Trip #7 Pasadena, MD - Norfolk, VA

Debbie and I had just happened to come across the soft opening of a bakery (which we weren’t able to pull off an invite to) while scouting for restaurants the evening before and were told the Grand Opening was the next day. So, that next day we stopped there on the way to Colonial Williamsburg and had a chaotic but tasty lunch before heading out to see the ‘living museum’.

Williamsburg is a pretty town and peaceful as there are no cars and big wide streets and cute ‘authentic’ shops and lovely reconstructed homes from the 17th and 18th centuries with real gardens and fences how they were in the day. We learned a little about gun making and wheel making and cooking the corn biscuits in a cast iron pan over a fire and soup that the young woman cooking said sometimes wasn’t edible until cooking for two days as the fire didn’t keep it hot enough. We watched a little of the townspeople reenacting speeches and debates about becoming a separate country from the British and later a round little Frenchman galloped across the lawn congratulating the troops on the final battle the French helped them win. It was charmingly cartoonish as he pointed his toes to push his little round self up from the saddle waving a flag to emphasize his words in his little French accent from the back of his well fed and patient horse. We had ale at an outdoor ale house serenaded by a guitar playing pilgrim and then called it a day.

We had dinner at Silt where the boys had ‘deconstructed’ pot pies and I enjoyed some very fresh arugula salad and delicious light waldorf salad.  Possibly our best meal of the trip. 

We had a very rolly night on the boat in the tiny marina, so we decided to move on to our final destination which was just 15 miles away and then rent a car to continue our sightseeing. Before heading out, we took a Segway tour of Yorktown. While John assured Debbie and Mike that no one ever gets hurt on a Segway, when we were coaxed off road by our guide up a grassy hill, Debbie’s Segway tipped over and Mike almost ran over her head. Disaster  was momentarily avoided and we so we segwayed on through the charming small historic Yorktown. Then, when the tour was finished and I was stepping off my Segway, I put too much weight on the back edge with one foot and it flew backwards and just before it took out a family sitting at an outdoor restaurant I was able to stop it! We were on "wild" Seguays not to be trusted.

Later, Debbie and I drove to Cardinal, VA while John and Mike braved the river crossing to the protected harbor. We drove to a few towns to see the best place to spend the afternoon and evening as Cardinal was just the ‘takeout’ place to store the boat for winter and very rural.

We found a decent town for dinner – Gloucester Courthouse, VA and after John and Mike boated across the bay in 5 foot seas and high wind, had safely tied up in the tiny marina, and washed the boat, we picked them up to go to dinner at LuLu’s Kitchen. The dinner was excellent, light and fresh

Wednesday morning John went for a very, very long walk to the hardware store while I did yoga on the dock. I noticed a duck sitting at the end of the dock. He watched me for half an hour, then when I stopped doing standing poses and got low to the ground in pigeon pose, he apparently took it as a sign of welcome and waddled slowly over to sit literally two feet in front of me. I had momentary concern that his beak was right at eye level and even though I love animals, I had a moment of wondering if he might want to bite my face! However, he was very sweet and hung out with me for the next 15 minutes until I finished. I went in the galley to get him a handful of Life cereal. He thought that was great, and after eating it, he was satisfied and he waddled away.

Debbie, Mike and I then walked to town to get breakfast where we met John, then we headed out for a five hour cruise to Yorktown, VA. It was a sunny day but the windy so we ended up with 4’ seas. Fortunately the sea was behind us so while we pitched an rolled back a bit it was a fairly pleasant cruise. Nevertheless just in case we all got washed off by a rogue wave, I decided to ride it out in the salon. Everyone else stayed up top as they weren’t concerned – and rightly so as all were fine! We arrived safely into Yorktown Marina and tied up before heading off to the Yorktown Pub for dinner. We endured a very rocky night as there was no breakwall.

Walking on, we came across a sand ‘street’ lined with palm trees and strung with festive lights, groupings of Adirondack chairs sat under the palms in front of the of bars, a restaurant and a tobacco shop. Another spot that looked like it would be really fun if it were sunny and alive with people and music so moved on to a nice but quiet dinner at the Charles St. Brassiere. 

Monday morning we awoke to a grey blustery day. I went for a jog on the short (1.5  mile) nature trail and ran errands while John stayed aboard to meet the repairman to address a couple of minor issues that he has been trying to get addressed

Debbie and Mike arrived around 11:00 to an almost empty St. Michael's harbor.  75% of the boats that had been here on the weekend were gone. I wondered how we were going to keep Mike and Debbie from going stir crazy, without great bike riding or kayaking weather in a sleepy little Maryland harbor town on a Monday. Yikes!!!

When Debbie and Mike arrived we whisked them off to the Cheaspeake Maritime Museum where we learned a lot about oystering and crabbing.  The buildings included a lighthouse which used to be located 5 miles off shore that was manned for years at a time by a single person. He would be out in the middle of the ocean with nothing around and everything would freeze over in the winter. It’s hard to imagine years of that!

We had dinner on the patio at Ava’s where they had a very neat outdoor ‘draft beer’ tap fountain. 

We said Aloha to Lombardis, and proceeded to drown our sorrows in laundry and general boat turnover.

Later we had a lovely cruise to St. Michaels where thanks to Don’s previous coaching as a first mate, we had a flawless docking even when I had to lasso the pylons for a fixed dock pier tie.  St. Michaels is considered one of the top ten best coastal towns according to USA Today and the St. Michaels Marina in the top 25 in the nation according to Power & Motor Yacht Magazine.  We had three choices of seafood restaurants right where we were docked and chose the aptly named Town Dock Grill.  

The following day was a day of rest and relaxation and John and I were on the boat by ourselves for the entire day.  It was a good day for us to get caught up on email, reading and most importantly, the blog.  We ended the day with a lovely dinner at Theo's.  Definitely the best meal we have had to date.  

We had another beautiful cruise from Rock Hall to Annapolis where we perused the lovely town. That evening John’s childhood classmate Ann and her husband Jeff stopped by for drinks on the boat. We all had a nice Italian dinner at Osteria.   

Friday morning as part of the morning boat prep Don installed a spring on the fly bridge refrigerator that holds it up and keeps it from slamming on one’s head – which we all agree is excellent!  We walked through town to check out the shops and have lunch at Carol's Creek Cafe. We took a water taxi to the US Naval Academy in the afternoon and rubbed shoulders with Admiral Paul (4 stars on his epaulets), watched some drills and perused the model ship collection. Then we went to dinner at Iron Rooster, where we started with appetizers of housemade pop tarts, then main courses of pot pie, and were waited on by an Alex look-alike from Modern Family.  The town was vibrant with music on the streets and people enjoying the balmy night air.

We had another beautiful cruise from Rock Hall to Annapolis where we perused the lovely town. That evening John’s childhood classmate Ann and her husband Jeff stopped by for drinks on the boat. We all had a nice Italian dinner at Osteria.   

Friday morning as part of the morning boat prep Don installed a spring on the fly bridge refrigerator that holds it up and keeps it from slamming on one’s head – which we all agree is excellent!  We walked through town to check out the shops and have lunch at Carol's Creek Cafe. We took a water taxi to the US Naval Academy in the afternoon and rubbed shoulders with Admiral Paul (4 stars on his epaulets), watched some drills and perused the model ship collection. Then we went to dinner at Iron Rooster, where we started with appetizers of housemade pop tarts, then main courses of pot pie, and were waited on by an Alex look-alike from Modern Family.  The town was vibrant with music on the streets and people enjoying the balmy night air.

Tuesday morning at the Inner Harbor East, John & Don further spiffed up the boat, I practiced some yoga, and we all then went out to see the sights in Baltimore. Walking to town for lunch we came upon The James Joyce Irish Pub so I persuaded everyone to eat there due the weight of this literary icon (and it was a cool looking place). We ate a lovely lunch on the patio listening to Irish music.  Later we toured three historic ships in the harbor: The USS Constellation a sloop-of-war built in 1854, The USCGC Taney, a Coast Guard cutter, and the USS Torsk, a WWII era submarine.

Then it was a tour through the National Aquarium with only about two dozen other tourists in the whole place. It was lovely walking through and looking at sea horses, dolphins, tropical fish, brightly colored frogs, sawfish and even crocodiles. The octopus was big and gorgeous. He played with toys put in by the keepers and gracefully showed off his tentacles it seemed just for Debbie and me. He watched us as he maneuvered about seeming to know we were appreciating it.

The message in the jellyfish exhibit was that jellys are on the rise as they thrive in warmer (global warming) waters and can handle more polluted water due to their primitive systems. Unfortunately, as they eat small fish and organisms that larger fish feed on, it’s taking away much of the food for bigger fish and hurting their populations.

We then headed to Little Italy for dinner at Joe Benny's (where Joe himself encouraged us to come on in) and walked back to the boat to hang out under the city lights on the fly bridge

We woke up Monday to fabulous weather, low 80’s, no humidity, no bugs, lovely sunshine. John and Don worked furiously getting the boat ready and organized while Debbie and I organized not so furiously in the galley and heads. We cruised a short two hours early afternoon arriving in Baltimore around 4:00.  After checking in we sat on the upper salon and had a cocktail, then walked to Fells Point for dinner. We chose a restaurant/bar called ‘One-Eyed Mikes’ in honor of Rick Knauf who apparently has the nick-name “One-Eyed Rick”. Unbeknownst to me, (and maybe you?) when it wasn’t sooo illegal to drink and drive, some people would  throw back a few and then drive with one eye closed as their vision wouldn’t blur and with one eye one can see ‘straight’. Not that Rick was driving drunk to get that nickname, I think he was just once seen quite drunk and was given the name from that one evening long ago and it stuck. After dinner we walked around Fells Point and checked out the bohemian, artsy, city scene which was surprisingly hopping on a Monday night.

We landed at Dulles International after an easy hassle free on Virgin Airlines flight around 3 pm and caught an Uber for the hour and a half to Pleasure Cove Marina. We dropped our luggage on the boat and went into town for dinner at Two Rivers Steak & Fish House. After dinner we walked to the Safeway to get provisions of fruit, oatmeal, cheese and crackers, etc. for the trip. Then stayed up a little too late talking and unpacking and cleaning up the smudges and other remnants on the boat left behind by the workers while the boat was in storage.