Oh, wow, I’m really behind. Once I got wheels, I was off on errands. Makai is safely docked at Solomon Yachting Center. We love this place!
The marina is very small, situated on a tiny peninsula with short docks around the edge, we’re docked on the end. There is a small bath house right in front of the boat and a bigger one a few steps away at the pool, with washing machines close enough that I can wait at the pool while they scrub up our clothes.
As soon as Makai was tied up, we all jumped ship. Topaz took in all the smells of land, her nose was working overtime. There is a small bar/restaurant next to the pool that offers $1 draft beers every afternoon.
We swam and had pizza and beer for dinner. What a treat!
Thursdays are open mike night, so there was live entertainment all evening. It’s like heaven, no bugs, the weather has been nice, plenty of amenities and conveniences, groceries 5 min away by car, we’re going to be really spoiled after living here. The jelly fish around the boat are a reminder about how thankful we are to have that pool. The salty areas of the Chesapeake bay are filled with sea nettles. NOAA even has a sea nettle jelly fish forecast map, its really cool.
FRIENDS! One of the highlights of our whole trip is making new friends. We’ve always been good at making friends, but when we’re busy with our daily lives we’re more likely to pass up opportunities to meet new people. In the beginning the kids were a bit shy. I know you all are puzzled because I described my kids as shy. Now, when we put the anchor down they all say, “Lets go make friends.” Here at the marina we made friends right away with Ben and Savannah on the next boat over. They have little girls in and out all the time. Braden and Marley became instant pals for Genny and Marie.
Roy enjoyed checking Ben’s crab pots. At the end of the day he would collect a dozen or so for an evening snack. Having experts to teach us how to catch and eat the local delicacy is a real blessing. Savannah was about to show us how to crack a crab when I smacked it with the mallet. She said that was one way to do it that she never saw before. Now I know the much more civilized method of peeling off the shell and smacking the claws with the mallet.
On the weekend more little girls showed up. Emily and Abby joined in the fun of playing, planning, setting up, and pretending.
So what else did we do for an entire week? I’m starting to clean up and out and replace housewares. I also had to unpack and repack the van which contained everything we thought we couldn’t live without when we left California. Eric had a handful of projects on the boat like replacing the sacrificial zincs so the propellers won’t corrode in the marina, pickling the water maker with an algaecide to protect it while it’s not being used, and packing up a few items to send out for repairs.
First order of business is to remove items to be donated. The boat was a charter boat for most of it’s life and was loaded with items meant to pamper paying customers. Jane (my friend and Makai’s previous owner) said she off loaded piles of stuff when she moved onto the boat, I offloaded at least two dinghy fulls of stuff when I moved aboard in Grenada, and this week I got rid of the rest. The boat was equipped with at least two sets of sheets and a full set of towels for each of the four bedrooms. All of which is over 10 years old and takes up lots of space. We also replaced the silverware, plastic cups, and dishtowels.
The sisters cleaned out their closets to make room for the many boxes of hand-me-downs stored in the van. This was an overwhelming task. Genny found that she grew two sizes over the winter so she was able to wear very little that she had saved. Marie on the other hand didn’t grow enough to get rid the the old clothes yet wanted to add in all the new ones. What a mess.
The first weekend the boat was in the marina was a road trip for us. We piled into a rented car and drove to New Jersey.
It was fun to drive over the bridges we previously sailed under. This is the Chesapeake Bay bridge that connects Annapolis on the west side of the bay to the Delmarva peninsula on the east side of the bay. Our road trip also took us over the Delaware and Chesapeake canal. After about 5 hours we arrived at Ginger and Bruce’s house. This was our first night on land since the fall.
The Harrison’s neighbor has cows. The kids take dinner’s left over vegetables to feed these live composters. The cows come running from where ever they are in the pasture for their snack. Have you ever seen a cow run? It’s really cool.
Yes dogs are allowed in the pool too. We had to lock Topaz out of the pool area when we didn’t want her wet.
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While Ginger and I went shopping for housewares and clothes for me, the girls stayed with Tesse, and Bruce took Eric and Roy fishing.
Bruce is a long time boy scout and volunteers to help maintain Yards Creek camp. This is also a favorite fishing spot.
Nothing makes Roy happier than a fishing trip. Except maybe a ‘catching’ trip. He and Bruce raked in several nice fish but released all of them for the scouts to catch another day.
Bruce and Ginger took good care of us over the weekend. We really appreciated all of their hospitality. It’s a real treat to have someone make dinner for us, we all get tired of whatever I can dig out of our lockers. In the evening Bruce would make a bon fire out back, and the neighbors even came over to enjoy the evening with us. We learned that Roy isn’t the only one with a friend with the same name. Ginger’s neighbor’s name is Maria Christine, just like my Marie Christine. On the way back to Maryland we stopped at Washington’s Crossing where General George Washington crossed the Delaware on Christmas night in 1776 to fight the Hessians in Trenton.
As we traveled up and down from between Maryland, New Jersey and then back up through Pennsylvania to New York, we saw some pretty countryside. We drove through downpours that keep the hills green and the streams full. I’m looking forward to coming back through in the fall to see the changing leaves.
After the boat was all packed up we headed north again toward my mother’s house in Buffalo, NY. On the way we stopped at Jodi and Scott Butler’s house. This was the family we met in Lewes, DE. They were on a family vacation at the beach when the kids all made friends!
They have a beautiful house with a big yard full of dog and kid fun.
The girls played Just Dance on the wii. It’s just as much fun watching as it is dancing. Around the corner is the doll area, it was so difficult pulling Genny and Marie away, we decided to stop by again on our way back to Maryland in September.
HI Mom, I’m Home! Anytime we had bad weather, too hot, too cold, too humid, too windy, too many bugs, too far to walk for groceries or laundry, too too too, all I could think of was getting to Mom’s house. We were greeted by Maria’s posters. I grew up with her mother, two houses down, and when we’re here she spends a lot of time there with Grandma and with us playing.
For now the girls are swimming with the dogs, Topaz and Mom’s dog JJ, they ride bikes, play dress up, draw pictures, play badminton, have picnics, have slumber parties.
The first day we were here Maria invited the girls to join here at the Hotel Lenhart. It’s haunted you know. Hotel Lenhart is 133 years old and has been owned by the same family since 1880.
I don’t see any ghosts in the picture, but Marie said she didn’t want to be in the picture in case a ghost appeared later.
I’ll have to go someday, the place is supposed to be beautiful.