Tuesday, September 4 -- Rock Hall

Brooke left early on Labor Day to go back to Denver. My brother, Carter, and his wife, Cindy, joined us for a lovely, but hot, afternoon. On Tuesday, September 4, we sailed back to Rock Hall for a few days. Met a couple from Montreal on Manouche, Robert and Danielle, who joined us in a day of site-seeing and shopping in Chestertown and Easton.

In Chestertown, we had lunch at the Imperial Hotel, an old, elegant hotel where Mike had the best oyster and corn chowder he had ever had--Mike, Danielle and Robert are pictured above in front of the hotel. We then drove to Easton, another lovely town where we splurged on ice cream at a place called Rita's. Had dinner the next evening at Bay Wolf, an Austrian/seafood restaurant, in Rock Hall where the food is delicious.

Coming back to Annapolis from Rock Hall, we were thrilled to see the Pride of Baltimore (pictured above), a beautiful old tour boat, as it was sailing near the Chesapeake Bay Bridge.

Our next visitor was an old schoolmate and dear friend, Joan Higbee, who spent an afternoon with us. A little later, Mike and I visited her in Ellicott City, Maryland. She's been restoring a beautiful old house located on three acres on a hill just up from the town. Joan has hopes of its becoming a B & B with its proximity to the popular town below. She's well on her way.

Thursday, August 30 -- Baltimore

Anchored in the Inner Harbor in the heart of Baltimore City. On one side, the USS Constellation; on the other the USS Torsk, the submarine that sank the last enemy vessel in World War II, and the last lightboat, USS Chesapeake--an in between the dragon paddle boats at the foot of the World Trade Center. Brooke joined us Saturday for an unexpected, brief visit. Celebrated nephew Christopher's 30th birthday with a family party at a restaurant right at our doorstep. Took Brooke throught the National Aquarium on Sunday and visited her grandmother.

On Monday, my brother Carter and his wife, Cindy, spent an afternoon with us. We thoroughly enjoyed their visit.

We really enjoyed the entertainment. Paddle boats in the shape of dragons in green, puple, red , and blue floated by regularly bumping our boat. We were the only boat in the Inner Harbor for most of the time. Brooke was thrilled with all the activity.

Wednesday, August 29 -- Rock Hall

Onto Rock Hall where we had cocktails and dinner with Lionheart. A most enjoyable evening. We didn't stay long in Rock Hall as we were anxious to get settled in Baltimore, across the bay, to meet Brooke who was coming in for a short, but sweet visit over the Labor Day weekend.

Tuesday, August 28--Fairlee

After a short sail with our nephew, we motored to Fairlee Creek on the eastern shore. It's was a lovely anchorage and was the location of my great grandfather's home. Met some friends of an old friend, Estee Edwards, Richard and Sue on Lionheart. Estee, a former coworker and friend from Denver, now lives in Long Beach, CA. When she heard we were going to be sailing in the Bahamas this past winter, she told us of her friends who would be on their trawler there. Well, we never saw them there. Imagine our surprise to find them in tiny Fairlee! Unfortunately, we had just missed seeing Estee and her husband, Rick, who had been traveling in their RV a few days before in the area! We ended up spending an enjoyable evening with Richard and Sue the next night in Rock Hall.

In addition to meeting new friends, Mike practiced his skill at crabbing. He managed to snag about 5 crabs which we ate the following morning in an omelet. The crab pictured above, Fred, unfortunately didn't make it --as far as the omelet, that is. We also were enchanted with the ducks who visited the various boats hoping for food.

Monday, August 27-- Havre de Grace

After spending the weekend, the very hot weekend in Chesapeake City, we motored down the Elk River to Havre de Grace where our nephew, Christopher Seibel, joined us. Chris arrived Monday afternoon. We had dinner aboard after sharing mussels at the Tidewater Inn. In the morning, we motored around for a couple of hours--again, no wind. Chris did a super job of manning the helm. It was a beautiful day and we were sorry Chris couldn't sail away somewhere with us. At least he got a taste of it. Above are some pictures of Chris.

The anchoring in the Havre de Grace area was very unusual. It seemed like there were concrete blocks across which the anchor would drag when we first anchored. So we moved. Then when pulling up the anchor in the new location, it felt that we were caught again on concrete. Not a good experience. Our night was also interesting. The Amtrak railroad runs across the bridge at Havre de Grace. All during the night, long, noisy trains crossed the bridge. Havre de Grace is a charming town to visit, but we were less than entralled with the anchorage.

Friday, August 24 -- Chesapeake City

Motored up the bay stopping in Worton Creek and Georgetown on the eastern shore of Maryland. The weather had warmed to the 80s. Chesapeake City in the C and D Canal was a neat place. Lots of quaint shops and trendy restaurants. We were treated to music from live bands till the wee hours all weekend. Karen and David King, cousins, visited in the then sweltering heat.

Wednesday, August 21 - Middle River, Md

Having been at the marina for some time, we needed to move. As it was getting late, we decided to anchor just off the dock of the marina in Middle River, Md where it was rainy and cold--64 F. What a change! However, in the morning we would be leaving for the eastern shore.

Tuesday, August 7--Baltimore

Motored to Middle River in Baltimore, Maryland tieing up at the River Watch Marina--and air conditioning! Phew! The heat was brutal.

Mike left for Colorado Sunday, Aug. 12, so I stayed with my mom, (first picture), till he returned on the 17th. Spent Mom's birthday visiting cousin Karen (#2) in Pottstown, PA and her daughters and grandchildren: Taylor (#3)and Logan (#4) and Colton (#5).

We spent a few more days at the marina then left for the eastern shore of Maryland.

Monday, August 6 - Annapolis, MD

We briefly stopped in Deltaville, VA for the next night; then Crisfield, MD, Solomon'sIsland, Oxford, then Annapolis. Each night was just a waypoint for us. We went ashore in Crisfield for some crabs and then again in Oxford where we fought some rain to get into the restaurant. Unfortunately, in our haste to get to Baltimore, we really didn't get to see these places except overnight. Needless to say, we didn't see much. By the time we got to Annapolis, it was very, very hot. We anchored in Back Creek, but decided not to stay more than overnight as we needed air conditioning. We had reserved a spot at a marina in Baltimore's Middle River and knew that we could plug in there and enjoy our air conditioning. That turned out to be a good decision as it only got hotter.

We arrived in Baltimore ahead of schedule on the 7th of August. Unfortunately, we were unable to do much sailing because the winds were extremely light.

We did some sightseeing in Baltimore where Mike had spent some time in the Army. We were shocked at some of the areas we went through--very rundown, often boarded up and in general not where we wanted to be. On the other hand, we had some great homemade Italian pizza at a local pizzeria and discovered a crabhouse, Schultzes', with delicious soft crab sandwiches and hard crabs. Schultzes' is a local place that is packed on weekend nights with people knee-deep in hard crabs.

Wednesday, August 1 -- Hampton, VA

Finally got out of Portsmouth around 2 p.m. Decided to make as much headway as we could as we were trying to make Baltimore no later than August 9. We got as far as Hampton, Virginia. From the guidebook, we were expecting some nice bars and restaurants, however, everything was pretty much buttoned up. We did go into a hotel by the anchorage, but it was dead. So much for the guidebook! Needless to say, we were up and at it early, heading up the coast for our next stop, Deltaville, VA.

Going up the southern end of the Chesapeake Bay was a little hairy. There were huge Naval warships, as they call them, being escorted by much smaller tugboats. One called to us on the radio informing us that they were going to pass us, then cut in front of us. We, of course, indicated we would slow down and let them by--what choice did we have. All worked out well however. It is amazing to see those huge ships maneuver into a dock amidst other huge ships. They do it adeptly, however.

Tuesday, July 31--Portsmouth

A small thing of concern resulted in our hauling out the boat on July 8 at Ocean Marine in Portsmouth, VA. That small thing, though not critical, led to other big things and our anticipated two-day stay out of the water turned into the rest of the month of July, as parts were ordered, etc. Above is a picture of Jus' Now as she sits awaiting the work. In the meantime, we visited family in the Baltimore area. A stroke of luck occurred when Mike hooked up with the skipper of Seawalker , Richard Clay, with whom he made an ocean passage in 2005. Note the picture above of the happy reunion. Finally dropped the anchor at Tidewater Yacht Club in Portsmouth signifying the work was successfully completed and we were pursuing our trip.

Portsmouth was a wonderful town though. It is full of history and has beautiful restored homes along the narrow streets. We stayed in a lovely B & B --wish we had a picture. It was run by a Scottish woman with whom we sat on the front porch and in the morning shared a lovely breakfast of yogurt, fruit, scones, eggs, bacon...and the list goes on.

We also explored Norfolk a bit as it was just across the river. We got there by using the ferry, pictured above. The ferry system works well and is inexpensive--50 cents for those over 60--That's us!