Callao, VA

After taking Archie for his daily on-shore walk in Port Tobacco, we hoisted the anchor at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, October 19.  The days are slipping by now that we are on the return leg of our voyage.  We were bound for Olverson’s Marina in Callao, VA.  It is located on lovely Lodge Creek off of the Yeocomico River which is off of the Potomac River.

The day started off very chilly with temperatures in the low 40’s but it warmed up considerably as the day wore on.  It turned out to be a beautiful sunny day with a little chop on the water.  It was smooth sailing for us, however, because the wind and waves were on our stern, in other words we had following seas.

We arrived at Olverson’s Lodge Creek Marina at 3:00 and tied up at the fuel dock to take advantage of the good fuel prices there.

We hadn’t been to Olverson’s in a few years and wanted to support them since they are such strong supporters of MTOA.  Freddie Olverson recently passed away at 86 and he had been instrumental in his advocacy for MTOA for many years.  He gives MTOA members one free night of dockage each year.  Most notably, he established Lodge Creek Yacht Club at his marina and all MTOA members have an honorary membership in it.  That provides us with the ability to stay at most yacht clubs up and down the east coast which is a great benefit to cruisers.

We docked at the fuel dock for our overnight stay and were greeted by Steve, Freddie’s son-in-law, who is now managing the marina.  He was very gracious and welcoming and offered us free dockage for the night even though we were not planning to ask him for it.  We were docked across from Freddie’s trawler named for his wife’s pet name for him.

Olverson’s Marina sits on many acres of land.  The surrounding countryside is quite beautiful with lots of open lawns - great for Archie to run free.  It also has space for people to store their RVs.  It’s always nice to be in wide open spaces after spending so much time in cities and towns.  The marina, which is usually quite busy and very social, was very quiet.  Few people were around due to it being the end of the season and mid-week.

We settled back on Zendo after a nice long walk.  In December we are going to a post-wedding celebration for one of Jonny’s cousins and I spent a lot of time looking at Air B&Bs there and ended up making reservations for Andy, Ed, Jonny and me at a residence hotel that his cousin had recommended, 

We are trying to use up the food in our freezer and for dinner we had the last of the mushroom ravioli from our trip to the Bronx’s Little Italy.  Our usual evening entertainment followed and we didn’t get to bed until 11.

Port Tobacco, MD return trip

After ten wonderful days we sadly left our comfortable stay in Washington, D.C. on Monday, October 18.  We took Archie for one last walk in the nearby dog park where he gleefully chased every squirrel in sight. The dinghy ride by the dock took us by some very interesting houseboats.

We took off from our mooring at 9:30, officially starting our return journey home.  It’s always a bittersweet feeling!  As we left DC, several helicopters flew overhead and on one we thought we saw evidence of it carrying a very high ranking government entity, the President perhaps?

Cruising down the Potomac proved to be rougher than we anticipated.  The wind was blowing and there were lots of whitecaps which made Archie quite uncomfortable.  Fortunately, we had remembered to give him his CBD and he was OK (we found a new brand that he likes the taste of).

I worked on the long DC blog entry while Jonny tried to keep us from rocking and rolling too much. Lunch was limited to Kind bars and an apple to avoid having to spend any time below.  By 1:30 we found a smooth tack and proceeded to our destination on the Port Tobacco river.

We dropped anchor in Goose Bay in a lovely wooded area that was protected and very calm. A picturesque red church was visible on the hillside behind us.

We took Archie in for his twice daily walk at a funky nearby marina.  The marina also serves as a mobile home park that includes permanent mobile homes as well as lots of RVs.  There was a small ship’s store that seemed to be a gathering place for the locals. Jonny asked if it was all right for us to walk Archie and of course they said yes.

We threw the frisbee around with him while checking out the premises.

The marina had a couple of trawlers and an Island Packet sailboat but mostly it was smaller motor boats. It isn’t a place where we would want to keep Zendo.

That evening we ate the delicious chicken and rice dinner that Greg’s wife, Lynda, had sent home with us. Sitting on the aft deck with the sun going down  and enjoying a nice dinner and glass of wine is one of the greatest pleasures we enjoy in our cruising lifestyle.

We caught up by phone with family and friends, alerting our Jacksonville friends to our expected arrival dates. Hearing that one of them is expecting to undergo quadruple bypass surgery was not a pleasant surprise. We hope we will be able to see him when we are there.

After watching a couple of episodes of Grey’s Anatomy (which is getting a little “soapy” for Jonny’s taste), we made an early night of it and were in bed by ten.

Washington, D.C.

It was a lovely day on Friday, October 8 when we left our perfect anchorage on Mattawoman Creek at 9:35 and headed to Washington, D.C.  The cruise up the Potomac River was delightful.  As we got closer to Alexandria, the homes on the shore  became increasingly grand.

Passing by Mount Vernon, Washington’s home looked like it was getting ready to host a wedding with an array of white tents on the sloping lawn. I really wanted to visit Mount Vernon having recently read a great biography of our first president but the dock was only open on weekends out of season. We’ll have to save this visit for the next trip.

We arrived at the Capital Yacht Club by 1:45. What a great place to stay! It’s on the Wharf in SW DC in an area that has become quite the entertainment district since we lived here in the late 80’s.  

Almost Heaven, the boat that Joe Manchin lives on, was at the next dock, right across from us. Two weeks ago some kayakers rowed by to lobby him to support the infrastrucure bill! The Capital Yacht Club has a lot of large boats and live-aboards, a more affordable living option in D.C. 

We had one last lunch with Stephen at Kilwin’s, an Irish pub with very good Irish food. Steve’s brother picked him up that afternoon.  

On Saturday we spent time getting ready for Addie and Lange King who were arriving that night.  The highlight of our day was visiting the African American Cultural Museum which we had never been to. What an amazing museum! We were there for almost four hours and we didn’t see all of it.  It was very moving, especially the historical exhibits and and also full of the incredible cultural contributions of black Americans from the visual arts to theatre to music and the movies.  One could easily spend a few days there. These photos show the museum’s intricate facade and some of the stunning paintings inside.

As we walked to the museum we realized we were staying in a perfect location. We were within walking distance of all the wonderful sites and museums along the Mall.

Later that evening, Addie and Lange arrived. Like Steve, they come to visit us every year when we cruise and we always have a great time together.

On Sunday, we all walked over to the Hirshhorn Museum to see the fabulous retrospective exhibit of the works of Laurie Anderson. She is so incredibly creative and the exhibit was unique and fascinating. We spent a few hours there and the four of us were equally enthralled.

Afterwards we found a great place for lunch - José Andres’s Jaleo, an excellent tapas restaurant. It also had its fair share of fabulous artwork.

After a delicious lunch and a pitcher of sangria, we were happy campers!  

On the walk back to Zendo even the buildings that were under renovation were beautiful to look at!

On Monday, we met the King’s daughter Natalie and her husband Ben, at a quirky museum called The Mansion on O.  It consists of several townhouses that hold a huge collection of memorabilia of all sorts donated by artists, musicians, etc.  Not many DC museums are open on Monday. This one sounded  kind of interesting. We had fun exploring it and searching for the 80+ secret doors it has but we wouldn’t necessarily recommend it to others.  Afterwards they all came onboard Zendo for drinks and appetizers and we headed over to Bethesda so Natalie and Ben could show us the townhouse that they bought and are renovating. We had yummy pizza in downtown Bethesda afterwards. It was another fun day!

Addie and Lange left on Tuesday and we settled in for a quiet day before I left the next day for Charlotte, NC. My friend, Cathy’s mom had sadly passed away and I flew to Charlotte to attend the funeral.  Cathy’s friend Betsy flew in from Kansas City and we stayed with Cathy to help out and support her during this sad time.

In the meantime, Jonny moved Zendo to a nearby mooring ball and had a blast showing Archie all the sights in D.C.

Jonny took some time on his own to visit the Renwick Gallery which he really enjoyed.

He spent the following day with our friend, Greg, who took Jonny for a 24 mile bike ride in Alexandria. Here they are in their matching riding outfits!

Greg and Lynda also kindly lent us one of their cars to drive the next day to pick up our car at the Kinsale, VA marina where we had been wintering Zendo.  We will be keeping Zendo in Manteo, NC this coming winter for more repair work and we needed to position our car there for the ride home.

I returned to DC on Friday night and on Saturday we drove to Kinsale  to pick up our car.  Unfortunately we forgot Archie’s CBD and he got carsick on the winding country roads.  We said goodby to Rob, who had owned the recently sold White Point Marina. We quite enjoyed being at this beautiful remote location but we aren’t sure if we’ll be returning there in the  future.  

We then drove the two cars on to Manteo where we left our car to be able to drive back to Miami.  We stayed overnight at a hotel in Manteo and drove back in Greg’s car to Alexandria on Sunday.  We visited with Greg for a couple of hours, grabbed some dinner and Greg drove us back to Zendo.

This would be our last night in DC before beginning our journey home.  It was a wonderful visit and we will gladly return to the Capital Yacht Club and nearby mooring field in the future. There are so many wonderful things to see and do in our nation’s capital! And with a view like this from our boat, who can resist?