St. Michaels to Annapolis

St. Michaels was a great little burg and really good people watching. The historic churches and homes were great and it must be a destination wedding site because half of the people there seemed to be dressed to go to a wedding or had awful bridesmaid dresses in cleaner’s bags. The anchorage up San Domingo Creek was crowded but really calm with a great sunset. Sunday was a perfect morning to zig back across the Chesapeake from St. Michaels to Annapolis. The waters were fairly calm; it was sunny and no gusty winds. There were sailboats in abundance and we had to dodge them like crab pots, but we figured if you had a boat and weren’t out on it on a beautiful day like this—well you might as well sell it. We listened to Charlie Chase and Lori Anne Crook with the Country Countdown and saw a lot of rays (or were they skates?!) in the pretty green waters. Around 2:30pm we pulled into busy Annapolis Harbor and grabbed a mooring ball so we could settle down and watch the parade of boats coming into Ego Alley. Ego Alley is the canal in downtown Annapolis where all the go-fast boats and yachts come to show off their stuff. A bright and sunny Sunday afternoon in June seemed to be the ticket. About dusk we went over on the East Bank to one of the many restaurants (Boatyard Bar and Grille-yum) to give the waters some time to settle down—up until dark we were rocking and rolling with the traffic and we knew once it got dark it would settle down—WRONG. Apparently it was not only the traffic making such choppy water but the southerly winds brought in rollers from the Chesapeake. After an unrestful night we resolved to move down the creek for Monday night but the parade had been fun.

St. Michaels Lighthouse

Christ Church and Cemetery in St. Michaels

Sailboaters on the Chesapeake

Busy Annapolis Harbor

If you look closely there is a ray/skate

Solomons to St. Michaels

Small Craft warnings on the Chesapeake kept us in Solomons 2 days longer than we planned but there are certainly worse places to be stuck and we have learned to respect the waters here. We had our friends the Valentines docked beside us and the sun was out—the winds were just high. So, Friday morning we saw a weather window and made an early start across the Chesapeake, behind Tilghman Island to the “backdoor” of St. Michaels with an anchorage up the San Domingo Creek. The dingy ride from here is about 5 minutes (and a 3 block walk) where we found a charming St. Michaels gearing up for the weekend. They have a Maritime Museum boasting their part in the War of 1812 (with the British—didn’t we just have the Revolutionary War 35 years earlier) that they are mighty proud of but we are sort of museum-ed out. One sign summed it up for us—there was no clear winner of the War of 1812 but we held on to what we had. Beers at the Foxy Bar and Grille offered great entertainment with all the hot dog boaters coming in and docking from Annapolis and a 2 person band (with guitar and bongos!) singing oldies. We had anchored about 1:30pm and were one of 3 boats, when we came back there were 8 boats—all sailboats—with us. It was a busy creek but had a beautiful sunset albeit some cranky sailors who did not like our generator noise. We scouted the town out yesterday and will go back Saturday to hit the high spots.

Leaving Solomaons

Calvert Cliffs full of sharks teeth and fossils

Passing a big boy on the calm, blue Chesapeake

Glad to have our Osprey back squawking at us when we got too close

San Domingo Creek Anchorage

The Calvert Marine Museum in Solomons

After our stay in Washington we did not think another museum would catch our fancy but a visit to this lighthouse and museum that was just across the creek from us was impossible to resist. It was geared towards young people and just the right thing for our intellectual level after the heavy stuff in DC. The Drum Point Lighthouse had been moved to this location and a fairly large museum built to support it. The Calvert Cliffs are right around the corner here on the Chesapeake and produces a lot of sharks teeth and bones from the past. They had a collection of ski/fishing boats from the 1940’s. A lot of kids were there building wooden boats (like the soapbox derby cars) and sailing/racing remote control sailboats. Pretty cool plus it had live otters.

Drum Point Lighthouse

View of the Museum from the Lighthouse

This one is for Holden

This one is for Leeton



Neat Lighthouse

Here is your Lighthouse Outhouse

College World Series Champs!

Watching the Vandy Baseball Team pile up on the pitcher’s mound as the College World Series Champs makes me really proud. Tim Corbin, our head coach, is a great guy and one of my heroes and now his team is College Baseball's National Champ. My first encounter with Tim Corbin was 12 years ago when he came to Vanderbilt and he came to the Staff Council to sell his new team to the Vanderbilt community--he promised they would be winners. John Norwood is the man and I am proud. While we are waiting out the rough seas of the Chesapeake here at Solomons, we get EPSN while docked so we got to watch.

Do you travel when the weather is perfect or do you see the sites? That is the question.

Yesterday and today in Solomons, MD at Calvert Marina and the weather could not be more perfect: 3-5 mph winds and low of 70 at night high of 80 during the day. Tomorrow is the only day with 60% chance of rain but the winds aren’t supposed to be bad (around 7mph). Oxford is our next stop and while it is across the Chesapeake it is only about 30 miles. Life is tough when: do we stay or do we go is the biggest decision of the day. Our delightful friends, Theresa and Larry Valentine (crossed the Gulf with them—saw again in Beaufort, SC) pulled into Calvert yesterday about 5 hours after we did and they have been here before so we are having great conversation with other humans—sometimes it is nice for me to talk recipes and Fitz to talk engines with others. We were sad to hear the news that our friends Nina and Bart (from Knoxville area and we were with them in Dunedin, FL) had to abandon the Loop in Savannah, GA where they had to have their boat repaired (taking on water from running aground). We realize how lucky we are every day. Loose plan for the next 2 weeks—Oxford, MD anchor, St. Michaels, MD anchor, Annapolis, MD mooring, Gibson Island anchor, Baltimore, MD at Maryland Yacht Club for July 3rd-5th (all important fireworks). Wish you were here....

Solomons has plenty of restaurants

Sunny Days (us) and Lauren Grace (the Valentines) at Calvert Marina

Busy place this Solomons

Solomons and the Summer Solstice

The longest day of the year and we found ourselves at the terrific anchorage in Bushwood Wharf 2/3 the way down the Potomac -- after 10pm, soft rain started and continued through the night—a great night to sleep on the hook. We finished with the Potomac and made our way back out in the Chesapeake and this time we had smooth sailing—the gods were smiling. We pulled into the Solomons on the western shore of the Chesapeake a couple of miles up the Patuxent River—a very popular place with the locals. We anchored the first night and will go into Calvert Marina tonight, pick up mail and see the town. Fitz is excited because they have a West Marine and we can get our charts for the trip after the Chesapeake. We listened to the NASCAR race and heard Carl Edwards (one of our favorite drivers) win for the first time, Skyped with Katie and the grandbabies (lord they are growing) and talked to Nick on the phone. After the busy time in DC this was the best way to unwind.


Anchorage at Bushwood Wharf with the Gold Looper

Marker on the Chesapeake coming out of the Potomac

Some kind of government facility not on any charts--Top Secret?

Regetta coming into  Solomons

Great Anchorage

Another angle of our great anchorage

Last Day in DC

First laundry, then grocery store and we scope out next cruising step before we take off on the bikes for the Smithsonian. It has cooled off (it is only in the 80’s) and this day was full of surprises and was a wonderful way to end our stay in DC. You could really spend a week a year for your entire life and not do the museums, memorials, government bldgs., justice. The Smithsonian for the day was American History—it got voted down 25 years ago when we were here and I was determined to see the inaugural dresses of the first ladies. Then we were biking back towards the waterfront and in front of the National Gallery Sculpture Gardens they were gearing up for an evening of jazz. A lot of people young and old were gathering around the pond some with their feet in the water listening to the likes of Santana and Soul. It was a fabulous way to spend an evening-- watching people (I would guess 80% were residents of DC at least for the summer) with Sangria in hand. We had to drag ourselves out of there but then we rode back along the waterfront to the boat to get ready to leave out. Today we traveled 60 miles back down the Potomac and we have a lovely anchorage in Bushwood Wharf up the Wicomico River next to a Gold Looper (they have completed the loop ) if it is good enough for them…

Holden's Favorite--an early train

Early Apple

Sculpture Garden Spider with Jazz Crowd

I think they paid this man to dance --he was sure having fun!

Fitz loves jazz and people watching

On the Waterfront --a tribute to the Titanic--every event imaginal has a memorial here.



Trolley Tour, Newseum and Our Anniversary

We have become quite the expert on Old Town Trolley Tours. The absolute best was in Savannah where Tammy was our driver and she was full of non-stop historical info—St. Augustine and Charleston weren’t nearly as good—the DC tour we took today was 2 hours and it was almost as good as Savannah. Because we have been here a couple of days some was redundant. We did see a First Amendment Rally at the Capitol, all the memorials and we went by the Smithsonian. What is clear—the greatest art galleries in the country are here—our niece Brooke would be in 7th Heaven, We had parked our bikes outside the Newseum which we knew we wanted to tour after the Trolley Tour. We lunched at the Wolfgang Puck Restaurant in the Newseum and then saw the terrific history of journalism and media—The Newseum until the rain started around 4pm. It has been so hot we are really glad they could let us stay docked at the Capitol Yacht Club—we came home to await some storms but to a cool boat because we could leave the AC going. Tonight if we get an appetite we are going out to dinner to celebrate our 38th Anniversary.

1ST Amendment Rally at the Capitol

WWII Memorial and the Lincoln Memorial

Map inside the Newseum that show in green the Free Press Countries



Part of the World Trade Center Communication Antenna

View from the top of the Newseum--Black Suit catching cab--a lot of that around here

Happy Anniverary to us--we are the luckiest people you know

The Capitol, The White House and Supreme Court

First let me say: Representative Marsha Blackburn came through for us in a big way! Marsha’s office put together a tour of the Capitol today for us and it was great. We had an 11:15 appt. to get with Chelsea Ivens and Caroline Chalko for our first trip to Capitol Hill. This is the way to go. All the poor politicians and staff had dark suits on for this 95 degrees—the Fitzpatrick’s rode their bikes up the hill and wore our shorts and had our own personal guide-- cute little Caroline from Brentwood, Tn. We got to go sit in the visitors’ gallery on the floor of Congress and listened to members of Congress defend Veterans Health Care. We saw all the TN marble on the floors, the original House and Senate, great statues and the beautiful Rotunda. As you might imagine we had to have a pass, to get a pass, to stand in line, to get a pass, but Caroline smoothed the way. Caroline had recommended The Hamilton for lunch and so we headed there and had a beer and great sandwiches. We hit the Supreme Court before our Capitol tour and after lunch we biked around the White House. Check-Check-Check.


Our Favorite Fountain outside the Library of Congress

John Marshall --first Chief of the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court

The Capitol



Caroline Chalko was our terrific guide here she and Fitz are with Ronald Reagan

Stairs to the Rotunda

Caroline and Lola

Fitz at the Capitol

Washington DC- Day 1

Docked at Capitol Yacht Club at 10:50am and the first sight was 3 helicopters overhead with white tops –JP the dock hand gave us a Welcome to Washington and explained that was the President on one of the helicopters so he was obviously welcoming us as well. The 2 hour ride from Mt. Vernon was eventful only because of the extremely trashy river and Fort Washington. Reagan Airport came into view after Alexandria and across the river from DC—planes land and take off in quick procession right over the water. We checked in at the Marina office and walked the short walk to the Washington National Mall and promptly got sucked in and overwhelmed. There is so much to do and you could spend a week in each building. The temperature got to over 95 degrees and we walked for miles. We got a good overview of all we want to do and in the process wore ourselves out. Two highlights from the first day—lunch in the Café at the National Gallery of Art (its contents will require us to make a return trip) and the surprising Korean War Memorial. This should not be taken that all we saw today was not awesome—these two were just unexpected.


Fort Washington and Lighthouse

Reagan Airport

Entering Washington Channel --helicopter flew over

View outside the Capitol Yacht Club

Vietnam Vets Memorial



Washington Memorial

Korean Memorial



Fitz at the Vietnam War Memorial

Lincoln Memorial