Beautiful Annapolis....

Bill and I walked around downtown Annapolis Saturday afternoon. Every street is prettier than the next. The homes and even the storefronts are so beautiful; most are designated historical buildings.

Click here for more pictures.

Tug of War

On Saturday Bill and I went to the 12th annual Tug of War between Eastport and Annapolis. Since we are staying on the Eastport side, we watched the first few rounds from the "MRE" (Maritime Republic of Eastport" before crossing the bridge into Annapolis proper. There were a lot more people on the Eastport side and Eastport won each of the rounds. What follows is an explanation of the Tug of War from the MRE website.

BACKGROUND: The always revolting Maritime Republic of Eastport makes an annual call to its adversaries across the water, the residents and businesses of Annapolis, to take arms and meet at Susan B. Campbell Park -- City Dock -- on the first Saturday in November (more or less) for the Annual Slaughter Across the Water.

It all started 12 years ago when the MRE founding father Sam Shropshire and a few others decided that if the MRE had seceded from Annapolis there ought to be a "friendly" rivalry to mark the occasion and to do good in the community at the same time. How they came up with the idea of teams pulling across the harbor against adversaries they can't see might have had something to do with the the fact that that they were in a local watering hole at the time. But we digress. Fun with a purpose was born -- at least in this incarnation. To make a very long story very short, luckily, the founding fathers included a physicist who figured out how many people had to be on either side to be able to pull a rope 1700 feet long out of the water and in their direction and therefore how strong the rope needed to be. Also luckily, the founding fathers included a really good salesman who convinced Yale Cordage to build the rope at cost. And even more luckily, the founding fathers convinced everyone that this was a great idea. Eastport rallied around the battle and a great tradition was born.

So, once a year, local and national attention focuses on the Annapolis Harbor, or, as we like to call it, the Gulf of Eastport, for a competition unlike any in the world – the Slaughter Across the Water, the longest tug of war over a body of water in the world. The Tug is staged between the Maritime Republic of Eastport (MRE) and Downtown Annapolis, featuring a 1700’ rope, over 450 tuggers, and more than a thousand spectators.

Composed of a maximum of 33 tuggers, each team strives to bring home the trophy and the title, each tugger doing his or her own part to bring the fame and fortune to the appropriate side.

Eastport has been the dominant force most years, but there have been shut-outs on both sides. The winners earn a year's worth of bragging rights and the ensuing riches. Okay, there may not be any riches, but the bragging rights tend to be pretty strong and have led, in the past, to the renaming of Annapolis Harbor, the bridge and, in fact, the entire town of Annapolis (the Gulf of Eastport, the Bridge of our Glorious Victory, and Westport, respectively). So there.

It was a beautiful day and we really enjoyed ourselves.

Master Bill

Bill successfully completed the 80-hour Captains Class at the Annapolis School of Seamanship this week. He passed the exams with flying colors on Friday!

And why I love Annapolis....

Joe and Nancy took Bill and me out on their beautiful boat Aurora this weekend. It was a little chilly, but we had a fabulously great time; it was so nice to be on the water again!!!

Here are some pictures that I took.

Well we made it to Annapolis. Bill and I left on Tuesday around 1:00 after my dentist appointment. We defrosted the freezer and refrigerator, turned everything off on ME, packed the car and left. ME will stay in her slip in Sarasota (above) until we return to FL in October.

The trip was uneventful. We drove on Tuesday until around 9:00, stayed in a hotel and got up on Wednesday (09/09/09) and drove the remainder of the trip to MD. Bill ate his birthday lunch at Taco Bell! We will celebrate tonight with Joe and Nancy here in Annapolis.

We got to the place we are renting around 6:00 (we made good time) and were not disappointed. It is a cute little place, very clean, great view from the porch (see below) right near downtown. We can walk across the bridge from Eastport to downtown in about 10 minutes. There is a pool and we overlook a marina. The weather is spectacular (OK, it is raining right now, but it is cool and feels like fall!)

Our first meal in Annapolis was nothing other than corn and tomatoes. I went to the farm stand yesterday morning and they said we have about a week left for good corn.

Bill went and saw Juan yesterday and we stayed in and watched the first football game of the year cozy on the couch. It is strange to be in a house! We bought some essentials (toilet paper, paper towels, etc.) but are still adjusting. For example, we bought bagged ice.... even though we have a full sized refrigerator and freezer (with an ice maker). Old habits.... Oh, and we have a dishwasher!!! And we can have candles (I bought two!). And everything can stay plugged in. And we can take long showers and not worry about running out of water.

The house is pretty much fully stocked (although I cannot make the coffee pot work; guess I'll be making a trip to Target since that is an essential!)

Bill and I are looking forward to a few weeks here.... although we do miss the boat. Falling asleep without the rocking is strange.

Trip to DC

We are back in Sarasota after five days in Washington DC seeing friends, going to (three) Red Sox games, and having a bunch of fun.

We flew out of Tampa on Tuesday direct into Washington National.... which is about 2 miles from the condo where we used to live in Alexandria.

(waterfront in Old Town Alexandria)

We stayed at Katie's house and finally met Jackson Hurley Vaca, who is now 3 months old and absolutely beautiful. He is a great baby and both Bill and I really enjoyed spending time with the newest edition to the Vaca family. He is one happy little boy. And of course we loved seeing Alex, who is almost 4 and is just the best.

So we got to DC on Tuesday afternoon and, after dropping our stuff off at Katies, met Mark at Nationals Park for the Red Sox vs. Nationals game. It was a lot of fun and there was a new attendance record set (thanks Boston!) The new stadium is truly awesome and we had a ton of fun all three nights. Our seats were on the first base line on Tuesday and the third base line Wednesday and Thursday nights. We went to all three games early to walk around and explore the new stadium and watch batting practice. We went with Mark and Fred on Tuesday, Mark and Sara on Wednesday. Katie, Rico, Alex, and Jackson went to the Thursday night game and Alex joined us for a bit. Thank you Sara and Mark for getting us tickets!!!!!!

(Loving the new ball park)

We really enjoyed ourselves in DC. In addition to the Red Sox games I enjoyed long walks with Katie around Old Town and Bill and I caught up with friends at Bugsys. We also did a tour of the new Capital Visitors Center, which was awesome. We went to the Library of Congress and explored a few DC neighborhoods around the new stadium. I met Sara for coffee at Foggy Bottom and went in to the State Department to see everyone one day. It was really nice to be there.

(Capital)

(Library of Congress)

And on Friday we spent the day in Annapolis and went to Amy and Juan's new house. After catching up with the Watsons we met Joe and Nancy at their new boat before dinner at Tsunami. We had such a nice night with our dear friends. The new boat is amazing, and at 11:00 pm when we looked at the clock and realized it was time to drive back to Alexandria, Bill and I just didn't want to leave! We both realized how much we love Back Creek and we are so happy for Joe and Nancy and their new boat. Hopefully we will be able to spend more time in Annapolis in the (near!) future.

(Flowers at the farmers market in Alexandria)

Saturday Katie, Alex, Jackson and I went to the Farmers Market in Alexandria early before we met the Sullivans. There were 11 of us for brunch and we had a blast. It was so great to see Fuzzy and Mary and their three amazingly beautiful children who have grown since the last time we saw them when they visited Mary Elizabeth in Annapolis 3+ years ago! Afterwards we went back to Katie and Rico's house so the kids could swim in the pool.

(Enjoying the pool)

Bill and I really had a great time in DC. The weather was beautiful. We are so thankful to be able to see our great friends; we loved seeing everyone and catching up. DC (ie Alexandria and Annapolis) simply feels like home to us.

Enough said.

Annapolis Landing Marina

Annapolis Landing Marina is also doing some major renovations this winter. Nancy passed along this link so we can keep up with the progress.

http://www.marinawindow.blogspot.com/

The video in the post entitled "Game" is of them ripping out the finger pier between the slips where we and Joe and Nancy kept our boats for several seasons. Wow. Thanks Nance!

Our Last Weekend in Annapolis

We have had a very nice last weekend in Annapolis. On Saturday Mark and Sara picked us up and took us to lunch at the very cool Narrows Restaraunt in Kent Narrows, MD. It was a rainy, windy day and being inside nice and warm looking at the water (versus being on the water) was a treat. And it was, of course, great to see Mark and Sara. We received a beautiful "goodie basket" complete with Sara's homemade mustard and pickels -- and a perfectly carved pumpkin. Awesome.

Saturday night Leslie and Katie drove up to Annapolis in the rain. We went to dinner and then had drinks back at the boat. Sunday we met Joe and Nancy for "one last" breakfast at the diner. Afterwards Bill and I did some last provisioning. And yes, we managed to find a place for everything on the boat.

This afternoon we went to downtown Annapolis to watch the Skins beat the Lions (yippeee!) and now we are back at the boat enjoying a beautiful late afternoon. Tomorrow is supposed to be a lot colder, so we are not necessarily looking forward to our trip to Rock Hall. Hopefully the generator mystery will be solved sooner rather than later so we can begin our trip south the middle of this week.

Again, it has been so nice to see everyone and we have really enjoyed our time in Annapolis. We are looking forward to amazing adventures and a winter season of exploring new places!

Port Annapolis Marina

Bill and I have made slip G35 at Port Annapolis Marina on Back Creek in the Chesapeake our "home port" for the past two months.

The marina boasts a pool, a service center, plenty of parking, a water taxi to downtown, laundry facilities, beautiful landscaping (complete with gazebos) a sandwich shop called the Wet Dog, etc. They have been very gracious in accepting our mail and package deliveries. And we have met many "neighbors" - both weekend boaters and live aboards.

As much as we are excited to get going again, we have enjoyed our stay here and would recommend Port Annapolis to anyone coming through the area.

Andrea's visit

We had a great time having Andrea here. She flew in Friday night from Boston. The weather has been a lot colder here in Annapolis, but she is used to it I guess.

Our weekend was basically eating and sports. Friday night we went to dinner with Michael and Jeremy at O'Learys (thanks Ben and Jen for the gift certificate!) Saturday Andrea and I hung around while Bill went to Alexandria to hand off the keys to the condo. We went to dinner with Joe and Nancy at Morton's (thanks Otis and Andrea for the gift certificate!) Sunday Andrea and I went back to the boat show in the morning to have another look at three of our "favorites." We also checked out Joe and Nancy's new Meridian -- what a boat!

Sunday afternoon was the Redskins game. They squeaked out another win and we had a great time. We were able to get a third seat in the same section so we could all sit together, which was nice. After the game, Andrea, Bill and I rushed back to Annapolis so we could watch the 8:07 Red Sox vs. Tampa game. Unfortunately, things did not go our way..... But if anyone had to beat them, I am glad that it was Tampa.

Andrea flew home on Monday night. So now Bill and I are hanging out getting last errands done before we leave. We have to be in Rock Hall on Monday. We were going to take off from Annapolis on Friday, but since we have no generator (and therefore no heat on anchor!) and it is cold (40s at night) we are not entirely sure we won't just stick around the dock for another two days.

Annapolis Boat Show

We didn't have a chance to go to the Annapolis Sailboat show last week. But today, after breakfast at the diner, Bill, Joe, Nancy, Shawn, Dayna, and I went to the Annapolis Powerboat show. We went on just about all of the trawlers that were there (Selene, Grand Banks, Nordhavn, Kady Krogen, etc.) and enjoyed the day. All of the boats are beautiful. I think that the Selene is both Bill and my favorite. We have been thinking about the possibility of getting a trawler, since we sail only about a quarter of the time. Although trawlers are not sailboats, they still are great on gas (and go slow). And there is about twice as much living space.

BBQ on (well... near) the Mary Elizabeth

We had a great day yesterday catching up with friends from the 1500 etc. at Port Annapolis. We were going to host the BBQ on the boat, but we had a bigger crowd than could fit on the boat so we had food and drinks up at the tables in the marina (which was just as nice!).

Bill, Rosemary, and Rosemary's sister from Crazy Horse dinghied over, as did Michael, Daniel, Jeremy, and their friends. We finally got to meet Alex, Ben and Jen's beautiful 5 month old baby! Joe and Nancy had big news to share when they arrived (with the charcoal, none the less -- thanks guys!); they bought a new boat! Bill and I are looking forward to seeing it at the powerboat show next week. Fred and Kim joined us, as did Megan and Michelle, Anne and Miles, and Katie (who spent the night). Dave and Pam got some tips from "cruisers."And Carol, Bill, and their dog drove from Soloman's. It was really nice to see everyone and we had the perfect weather for a get together. The only problem I only took two pictures!

Today Bill and I went to the Redskins game. It was another beautiful day - sunny, warm but not hot, etc. The Redskins LOST and everyone, once they got over the shock of losing to the Rams, was not happy. We are back at the boat now waiting to pick Amy and Allison up from the airport later tonight. Tomorrow is the big move.

Hi everyone. We haven't been too good about keeping up with the blog since we have arrived in Annapolis. Bill and I are enjoying our time here, seeing everyone, and catching up.

Last week we met up with Amy and Juan who are now on a boat that is based out of Annapolis. They bought a condo here (congrats guys!) and it was really nice to see them. The last time we hooked up was in St. Thomas. A lot has changed since then.

This weekend we were in Alexandria and had a fabulous dinner with Otis and Andrea. And yesterday we went to one of the most exciting Redskins games ever. They played the Saints in a back and forth game. We won, and the crowd was the loudest I have ever heard. Everyone was elated to finally have a win!

We have found a renter for our condo starting in October so Bill and I have been busy trying to sell some of our stuff. We will put some things in storage, but the majority will go to my sister Amy and her roommate Allison. They are getting their first apartment and we will able to set them up nicely. So... we have been spending our days posting things on Craigs List, selling odds and ends, and packing. We are trying to get a lot of things done before this weekend, when we will be flying to Florida for two weeks to visit Bill's family. When we get back it will be showtime! This fall has really flown by fast!!!

So, that's really all that has been going on. Bill enjoyed a nice (but rainy) birthday last week. We had plans to go the Wye River for a few days, but the weather wasn't cooperating and Bill wasn't feeling 100% (cold) so we decided to stay in Annapolis. We head to Rock Hall, MD this weekend where Mary Elizabeth will be hauled, painted, and fixed like new. Talk to everyone soon.

Bill enjoying his birthday dinner!

Beautiful Sunday afternoon in Annapolis

Yesterday we experienced what remained of Hanna. It was pretty much a non-event here in Annapolis. Bill and I saw 30 knots, which wasn't bad. The main thing that we were keeping an eye on was the level of the water. There was a surge from the rain and the water maxed at about 8 inches from the dock. Bill adjusted the lines and the fenders and we were fine.

Today we finally went downtown and ate at El Torro Bravo, a Mexican restaurant that we heard great things about which was closed for renovations the last year. After we walked around downtown Annapolis and listened to the music and browsed the street vendors. It was the first annual "Sunday in Annapolis" so many stores set up sidewalk sales, etc. It was a beautiful day, and there were lots of people and activity downtown. Unfortunately, I didn't bring my camera, so we don't have any pictures to share. Hope everyone had a great weekend.

We are waiting on a mail delivery, which should happen tomorrow. The plan is to do a few errands and chores tomorrow and leave for the Wye River on Tuesday for Bill's birthday. We are both looking forward to a little sailing on the Chesapeake and anchoring in one of our favorite spots for a few days!

Corn and tomatoes

In addition to seeing friends and being near many places to have the boat repaired, the great thing about being in Annapolis is that there is a farm stand right down the road from the marina that sells sweet white corn and ripe tomatoes -- which we feasted on last night. Yummmmm.

We went to the movies and are enjoying doing some of the things we haven't done in awhile. We also visited the commissary and exchange at the Naval Academy. And I actually joined a gym for the few months that we are here. Living on a boat sometimes (though not always, I do admit I have been lazy) means lack of exercise, happy hours, and eating out a lot. It also feels like we are on a (very) extended vacation, so I have "treated" myself to a few too many ice creams. Getting back to the gym has felt good these past few days - although I am out of shape!

Today we are going to Alexandria again. We are renting out our condo -- unfurnished -- in October and are trying to sell a lot of our stuff. Today we are meeting someone to look at the juke box and other things that we have advertised on Craig's List.

Here are some pictures of our view from Port Annapolis. We are on an outside slip (facing Back Creek) but we're stern to and tucked away between two very large power boats. The marina is quiet during the week; I don't think there are more than a handful of people who live aboard. Last weekend it was much more crowded. Back Creek is great. It is close to downtown Annapolis, but without the hustle and bustle.

Mary Elizabeth goes topless

Mary Elizabeth is without a dodger. Bill did lots of boat chores yesterday He took down the dodger (the canvas that covers the cockpit) and sent it to a sail maker to fix a tear on the top. This is one of the advantages of being in Annapolis where there are so many resources and places to have things repaired. Once the canvas was removed Bill spent a lot of time polishing the stainless underneath, which was badly rusted.

Not having a dodger has made it very hot to sit topside, but it is cooling off. It is almost September after all-- time has flown by!

The other big project that Bill worked on yesterday was replacing the windlass. The spring in the "up" switch had corroded and stopped functioning. Island Packet sent us a replacement part and Bill was able to switch them out successfully. The first time the windlass (which lowers and raises the anchor) stopped working reliably was in Bermuda. Then, Bill was able to cut a piece from one of my rubber stamps to use as a temporary spring. Now we have a permanent fix, which we are happy for since we are looking forward to (easily) anchoring in the Wye River and other places in the Chesapeake.

We have also been enjoying watching TV!!! Dave and Molly have generously lent us their direct TV, which they helped us set up on Sunday. What great friends.