All posts by Diana

Visit with my Mom & Kay – Viriginia

October 29, 2013TourismMonticello, Montpelier, VirginiaDiana

My Mom (Sally) and her friend from the library Kay came out to visit in early October. We had such a great time and their visit was really fun. Here’s the first post chronicling our adventures! 🙂

The boat was based in Annapolis, but we rented a car and explored everywhere from Baltimore to Monticello! With the government shut down and virtually everything in Washington DC closed we decided to head to Virginia for a night and visit Monticello.

Hello Virginia!

It was our good luck on the way down that we saw signs for James Madison’s Montpelier. Since we’re such easy going gals we decided that would be a great stop for the afternoon and then we could head to Monticello in the morning. James Madison, our 4th president, is considered the Father of the Constitution. We got to tour his home and enjoy the beauty of Virginia. Unfortunately that beauty also included Stink Bugs! These beetle like creatures fly and love to land on you to take a rest. I definitely was not a fan!

Montpelier

It’s sure pretty in Virginia

Blue Ridge Mountains

My mother in her natural habitat!

After a nice afternoon and a good dinner we headed out the next morning to go to Monticello. My Mom said this was a place she had always wanted to visit so was thrilled that we were going. Her excitement was infectious and we were all really looking forward to our visit. We got there and got our tour assignment and then rode a bus up to see the mansion. The mansion had many interesting features…. Kay remembered from a previous visit that it was designed so every room had natural light. It was really nice inside and I love all that light. Thomas Jefferson had designed a clock in the foyer that would not only count the hours, but the days as you went through the week. He also slept in a bed that was 6ft 4in long and he was 6ft 3in tall! This bed was in a wall and you could step out on either side, into the actual bedroom or into the den type room. I have to mention too that Kay is great to have on a tour. Her inquisitive nature led her to ask many questions and I’m sure we learned much more than any other group! Thanks Kay! 🙂

Enjoying our mother / daughter time.

My Mom and Tom.

Thomas Jefferson’s grave is onsite as well.

After a great visit to Monticello and some good shopping in the gift shops we headed out. We didn’t get too far though because lunch at Michie Tavern was calling. 🙂 They have an excellent homey buffet with all the folks who work there dressed in costume. It was delicious and fun too.

After lunch we headed back to Annapolis. My Mom and Kay loved being on the boat at it’s mooring ball in Spa Creek. They even liked the dingy rides back and forth to get there! I’m glad they both are adventurous. It made for a really fun time.

p.s. Coming up is more on our adventures in Batimore, Mount Vernon and D.C. and even Steven and Rosemary make an appearance!

October 23, 2013UncategorizedDiana

Clothing worn while sailing today: long underwear, wool socks, wool hat, pants, shirt, jacket, down vest, foul weather gear.

It is definitely time to move South!

Martha’s Vineyard

September 2, 2013TourismMartha's Vineyard, Vineyard HavenDiana

After Nantucket Martha’s Vineyard was a bit of a let down. If Nantucket is where rich people go to show off then Martha’s Vineyard is where they go for privacy. Which meant there was not much to do and not much going on. Add to that the fact we got there after Labor Day and it made for a pretty quiet stay. We stayed in Vineyard Haven which is known for having the Black Dog tavern which we thought was kind of cool. But we were always foiled at our attempts to go there usually arriving between lunch and dinner when they’d shut down.

However we still took the obligatory picture.

We wanted to get a better feel for the island so we did another bus tour. Martha’s Vineyard is pretty big and I think we drove around 60 miles and didn’t see all of the island! We saw a lot of pretty houses, lots of beginnings of driveways that rich people live down and nice views of the water. On the tour the fog rolled in making the scenery eerie and beautiful!

Cool houses downtown

More houses.

Someone rich and famous has a house down there.

Fog rolling in.

As you can imagine there are lighthouses on Martha’s Vineyard as well! We didn’t get to the lighthouse until the fog was in but still got some good shots.

There once was a man from Nantucket…

September 1, 2013TourismMassachusetts, NantucketDiana

After an awesome passage and a fun rest stop in Provincetown we headed down to Nantucket.

Yay Provincetown!

Nantucket is an interesting place. The way we’d sum it up is that it’s where rich people come to show off. It has lot’s of bling and fancy shops and restaurants. Try getting a meal here for under $20 a plate! Even with all that I found the island itself charming with cobblestone streets in town and all the grey shingle houses. To get a feel for Nantucket we took a tour that drove us around the whole length of the island.

Getting cozy on the bus.

The first house built on the island.

Random windmill….

Nantucket architecture

These are mostly just summer homes….

The tour also stopped at one of the lighthouses on the island. The island has been eroding and this lighthouse had to be moved back from the cliff to save it! Seems like a lot of effort to me…

We were here a few days so we took advantage of the night life and went out to listen to some live music. Brett and Ryan were having two very different experiences….

But in the end we all had a good time!!

One of the most fun nights we had was when we were hanging out and ended up getting absorbed by a bachelorette party! They were a bunch of girls down from New York and we had a great time dancing with them (yes Ryan and Brett danced)! It made for a fun and random night! We all took a taxi to another club and the girls fit in the back of the taxi!

Hello ladies…

Too soon it was time to leave…. Bye Nantucket!

Moving South

August 28, 2013Offshorefog, Gulf of Maine, MaineDiana

After a week on Mount Desert Island it was time to say goodbye to Maine and start following the birds south. We had reached our goal destination and quite frankly had had enough of the lobster traps! I don’t know how people sail in Maine regularly because we found it really tiring always being on full alert. Thank goodness we had Brett to help keep watch and spread the fun around! The good thing about paying so much attention though was that we didn’t miss any of the beautiful scenery!

We knew our passage would be about 36 hours so we set out early in the morning and bid farewell to the most northern point on our journey. We knew the first several hours would be spent dodging lobster traps so we all took turns up on the bow.

Goodbye Maine!

If only we could teach Stanley to help on watch!

We couldn’t have asked for a calmer sea. It was almost glassy as we headed out into the Gulf of Maine. We could have asked for some wind though! Ah well, you get what you get…

Beautiful, calm day.

Ryan getting a little shut eye.

A beautiful day led into a beautiful sunset, but fog was looming on the horizon….

Maine just could not let us get away without experiencing that famous Mainer Fog. We had good luck up until this point of not getting caught out in the fog. After all we’d heard about it we weren’t sure if we’d even be able to SEE Maine. 🙂 The fog started up right at sunset and was with us until our arrival in Cape Cod the next morning!

The bow of our boat. Can’t see much beyond that….

Other than the fog it was an uneventful voyage and we made it safely down to Provincetown on the tip of Cape Cod. Oh and we saw some dolphins having fun!

Bah Hahbah (Bar Harbor) on Mount Desert Island

August 27, 2013TourismBar Harbor, Maine, Mount Desert IslandDiana

Bar Harbor is the “big” city on Mount Desert Island. We were able to ride the free buses there from where our boat was docked in Northeast Harbor. It’s actually a really nice service where LL Bean pays for free transportation all through the island. Since our boat was docked in the well protected but with nothing at all going on Northeast Harbor we were happy to be able to get over to Bar Harbor for a little fun.

Bar Harbor is pretty fun and we met a nice local girl who gave us the low down on where to go. She knew all the good happy hours, best dive bars and yummiest pizza! Besides eating and drinking Bar Harbor is a fun place to shop! Lots of cute places even a fun dog store named Bark Harbor!

Lobsters anyone?

View of the harbor.

More Harbor

Dingy parking

I couldn’t get Ryan to pose in the lobster. 🙁

Lobster traps.

Enjoying pizza!

Northeast Harbor on Mount Desert Island

August 24, 2013TourismMaine, Mount Desert Island, Northeast HarborDiana

When we got to MDI we decided that Northeast Harbor would be a good secure port to stay awhile. It didn’t have the shops and restaurants of Bar Harbor but it sure was pretty.

We went and visited the beautiful gardens and enjoyed the quiet.

Ryan taking in the beauty.

More gardens

Our boat from above

The rocky landsape

Full moon!

Hiking Acadia

August 21, 2013TourismAcadia, Maine, Mount Desert IslandDiana

The farthest north, or “Down East” as they say, that we made it was Acadia National Park on Mount Desert Island. This was a place we had all been looking forward to. Brett had briefly visited before but the weather was bad so he didn’t get to see much of the island. What he remembered though was that it was beautiful and he couldn’t wait to go back! So, what did we do on our first full day? We got suited up for a hike up Mt Penobscot about 1200 ft above sea level.

Smiling as we start off.

Stanley smiling too!

The day was hot and, after a mile in the shade, most of the rest of the trail was exposed. That meant there were some pretty nice views though!

We even saw some wildlife along the trail!

Camouflage!

One of the funny things about Acadia is that they have all these really big lakes that they call “ponds”. Everything there is a pond. By their definition Lake Tahoe would be a pond! We came upon one of these ponds when we were almost to the top of the mountain. We were all really hot and needed to cool off, especially Stanley. Unfortunately Stanley is NOT a water dog. 🙂 Since he wouldn’t go in willingly Ryan decided to dunk him.

Look at that face!!

Shortly after that we made it to the top. What nice views.

Brett taking it all in.

At the top!

Even though the day was hazy and hot it was a fun hike! Time to head down now…

Maine Lighthouses

August 21, 2013Tourismlighthouse, MaineDiana

Some of the many many lighthouses we have seen on our trip.

Mosquito Island

August 20, 2013TourismMaine, Merchant HarborDiana

We needed a place to rest between BoothBay Harbor and Acadia National Park on Mount Desert Island so we stopped at Merchants Harbor. This is a rural anchorage in between some small islands which is well protected except when the lobster boats come whizzing through at 6am in the morning!

We needed to take Stanley ashore so we took our dingy over to one of the islands. Once there we found out that we had landed on Mosquito Island! They surrounded us in huge black clouds. We had to wait until Stanley did his business and then rushed back to the boat. They tried following us so we ran our dingy around in circles to blow them off. It was really quite funny, but I am not going back on that island!