A Short trip to Old Town Alexandria

Old Town Alexandria

October 16th-  Ah, the day began bright and early. Today our plan was to take a short trip over to Alexandria. But before heading out we had a few minor to-do lists. We had spent the morning cleaning and defrosting the fridge. It's amazing the 7cubic fridge can get inches of frost quite quickly but it's not cold enough to keep ice cream solid? Why is that? Once the fridge was cleaned, now it needed to be stocked with fresh produce and meats. Alas a trip to Safeway was definitely needed. Loaded with empty bags and our convenient cart we set out to shop.
Very interesting we discovered that the parking lane was blocked off along the waterfront streets and some streets were closed off to vehicle traffic. President Obama was giving a speech at the dedication to the Martin Luther King Memorial.
 While the groceries were being neatly stowed away, the captain readied the Summer Wind for her short trip down the Potomac.
Less then an hour later we arrived at Alexandria, Va and it was an interesting process tying her up at her slip. There were no dock hands, so as the line handler (first mate) I was challenged to lassoing the poles and inching the Summer Wind closer to the dock.
That afternoon we went for a stroll through Old Town Alexandria along King St and then took a tour of Christ Church. The tour guide was informative and made history come alive with her stories of the famous people that attended. George Washington had a townhouse in Alexandria and attended service. Robert E. Lee was also an attendee. There are weekly services currently held and the tour guide told us the whole church comes alive with music at Christmas time. We then walked along the waterfront and walked through the Old Torpedo factory which now houses artist studios where you can watch the artist practicing their craft.

Christ Church

Interior of Christ Church

The Wall Scriptures are original. The background is naturally aged white paint.

George Washington's Pew

The Board Walk

Developing a likeliness

Later that evening we enjoyed a wonderful visit from Debby, Lauren and Moira. We enjoyed a delightful dinner at 219 restaurant. We said good bye to the gals, sad to see them go. We had a great time together and will surely miss their company.

The Captain and the Flynn girls

A visit to Washington DC

October 11th -15th  Our trip up the  rest of the Potomac was a relatively short but very pretty trip. The color of the leaves on the trees are only beginning to change. We did however catch what we thought was a testing of a dinghy deployment. Just before the Woodrow Wilson bridge we noticed a large vessel coming at us at full speed, our thought was that it was a Coast Guard vessel. All of a sudden it made a turn and then completely stopped. Next thing we noticed was the back of the boat opening and a dinghy was deploying out of the stern and then started zipping around at full speed and then returned to the stern.  Hmmm, we wondered how we could get our dinghy deployed that quickly?

Stern of the boat lifting

Dinghy  pulls right into the stern

Early afternoon we were settled into the Capital Yacht Club. After checking the weather for the next few days we decided to go for a ' 2 mile walk' around the Tidal basin. On this walk we toured the Jefferson, FDR and now the Martin Luther King memorial. Each memorial was uniquely different.

Jefferson Memorial

FDR Memorial

 Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial

Wednesday, we toured the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. It was fascinating to watch how money was printed and we learned 'that money does not grow on trees!' During our trip we noticed a skid with a sign posted 'this skid $64,000,000.00 and there it was all neatly bundled together. Wow that's a lot of money!
That afternoon we also visited the Natural History museum and toured the "Ocean" and then the "Origins of Man" . At this exhibit we came across a group of 'teen Christians' and they wanted to discuss the theory of evolution and creation. It became quite an intense discussion.
Our whole time was not spent touring DC, we spent 3 lovely days with our daughter Debby and grand kids. We had a marvellous time catching up. We were treated to exciting volleyball and soccer games! The three girls are amazing athletes each with special skills. We were quite impressed. Grampy and I  enjoyed being read to and we loved hearing all about their adventures. Sadly we had to say good-bye but only for a day.

Lauren taking a great shot!

Moira

Meghan working her way through the white team!

Clements Bay and Mattawoman Creek

Ted & Nancy with Dick after OH Sh***

Sunday October 9th - Our plans for the day began with untying the lines from the dock and heading over to the pump out, where we were greeted by Ted and Nancy.

I'm sure you can guess what happened without me telling the tale. All of a sudden we heard " OH sh***!" Nancy and I looked over and before we could deduce what happened the mishap became apparent as the captain walked past and a not too pleasant odor followed as he was stripping off his shirt, shoes and then shorts "PHEWWWY!!!! Out came the bucket and laundry soap while the captain went below and showered in much cleaner water! Talk about creating a memory!

OK, so after that  we said our good byes and stopped at Calvert marina to fill our diesel tanks at $3.52/gallon.

We've had great luck with the seas on the Chesapeake and this day was no different. The seas were absolutely calm. The seas were no different at the entrance to the Potomac river. Sometimes this area can be treacherous.Our destination today was a new anchorage Canoe Creek off of Clements bay. Dropped a hook in this quiet little cove which we shared with a sailboat. The night was clear and the stars were amazing. The only odd noise we heard throughout the evening was the squawk of the heron. How can something so pretty sound so terrible?

Watching a Great White and Blue Heron fish

All is quiet

Sun setting in canoe creek

October 10th, 2011 -  The sun was clearing away the morning mist by the time we had the anchor raised. We had a quiet trip up the Potomac River. Our destination today was Mattawoman creek, an anchorage we do enjoy. This year we decided because the weather was inconsequential we'd anchor on the outside of the entrance. It's not as protected but it's a lovely spot. Found our spot and there were a few day sailors out partying on a raft. Next thing we knew we had a swimmer come along calling at the captain. He was a marine from Quantico across the river. He talked about 'some day owning his own vessel' and said our boat was sure pretty. After a brief conversation he swam back over to his raft. That evening we were again treated to a star studded night and barely a ripple on the water.

Morning Mist in Canoe Creek

Godspeed from Jamestown