Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Tonight we are anchored in Swan Creek near Rock Hall, MD the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake. Except for one intense but brief squall, (35kts) it is very quiet and we are the only boat in a large anchorage. To give you an idea of how protected this spot is, we had steady winds of 25kts before we turned the corner into this cove. Now…..well the anchor chain is resting easy on the bottom and the snubber isn’t working at all.

The trip up the Potomac was all that we had hoped for. Enroute to DC we anchored at St. Mary’s, a historical town and dinghied in to the local college sailing club dock where they graciously allowed us to tie up for the day so that we could tour the area.






The anchorage at St. Mary's








The next day we made way to Colonial Yacht Center in Colonial Beach. A great seaside town made even better because it is golf cart friendly. The weather kicked up a bit and we were ahead of schedule so we decided to spend a couple of extra nights. We met a husband and wife on a 46’ Morgan sailboat who shared drinks and dinner with us plus volunteered to take Connie shopping with their car one morning. Ty and Suzanne are both retired Naval Officers and she is a published writer with a couple of books to her credit. They are seasoned cruisers with an Atlantic crossing under their belt along with time in the Med and have cruised north to Newfoundland. Suzanne gave us an autographed copy of her book which Connie & I quickly devoured. More on that at a later time.

In Washington we were at the Capital Yacht Club where we docked from Saturday, (5/10) through Monday, (5/19) evening. While there our plan was to tour the capital for a few days and then fly from Reagan National to Minneapolis, MN so that we could attend a wedding in Wisconsin. Connie has two cousins who live in the DC area, Marjie and Shirley. Despite short notice they came by to see the boat and spent a couple of hours chatting and catching up on family news.

Our cousin Dom is now employed with Internal Revenue here in D.C. and he did a superb job, (on his day off!) of getting us started with directions, guided tours and Metro passes. It wasn’t that long ago he was running for class president and enjoying high school. Now Dom is here in the nation’s capital doing, “the people’s business”.



Dom & I at the Navy Yard












For the next couple of days Connie & I were up and out early in the morning with a plan to visit the various attractions. We enjoyed the monuments and memorials, and I finally made it to the Navy Memorial and Navy Yard/Museum. We were able to see most of the major sites, although I could easily spend another week here. Of all the sights, Arlington Cemetery, the Vietnam Memorial and the Korean War Memorial were very impressive.






Connie at the Korean War Memorial










Kristine; the daughter of our good friends and former business partner Mike & Bobbie Evavold was taking the big step on May 17th and we would not have missed this day. The wedding was held in Holcombe, WI, not far from Chippewa Falls. I know that sounds like a joke and you can laugh, (I did) but we drove the area for a couple of days and fell in love. MN & WI are truly the heartbeat of America, friendly people with mile after mile of farms and lakes. We met Mike the first afternoon we arrived for a reunion of sorts at a Vietnamese restaurant in St. Paul that we have frequented many times over the years we have been doing business there. We were not disappointed!

Later that evening we met Katie & Steve Otto from St. Paul for dinner. They are both lawyers and she was corporate counsel for us. Somehow she managed to keep Mike & me out of trouble when we were involved with the rehabilitation business. We continued as though no time had passed at all with fine dining and a couple of bottles of wine.

The wedding was a family affair in every sense. No words can describe it adequately, except to note that the local church was filled to capacity and the reception was a giant party.

I neglected to mention that Mike decided to surprise his wife and daughters with our arrival well before the wedding. We drove to a nearby town and dropped in on them while they were having the usual pre-nuptial manicure, etc. Once inside Mike announced that he was going to have a pedicure and asked; wasn’t I? Not to be outdone I agreed. The photos will tell the story. I’ll spare you the details, they are better after some wine or beer.




"You got purty feet!"










We had time to kill between all the festivities and took a tour of the Lienenkugel Brewery in Chippewa Fall, WI. Would you believe the 7th oldest in the country? It was a great tour, capped by free samples. At the completion of the tour the guide asked a question related to information she had presented earlier. The correct answer won a t-shirt. Yup, you guessed it, Connie had the right answer. I will never live this down, especially since I very loudly shouted out an incorrect answer.

Very early, (O Dark Hundred) Tuesday morning we departed Washington in a downpour and headed downriver. Fortunately we had read Nobeltec, (navigation system) correctly and had the current with us the whole way which enabled us to reach the mouth of the river and an anchorage before sunset.

All that stands between us and RI is the Delaware Bay, New Jersey coast and the Long Island Sound. As always we’ll watch the weather and take whatever conditions allow.



Paul & Connie


M/V The Rose, GH37


anchored Swan Creek, MD