among friends.

     Early the next morning, we were off to our next stop, Solomons, Maryland.  On the way, we passed the mouth of the Potomac River which marks the boundary between Virginia and Maryland.  If we had the time, we would have loved to cruise up the Potomac all the way to Washington, D.C., but we will have to save that for another trip.  Solomons will be my next post.