On Memorial Day we arrived in Oxford Maryland which is located on the Trett Avon River off of the Little Choptank River on the eastern shore of the Chesapeake. At first we thought we would anchor near the mouth of the the harbor leading into the town but we decided to cruise into the narrow harbor to "check the town out" from the water, We were immediately entranced with its charm. As we looked at the various marinas, we found one that had remarkably low rates and was located in a perfect spot. It didn't take much arm twisting to go for it and that's how we ended up at Oxford Yacht Agency.
Saturday, May 30, 2015
Oxford, MD on the Trett Avon River
On Memorial Day we arrived in Oxford Maryland which is located on the Trett Avon River off of the Little Choptank River on the eastern shore of the Chesapeake. At first we thought we would anchor near the mouth of the the harbor leading into the town but we decided to cruise into the narrow harbor to "check the town out" from the water, We were immediately entranced with its charm. As we looked at the various marinas, we found one that had remarkably low rates and was located in a perfect spot. It didn't take much arm twisting to go for it and that's how we ended up at Oxford Yacht Agency.
Friday, May 29, 2015
Solomons Island, MD
On May 23, we arrived in the Solomons, on the western short of the Chesapeake, after a sunny cruise with one to two foot seas. Even though we knew that Solomons was a major boating center, we were unprepared to see all the marinas and the large number of boats traversing the waters. All of a sudden we had to be very cautious of heavy boat traffic moving this way and that! We had reservations at the very friendly (and cost effective) Calvert’s Marina. We borrowed the courtesy car, an old Mercedes, and drove into “town” to the grocery store and fish market. Since one of our goals was to eat as many soft shell crabs as we could get our hands on, we eagerly bought four fresh ones from the local fish market.
While Jonny washed down the boat (you wouldn’t believe how salt–encrusted it can become running through the Chesapeake), Lynn made the best soft shell crab dinner we’ve ever had! These were fat, juicy and succulent and along with corn on the cob and salad, we had a meal as good as, if not better, than any we could get at a fine restaurant!
The next morning we took the dinghy just across the inlet to the Calvert Maritime Museum. There were several highlights here including a real lighthouse that had been transported from the bay to this spot. It was one of the old fashioned lighthouses that the keeper lived in with his family. The museum also had displays of the many wooden boats used in the Chesapeake as well as an aquarium and displays of endangered and invasive species of fish and plants.
Later that afternoon we left to cross the Chesapeake on a four hour run. Although we had checked the winds, the ride was pretty rough. We had to carefully “batten down the hatches” as the boat was rocking so much that the heavy salon table fell over as did many other miscellaneous items. Unfortunately, we did not do a good enough job of securing every little thing (i.e. one of the toilet lids) because the little rubber sink plug in the forward head must have popped off the counter and into the toilet. When we went to use it, an awful noise ensued and that was the end – at least for now- of that head! Good thing we have two of them!
Saturday, May 23, 2015
St. Mary’s City, MD
On our way back down the Potomac from Alexandria, we visited St. Mary’s City located on the St. Mary River which is on the Maryland side of the Potomac River. St. Mary’s City was Maryland’s first colonial settlement with the arrival of the passengers in two vessels, The Ark and The Dove in 1633. It was also the first capital of Maryland and remained so for 50 years until the capital was moved to Annapolis in 1695. The original buildings are no longer here but it is now the center of extensive archeological research and essentially a living history museum. It is well worth a stop for a number of reasons.
It is the home of St. Mary’s College, an honors college within the Maryland public university system. The college is situated on a beautiful bay adjacent to the historic town. The setting is out of this world! We pulled up at the college’s docks and the dock director and an enthusiastic student oriented us to what the school and the town had to offer. St. Mary’s College has an extensive collection of sailboats and rowing vessels. In fact, this year they hosted the annual collegiate sailing championship for which this is a perfect location!
We took our bikes out to cruise the grounds of the college and the historic area. Although the original dwellings from the 1600’s do not remain, partial and full reproductions of many of them have been created in the spaces that they think the originals stood. Guides in period costume regaled us with stories about life in colonial times. Meandering through open fields, meadows and winding waterside trails was like stepping back to a more peaceful time (though the American Revolution was anything but peaceful)! The most beautiful spot was the very old cemetery behind the church that looked out over the bay in which we anchored that evening.
There was a reconstructed replica of the Dove, as mentioned above. Lynn was particularly interested to see the Dove because it was a type of boat called a pinnace – a smaller vessel that often was used to transport goods in colonial times. She has been reading the Outlander series and this is one of the boats that is featured in the third book of the series.
Later in the afternoon, we left the college dock and anchored out in this beautiful serene setting.
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Thursday, May 21, 2015
Alexandria, VA and Washington, D.C.
On Monday, May 18, we arrived at the Alexandria City Marina (next to Founders Park )where we planned to dock for the next three nights. Our good friends, Greg and Lynda Gallagher, who live in Alexandria (on the way to Mt. Vernon) graciously invited us to stay with them which we gladly accepted. Lynn has known Greg since they were in 7th grade and she finds him endlessly entertaining!
You won’t see the usual D.C. pictures here as we spent our time with our friends and revisiting a few of our favorite places, some of which are not on the traditional tourist path.
Docking in Old Town Alexandria allowed us to walk the historic streets and eat at some of their really good restaurants. We met a good friend for lunch in Old Town. Judith Chew brought us a unique boat gift which she and her recently departed husband, Richard, had a lot of fun with on their beautiful Hinkley sailboat. The “fun-erator” is a specially contrived sling for shooting water balloons. We can hardly wait to use it on her stepson, Stephan and his wife, Kathy when they visit us in Montreal!
We had a few places that we really wanted to visit including the National Arboretum, the Capital Hill neighborhood where Lynn used to live and Eastern Market. Greg loaned us his fancy new car (Fiat 500 Abarth) instructing us to be absolutely sure not to put a ding in it. If we did, we should just “get it over with” and total the damn car! Needless to say, we were extremely careful that day!
Lynn really wanted to see the brilliant azalea covered hillsides at the National Arboretum but we were just a little too late. Fortunately, the dogwoods were in full bloom and they were outstanding!
We drove by Lynn’s old home on Capital hill - such a cool area. Hers is in the first two pictures The third shows homes in the neighborhood.
We stopped at Eastern Market (a wonderful old indoor, outdoor market on Capital Hill) to buy flowers and cheese for our hostess. Lynda and Greg were so good to us with Lynda cooking two delicious dinners after getting up at 4:30 each morning and working all day teaching school! Thank you Lynda and I can’t believe we don’t have a picture of you with which to grace our blog!
Lynn spent Wednesday morning getting her hair cut while Jonny and Greg donned their cycling “outfits” and rode up to Mt. Vernon and back. What a handsome pair they made!
Afterwards we had lunch at an “old favorite” chili restaurant called Hard Times CafĂ© on King St which was within walking distance of the first home that we owned.
Greg dropped us off at the Metro so we could go to Dupont Circle and visit the Phillips Collection, Lynn’s favorite museum in D.C. Out of all the outstanding museums we could visit, we chose this one and we were not disappointed in the least!
On Wednesday night, after a yummy pizza dinner in Old Town, Greg dropped us off so we we could spend the night on the boat and get an early start the next morning.
We had the most wonderful visit and look forward to the next time we can see these very special friends!