Hello again! We arrived back in DC on Thursday September 23rd, late, and stayed the night at a Marriott. My sister, MaryLynne, and her husband Ted, came back with us to spend a week with us and a week in the DC area. After a good nights sleep, we spent Friday showing them Austin’s hotel and getting the boat ready for cruising. Fortunately, our wonderful daughter-in-law, Cindy, agreed to help us return our rental car, and ferry us back to the marina, so we treated her to dinner. It was also our 33rd wedding anniversary, so MaryLynne and Ted graciously picked up the tab!!

Saturday, September 25th 2010

We left Fort Washington marina and headed south down the Potomac River. It is hot today!! No wind to speak of, so no sailing. We traveled as far as the Tobacco River, then anchored in the same bay we stayed in on the trip up the Potomac. After a full day of traveling, we were hot and sweaty, so ML and I opted to go for a swim. The water was very refreshing, and was not yet salty. It had been many years since we had last swum together off “Trojan”, our family’s boat while we were growing up. It brought back many memories.

That evening, we were watching “Grumpy Old Men”, when we got a call from our sister Judy. She informed us that our Uncle Jim had passed away. This brought back a whole slough of other good memories, but left us feeling very far from home.

Sunday, September 26th 2010

We awoke to a cold, damp, foggy morning. As we continued our travels southeast, the weather worsened, so we decided to cut our journey short, and motored into Colonial Beach to sit it out. I could not believe our luck! As we entered the harbor, we hit some shoaling in the channel and went aground. Fortunately, I was able to put it in reverse and got us off.

The Colonial Beach Marina is almost a mile from town, so we decided to take a taxi into town. The taxi driver was not a great representative of the area, as he could not think of one thing that we should bother to see. He gave us a quick tour of the town, then dropped us at a restaurant he thought we should try. We passed, and found a lunch spot of our own. We spent the next hour or two browsing through some of the gift shops and art galleries. When we called for the taxi to take us back to the boat, we were informed that he was out of town and wouldn’t be back for an hour. So, we spent the next hour at the tiki bar on the beach, having cold drinks and watching football. It actually was an hour and forty-five minutes before he picked us up!

Monday, September 27th 2010

Since the weather refused to cooperate, we decided to rent a car and see some of the sights in the surrounding area. We drove south to Stratford Hall, a plantation that belonged to the family of Robert E. Lee, and the home where he was born. It was in a beautiful setting, and we were with a handful of other tourists, so we really got a good tour. We were allowed to see 18 of the rooms in the house, as well as the kitchen, housekeeper’s room, overseer’s room, and stable, complete with carriages and buggies. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, then headed back to the boat for the evening.

Tuesday, September 28th 2010

Today Dave had some engine repairs to make, so ML, Ted and I took off and headed to Fredericksburg, Virginia, the site of 3 civil war battles. We stopped first at the Civil War Life Museum. We had read a write up about this unique museum, which turned out to be only a private collection of war antiquities in a one room space. We paid $5.00 each for maybe 15 minutes. They did have a 3D slide show, of pictures from the civil war era, that made you feel as though you were there!

We then perused the gift shops and had lunch in a deli, before heading across the river and up to Chatham Hall. This was another famous plantation that had the distinction of having 3 presidents visit. It became the headquarters for the Union army during the battle of Fredericksburg, and afterwards, it became a hospital for the wounded soldiers. You can still see the blood stained floorboards and graffiti written by the soldiers, on the walls. The house was later restored in the 1920’s, and was then used as a private residence before being willed to the National Park Service in 1973. It was surrounded with beautiful gardens and lawns.

Wednesday, September 29th 2010

We caught a break in the weather today, and decided to make a break to get farther down river. As soon as we left the marina, the rains settled in, but there was very little wind. We motored all day and arrived at Point Look Out Marina at about 4:30PM. It was a bit foggy as we entered the channel, and still raining, so the visibility made it a tricky entrance. We had just docked the boat and Dave was hooking up the power cord, when he took a step backward on the extremely narrow dock and walked right into the water. Ted yelled, “Man Overboard!!”, but ML and I were down below, with the air conditioner on, and did not hear him yell. Between the two of them, they managed to get him back on the dock!

We are now only 5 miles from Chesapeake Bay. They have a restaurant on the premises, so we took advantage of that and had dinner there that night.

Thursday, September 30th 2010

This has been the worst day yet!! All last night, and all day today, it has been raining. HARD!!! The docks are now covered with water and it has moved into the parking lot. It has also been very windy! We have been cooped up in the boat, since it is not fit for man nor beast outside. And, the weather forecast for the next few days looks BAD! We decided that there is no way we can safely make it to Annapolis by Saturday, or any day in the near future, so we will rent a car and drive back to DC for a few days, for a little bit of fun.

Cindy’s parents, Jim and Jelan will be visiting this weekend, and, we are dying to see our new grand puppy, Tiger. She is a Shiba Inu, and absolutely adorable!! Try googling it , and take a look for yourself. You will fall in love with this breed. They look like a miniature Husky. Tiger is red and white. So, in one weekend we can say hello to the in-laws, say hello to our new grand puppy, and deliver ML and Ted to DC, where they hopefully will have a better time the second week of their vacation.

From where we are at Point Look Out, we can drive up to Galesville, Maryland, where we will participate in our Whitby rendezvous, then drive to Annapolis for the Boat Show, and then, if the weather will give us a break, we will head south to warmer and hopefully dryer climates. We are watching the hurricane forecasts daily!!! We have no schedule after this next week, so we are in no hurry, and will stay safely holed up when we need to. We are disappointed that the weather has changed so dramatically, especially since ML and Ted came all this way to spend time on the boat with us. They will have to join us later, while we are in the Bahamas, to make up for it.

I hope this finds all of you in good health and hopefully better weather!! Please send me an email and let me know what has been happening with you. We will be away from home now, for quite a while, so emails from home would really be appreciated.
Sorry for the long delay in writing. We had a fabulous time back in Olympia, catching up with almost all of our friends and family. Matt and Jacinda have a beautiful new home, and were very gracious enough to let us stay with them, for quite a lot of our trip. Our thanks also to Norm and Kathy for letting us stay at the “Inn”, while we stayed in Longview. It was so good to see you both!!!

Love & Hugs,

The Admiral