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Captain serves Admiral breakfast in bed to celebrate end of season
Cruisers syndrome finally caught up with us during our last weeks aboard. Almost all things could be done tomorrow and life was easy. If tomorrow ever comes there is going to be a ton of stuff waiting for us there.
Basically, Laura and Joan continued to drag the boys around exploring every last nook and crannies of Calvert and St Mary's counties.
We did get in two delightful nights anchored at Broomes Island and Mill Creek. Then the work began to haul the boat and prepare it for the winter. That was done on 1 Nov at Washburn's boat yard and it went very smoothly. We were most pleased with the condition of the bottom after a year in salt water (Admirals note: One of us on board ran aground twice and we were a bit worried about the amount of living creatures we would find attached to the hull.) which will make preparation and relaunching next spring quite easy. Applying the 40'X75' 120lb piece of shrink wrap on a windy day was a new and exciting experience. The result was a really tough total enclosure which will provide much peace of mind as the winter stroms swirl.
After a frantic weekend 3-4 Nov chasing around we were off to Ft Walton and after a delightful night with our wonderful friends, the Paul and Nancy Goldsmith, in Greenville SC, we arrived home on the 6th.
It is difficult to find words to describe the joys and pleasures we experienced this summer. They greatly exceeded our hopes and dreams and more than rewarded the 5 years of boat building effort. . Although we feel unworthy and undeserving, we saw God's hand up close and personal as time after time mini miracles happened to pave and comfort our way. Not the least of which was the continuous fun and quality brought to our cruise by Laura and Jason, our boat buddies. We will miss them greatly and pray that our paths will cross again.
So this is it for the winter. We will relaunch Charis on 15 April, God willing, and wend our way North to cruise the Canadian canals. Most are unaware of these spectacular waters and if you are looking for something to do this winter Google up " Trent Severn Canal" "Rideau Canal" and "North Channel Cruising".
We thank all of you for your interest in our odyssey and look forward to an encore next year.
As usual more and final pictures at picasaweb.google.com/lropka in album "End of Summer"
Joan and Larry
Beautiful downtown Port Deposit Md.
Made famous as the birthplace of Charis' Captain. ;-)
A super highlight of our idyllic summer last week as we drove about two hours north to celebrate Larry's 75 birthday in the environs of his youthful boating days at the head end of the Chesapeake Bay.
We stayed in an ancient and antique B&B two nights and toured Havre De Grace, Port Deposit and Perryville. Larry contacted several relatives still in the area and had a delightful visit with his cousin Lee Steinhilber who he had not seen in 60 years. Lee is 85 or so and was very close to Larry's father. He still has total recall of Larry's early years and many long forgotten moments were joyfully recalled. Joan had a voice recorder so the visit is saved for posterity.
Larry also met several old timers who knew his father and all of the hunting and fishing lore of early 1900's. Joan delighted in the architecture and charm of the old towns and the quaintness of the natives. All in all, perhaps Larry's most memorable birthday
After returning to the boat Friday we headed out Saturday evening with our friends Laura and Jason to an obscure fall festival at St Clements, a small town nearby on the Potomac, expecting to see a few fireworks and the usual array of hot dogs and funnel cakes. To our surprise and joy there were all kinds of tasty seafood which we ate and possibly the most beautiful fireworks display we have ever seen this side of Taiwan.
Monday we ventured away from the dock to Broomes Island and Mill Creek for two nights at anchor. What a joy. Mill Creek was our favorite anchorage 30 years ago and we were thrilled to find it had changed very little. Even found the crab cakes at Clarke's Landing, a bar and honky tonk back then, to be as good as remembered.
Plans continue on track to lay the boat up on 1 Nov and be home a week or so later.
Pictures at Birthdays and Memories Picasaweb.google.com/lropka
The past week or so has been nothing but boats! The picture at left was taken during the Solomons Waterman's Festival last weekend. The boat in the picture just left a slip at the lower left, applied full (800+hp) reverse and will be doing about 20kts as he goes between the pilings on the left then stop instantly while he throws four dock lines on the pilings, all in 18 SECONDS from the start. We watched boats of various sizes up to 65' doing this for hours last Saturday and it was really a hoot. In the future we may do our docking only after dark!
Mid week the boats began arriving for Trawler Fest just across the creek from our slip. More than 50 trawlers ranging from 27' to 70' were on display and several tents with boat paraphernalia and services. The prices would knock your socks off and we were pleased to come home convinced that our Charis had as nice and in some cases better features than many the "real boats" in our size range.
This week we are driving up to Port Deposit, Md at the head end of the bay to celebrate Larry's birthday at the town where he was born and where he boated with his father as a youth. Joan reserved a room in a neat old B&B and it should be a feast of remembrances
Beyond that, plans are in motion to haul the boat out of the water during the last week in Oct. at Washburns Yard across the creek and cover it with shrink wrap to protect it for the winter. If all goes well we will be headed home to Fl around 5 Nov.
Pictures at picasaweb.google.com/lropka
Our evening view from the after deck last week.
Beginning with a leisurely 3 day cruise up the Potomac River last week, Charis and crew visited Washington, D.C. for a delightfully relaxed 5 days of touring and sightseeing. We anchored in the Washington Channel almost in the shadow of the Washington monument. For $15 per day we had full access to the numerous amenities of 
the Capitol Yacht Club, just a 10 minute walk to the Metro subway station in L'Enfant Plaza mall.
The highlight was a fabulous morning of touring all of the monuments on the mall on our bikes stopping to touch and feel each in a rare quiet and peaceful manner. In bright sun with few others around every moment was filled with sights and sounds of our history creating a virtual sensory overload. We rode well over 7 miles around the mall, the White House grounds and the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials, ending with a great hamburger at the golf course club house on Haynes Point. Another highlight was a morning spent with our friends Laura and Jason at an Art Festival in Old Town Alexandria. More than 200 vendors displayed mostly very high quality art and crafts in the antique setting of King street in Old Town. The 2 day voyage back down the Potomac was broken by anchoring in a scenic small basin behind the village of Cobb Island. Then home to our slip in the Solomons We did have a bit of a thrill as sizable swell rolling up the bay left over from tropical storm Gabriel combined with 20k local winds to create a quite sporty ride as we rounded Point Lookout entering the bay from the Potomac. The boat did very well while the crew developed acute white knuckle syndrome.
Again, pictures can be found in folder Washington D.C., at picasaweb.google.com/lropka
The main event of the week was a trip by auto to Hendersonville NC for the 100th birthday of Larry's Aunt Fern. This grand lady is truly amazing. She organized the party gently "encouraging" the more than 150 guests to be there and made several memory filled speeches during the proceedings. Although she is technically blind she walks extensively every day and is very free with advice on the conduct of almost everything about her. Fern's two sons Bill and Dick, who Larry had not seen for 60 years hosted the party in grand style and it was truly a memorable event in every respect. There are several pictures of the affair, including a stunning picture of Fern at age 25, at picasaweb.google.com/lropka at file "Fern"
A taste of paradise at Dunn Cove on Tilghman Island
You may think we fell off of the edge but
the past days have been full of adventure on both land and sea. Last Tuesday we ventured to Washington D. C. The evening started with dinner al fresco served at Union Station while watching folks run to catch their train. We took the Metro Rail and thanks to Laura's navagation we found our way to the Washington Monument grounds to hear the U.S. Army band perform a program ending with the 1812 overture replete with the Herald Trumpets, Army Chorus and Cannon Battery from Ft Meyer. Sitting within feet of the monument surrounded with American flags, hearing and seeing the band up close resplendent in dress uniforms was truly a memorable experience. We spent the next few days at our dock armor plating the bow of the boat with stainless steel. Our big anchor has been eating away the stem when we retrieve it so rather than try to repair all of the dings we just formed some heavy stainless plate and tube and screwed it on over the nicks.
We then shoved off Friday for the Choptank River, 5hrs north east of the Solomons, to spend Fri and Sat night anchored in a pristine cove just north of the village on the "Island" which is actually a peninsula. We explored ashore Saturday finding a nice lunch waterside (but isn't everything at Tilghman's waterside) and discovered perhaps the best nautical book store ever. Sunday late morning we weighed anchor and motored 12 miles east to Plaindealing Creek, a mile north of Oxford MD on the Tred Avon River. Oxford is the most charming town we have visited thus far. About the size of a big city block, it is populated with charming little houses, many dating from the 1700's, and not over two stories. A magnificent old Inn built in 1707, could be a movie set, serves the only breakfast in town. Guess where we are off to at 8:00 AM tomorrow.
Oxford deserves at least another day of exploration and then hope to run around the corner and up San Domingo to the south side of St Michaels, possibly the most popular stop on the Eastern Shore. Since we arrived in the bay there has been a shortage of crabs mainly thanks to Joan so I guess we should give St Michaels fair warning.
We have to be back to Solomons Friday as we are leaving Saturday for Hendersonville, NC for my Aunt Fern's 100th birthday party. Be back Monday or Tuesday to a long list of "want to do's". We will see which entries win out. Joan thinks Peach blossom Creek sounds like a good place to look for peach ice cream.
Again, pictures can be found on picasaweb.google.com/lropka in a folder called Choptank. Additional pictures in folder called Oxford St Michaels
Not much to report. We got Patrick off from Regan National at 6:30AM Tuesday after departing Solomons at 3:45 and returned home to crash and burn totally out of gas. We deferred several cruising plans while regenerating and now hope to be off to the Choptank for a week or so midweek. 98 degree weather also contributed to our reluctance to leave our 120v tether that runs the air conditioner :-). We continue to have fun with our slip mates, Laura and Jason and will miss them as they return to fulfill duties in Florida for a few weeks. Should have more to report next week.
Captain serves Admiral breakfast in bed to celebrate end of season
