Behind the Blog: Pumpkin Pie and Shark Teeth

In some of my other posts I have forgotten to mention what a dashing, muscular, mariner my husband is. That Pat, he’s the cat’s pajamas!

(Pssst, its really me Pat. I just thought I’d highjack Jo’s column and so here’s some thoughts about cruising from the other side of the boat. And, while I’m at it, don’t believe that towing stuff she wrote, we could have gotten the boat off that sand bar without a tow boat, I just needed some more time and a bigger dinghy. Coincidentally, about the size of a tow boat.)

I sometimes can’t believe that we’re getting to do this trip. Before we ever got going I imagined days like two we just had recently so I thought I’d share. Here goes.

When we provisioned recently, Joanna mentioned something about making a pumpkin pie. For a surprise, I snuck off to the coffee isle and got some pumpkin spice coffee to go with the pie. We motored all day in calm conditions to make some progress down the Potomac. It’s a long river. When we motor in a calm, Jo goes below and passes some of the time by doing what she really enjoys, cooking, really well. While I was steering the boat, Jo brought up from below four fantastic crab cakes which I devoured. The kids weren’t as keen on their crab cakes so I got a couple of more. Delicious!! But, the kids did do pretty well on their boat schooling lessons which was a BIG plus.

Later in the afternoon, the kids had gotten Jo into a Halloween kind of mood and talked her into letting them carve the pumpkin we had on board.

Then Jo started in with the pumpkin pies. So that the kids could keep their newly minted jack-o-lantern, Jo supplemented with butternut squash. For a snack we had hot kettle corn that she made in her miracle cast iron Dutch oven. More good stuff comes out of that thing than I can believe.

Toward the end of the day we ducked into a not so great anchorage because we were running out of daylight. The wind was making a nasty chop and we had (according to Jo) “learned our lesson about anchoring in strange places after dark”. Besides, despite all the snacking, everyone was ready for dinner. Although it was a bit chilly out, the cabin of the boat was snug and warm and everyone had a great dinner. The salad with crumbled crab cake on top and fresh pumpkin pie for dessert was as good as it gets.

Because the anchorage was a bit rolly, no one slept very well. But in the morning all was calm. Drew decided to make pumpkin spiced coffee for mom and dad and we all sat down to a breakfast of pumpkin pie. This isn’t the way we usually start our most important meal of the day but heck we’re cruising and if we want pie for breakfast then so be it!

While pulling up the anchor late in the morning, we noticed a guy in a small power boat standing off and taking pictures of us. It was a bit odd and so we waved at him in hopes that he’d stop over and let us know what he was up to.

When he did come by we learned that his name was Peter and that he lived on shore near where we anchored. He said that he’d seen us come in the night before and hoped that we’d be around in the morning so that he could take some pictures of our boat. He is retired and an amateur photographer. He offered to send us some pictures of the boat and we gladly provided him our email address.

While we talked with Peter he told us about an island about twelve miles down the river where we would be able to find prehistoric shark teeth washed up on the beach. With that information, we had our plan for the day. That’s a great thing about cruising, you make most of it up as you go along.

The kids did their lessons while we motored (calm again) down the river and a couple of hours later we were anchored in Nomini Bay, VA just off of Elbow Point. We spent several hours ashore walking a pristine sandy beach by ourselves. There was no one else on the island. But, as Peter promised, there were plenty of really cool fossilized shark teeth.

We collected a bunch and then headed back to the boat. We spent some time making shark tooth jewelery. Emily loves here shark tooth earrings and I haven't taken off my shark tooth necklace.

After a late lunch we decided that we’d stay put for the night and enjoy another quite anchorage, some wonderful early fall weather, and the spectacle of bald eagles fishing from the river. These are indeed, the days . . .

We're feeling a little crabby about leaving D.C.

We decided to celebrate our final day in D.C. with a Crab Feast! We're anchored very near several great fish markets and couldn't pass up the opportunity to get a half bushel. Yes, that's a lot of crab. No, we did not eat it all...yet. (Pat: I tried! Mmmmmm.) Crab cakes tomorrow!

We're also making our final visit this evening to the Capitol Yacht Club where the kids have made some friends. Some live here; others have plans similar to ours, and we'll hope to run into them again as we head south.

We got to almost everything we wanted to do in D.C. in our 14 day stay here. There were a few places we had hoped to revisit, but provisioning and laundry had to take priority in the end. Perhaps another time...

Our time in D.C.

We've been having an incredible time in D.C. over the past 10 days. Regular lessons have been suspended for the kids, in lieu of field trips, field trips and more field trips! But the educational opportunity of visiting multiple Smithsonian Institute museums is a fantastic temporary substitute to the normal reading, writing and math.

Our favorite places have included the Smithsonian's Post Office Museum (all 3 kids LOVED this spot!), all the presidential monuments/memorials (especially Washington Monument walk-down tour), the National Zoo, and National Archives. We've also visited the Supreme Court, Capitol, National Portrait Gallery, Bureau of Printing and Engraving, Library of Congress and most everything Smithsonian.

At the Zoo, we had great timing to catch lots of animal feedings/trainings; at the Jefferson Memorial, we chatted with a park ranger who proved to be a most entertaining and engaging history teacher; the walk-down tour of the Washington Monument was just us. We were the only family that wanted to walk down the 890ish stairs. So, we could take as much time and ask as many questions as we wanted with another very well informed ranger; crowds have been minimal most everywhere we've visited and the weather has been delightful. Also, the Capitol Yacht Club and its members have made us feel most welcome!

Click here for another Picasa photo album. Try the slideshow feature on Picasa. Its kinda fun.

Behind the Blog: Roll...Pitch...YAWN!

The Air & Space Museum is apparently the Smithsonian's most popular and they now have 2 campuses to visit. In addition to their main site on the Mall, there's a very large hanger out near Dulles Airport where they display very large aircraft - things like a Concorde jet, the B-29 bomber Enola Gay, and the Space Shuttle Enterprise. Our visits to both sites were interesting, and we're all glad we had the opportunity, but...

I was surprised to discover how much the kids and I just couldn't get into looking at airplanes. The kids are normally excellent museum-goers, but they bounced around from exhibit to exhibit and never seemed to really be able to focus on anything. They normally enjoy guided tours and listen with interest, but when we took the docent tour at Air & Space, all 3 were bored to tears and so was I.

Pat, on the other hand, was riveted! He hung on every word during the 1.5 hour tour at the Mall site and couldn't wait to visit the Dulles site since several people had told us it was "even better".

Because the first tour had been the equivalent of torture for the rest of us, we ended up skipping most of it. We opted instead for a visit to the gift shop where we purchased some little glider kits, then went outside to fly them. Still, we had high hopes for Air & Space Part-II a few days later.

To get to the Dulles site required a bus ride of approximately one hour, followed by a fifteen minute shuttle ride. We spent nearly as long getting there and back as we spent at the museum itself. Also, the bus was stuffy and crowded, which didn't set the stage for a good day.

Upon arrival, we learned that we were just in time for another 1.5 hour docent tour!! Pat was giddy with excitement. I tried to sound encouraging for the kids; after all, we were going to see a Space Shuttle!

Twenty minutes into the tour, Pat's mouth is hanging open and he's following the tour guide like a puppy. Drew and Jake have disappeared somewhere in the museum and Emily looks like she just lost her best friend. Airplanes are just NOT that interesting.

I rounded up the kids and we spent the rest of our time looking at the exhibit on space food. This the kids found FASCINATING; also the model of the diaper wore by astronauts during flight was a BIG hit; and the bright red acrobatic Bud Light plane (here's to you Mr. Acrobatic Flight Maneuver Guy). Otherwise, they were ready to go.

Thankfully we did come across a volunteer who did a wonderful job teaching the kids about the 4 principles of flight and letting them sit in the cockpit of a Cessna. That killed some time while Pat finished the tour.

When we suggested it was time to catch the shuttle back, I really thought Pat might not join us. He simply couldn't get enough of the place.

Thinking back about who all had told us how incredible the new Air & Space campus us, I realized all were men; a couple were retired military. The one woman who had piped in about the place when her husband was describing it had talked only about the long bus ride... that should have been a clue!

Fortunately, the air conditioning in the bus home was working and I had a book to read to the kids. Pat slept the whole way back... dreaming of flight, no doubt.

National Archives

Spent the day at the National Archives. We got to see the original Constitution, Declaration of Independence and Bill of Rights, along with numerous other important papers. The exhibits were great... we all learned a lot.

The kids got to do some hands-on research in the Archive's Learning Center, and they loved seeing the report cards of various presidents in the School House to White House exhibit.

Stumbled across a Farmers' Market on the way back to the marina which was a pleasant surprise. A few photos of the day are attached (here); album includes some previously missed shots from Solomons Island, too.

P.S. That tiny person next to the ENORMOUS door is Emily. When we first arrived at the National Archives, we approached the non-public entrance in error. We found the place less than inviting, until we discovered that public access was around the corner!

Washington, D.C. (Destination of Cool!!!)

We've been really looking forward to D.C. and if our first day here is any indication, it is a great destination. We motored up the Potomac River to get here after leaving Solomon's Island, Maryland.

It took us about a day and a half to get up to D.C.. The trip was really nice. We saw Bald Eagles and even watched one scoop a fish out of the Potomac. Our first day we made it as far as Breton Bay and then the next day (yesterday) we motored from there all the way to just south of Alexandria. That was 70.2 miles of motoring and our elapsed time was 11 hours 15 minutes. That counts anchor up and anchor down so we made pretty nice time.

We are now anchored in the Washington Channel right in front of the Capitol Yacht Club. What a GREAT location. We are about one mile from the White House and we can see the Washington Monument from our boat. Marine One, the President's Helicopter (or should I say helicopters; there are a couple of decoys) has been over our boat a number of times. Last night we even watched one that was completely blacked out flying without lights that had an escort helicopter. Must have been someone important in there.

Today we visited the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, the Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, World War II Memorial and Vietnam Memorial. Fantastic stuff to see, and we didn't finish the Natural History Museum so we'll have to go back. All the museums here are free which is a perfect price for us. We plan to museum our heads off while we're here.

We ended the day at the Capitol Yacht Club. The kids were welcome to join us for happy hour, and we had a great time playing darts and ring toss. We met our fellow cruisers who are sharing the anchorage, got tips on heading south, and generally had a great time. The Yacht Club has laundry facilities, a library with wi-fi net access, a bar and showers. Gosh... what more do you need!!

We'll be here for at least ten days and plan to show the kids everything possible. Then we're off for points further south. Stay tuned we hope to have A LOT more pics soon. Click here for our most recent web album.