May 28: Traveling

We are surrounded by all types of boats docked at the South Jersey Marina, including a sailboat that was towed in from the Delaware Bay in the middle of the night, a wide variety of commercial fishing boats, and magnificent cruisers. We will be here for a few days and Tom is checking off his list of boating maintenance and riding his bike. We are looking forward to Julie Anna and Ben joining us for the weekend.
Tonight Tom is visiting the Cape May Kiwanis Club along with 90 of his best friends and getting lots of new ideas for service projects and creative fund raisers. I am in Armonk, New York nestled in the peaceful woodland at IBM’s Learning center discussing strategy. It was fascinating to fly over the Hudson River and get the view of its expanse (which is huge) on the flight into White Plains. Tom and I will be cruising this way in a week or two.
I will be back to the blog this weekend...

May 26: Memorial Day in Delaware City

Today being Memorial Day, we decided to attend the service at the park this morning before cruising south. As we walked to the to the water front park we heard lyrical humming of bagpipes wafting on the breeze and we walked faster anticipating a special time. And we were not disappointed. This was a wonderful small town event hosted by the American Legion. There were little old men there handing out red poppies and small American flags which brought back strong memories of my dear Granddaddy who spent the last years of his life taking flags to veteran’s funerals. He served the US in WWI. Another reminder of Granddaddy was the arrival of an old Model T Ford convertible with two soldiers dressed in WWI uniforms. The crowd gathered to sing America and to hear a message about Freedom not being Free. The bag pipes played Amazing Grace, the canal militia was also there to fire an old canon, the huge American flag was flying at half mast,and a young lady from the William Penn High School raised her shining purple trumpet and played Taps. We remembered all those who have made deep sacrifices to defend and protect our country. And we remembered how responsible we all are to make our country live up to the values and principals on which we were founded. It was pretty striking to have just spent the time at the Independence National Park just before Memorial Day. We are living in a great experiment of people running their government and it matters that we participate.

This afternoon we made the five hour run down to Cape May, unfortunately headed into a wind from the south. We passed some interesting “aids to navigation” in the middle of the bay and saw a couple of small fishing boats minding their nets. After the first couple of hours we came out into the widest part of Delaware Bay, and it was ocean rough. We were exhausted when we arrived in the narrow calm channel up to Cape May. Tonight feels really good to be tied up snug at the beautiful South Jersey Marina.

May 25 (Sunday): Philadelphia

The weather is perfect this morning, sunny and cool. We cycled the 17 blocks to worship with the First Baptist Church of Philadelphia. Their church bulletin shares that the church family worshiping here dates back to 1698 with 5 men and 4 women beginning the church. In 1707 they formed the first Baptist Association of churches, and in 1814 this church hosted the founding of the Baptist denomination of the United States. The current American Baptist churches, USA and Southern Baptist Convention grew from the organization founded here. In a time before public schools existed and illiteracy was rampant, this church began the first Baptist Sunday School classes. The church is a huge brown stone building on the corner of Moravian Street and 17^th. When we entered the sanctuary we were struck by the contrasts. We arrived early to find their small praise choir practicing “This little light of mine” to an amplified acoustical guitar played by a bearded young white man. Even though they were standing just in front of a huge pipe organ, flanked by stain glass windows and under a gilded dome ceiling with 12 huge chandeliers in a circle, this was certainly no high church. The sanctuary could have easily seated 1000 people, but the congregation of around 100 was there to sincerely worship the Lord. The service was led by a black woman and the sermon pronounced by an articulate Hispanic woman. All the singing was accompanied by guitar, and there was a black woman playing a tambourine in the aisle as we sang “I saw the Light” and “This is the Day that the Lord Has Made”. The congregation was naturally diverse and brought life to the sanctuary which surely has seen many changes through the years. The building is used every day of the week for a variety of ministries. We felt blessed

to have had our Sunday morning with them.

After lunch, we filled up with fuel at the Philadelphia Marina, now at $5.00/gallon, and headed out retracing our path back to Delaware City. We passed several Navy ships and an aircraft carrier that were perhaps being reconditioned. The Delaware River has two channels as it nears Delaware City and they are split by a small island where we found Fort Delaware State Park. The park is on the grounds of the fort built in 1859 to protect Philadelphia. The lady at the pizza restaurant told us that the park staff is in costume and they load the canon with gun powder and fire it for visitors. We will spend the night at this little layover on the way to Cape May.

May 24: Philadelphia

Tickets to visit Independence Hall were available to those on hand at 8:30 am on Saturday, so there we were to get ours. The tour through Independence Hall was fascinating. It included the Supreme Court chamber with the iron cage where the accused “stood” trial... following the British custom of actually having him stand in a cage during the proceedings. The most interesting was the legislative chamber where the Continental Congress met to discuss independence and to edit and approve our Declaration of Independence on July 4^th, 1776. In this same hall, Thomas Jefferson presented the Constitution for approval in 1787 with George Washington presiding. Benjamin Franklin attended every day of discussion for 40 days and was there to approve the formation of the new constitution and at age 81 was the oldest signer.

At lunch time we made it to the Terminal Market to wander through the stalls of fresh seafood, fruits and vegetables intermixed with Amish goods for sale. We had a Philly steak with mushrooms fresh off the grill at Spataros and then topped it off with ice cream. It was a real treat to watch the man make our waffle cones from scratch.

We also visited the Franklin Court and the underground museum with an imaginative presentation of events in Ben Franklin’s life as an ambassador for America depicted on a sunken stage with scenes presented in audio to the still life poses. We also saw the 18^th century printing press on the site. While we were cycling around the area, we stopped at several “Once upon a Nation” stops where there was a storyteller sharing engaging tales about the early heroes of our nation. At different stops we heard stories about Ben Franklin’s childhood, James Fortin’s time as a black free man in the continental navy, tales of the City Tavern, and the battle of Fort Mifflin defended by the first 3000 pound sea mines packed with gun powder.

For dinner we ate at the City Tavern. When John Adams arrived in Philadelphia in August of 1774, to attend the First Continental Congress, he was greeted by leading citizens and immediately taken to the tavern he would call "the most genteel tavern in America." This was the place that the representatives from the Continental Congress came for dinner and to debate the politics of the day and where they celebrated the night of the 4^th of July. The actual building built in 1773 had been torn down, but was restored in place by the Park Service. For Williamsburg fans, it was as nice as eating at King’s Arms tavern, with antique furnishings and wait staff in colonial dress. Food and service was great.

May 22: Philadelphia

We are now officially out of the Chesapeake Bay. On Thursday, we proceeded up the Delaware River to Philadelphia. We knew that Philadelphia

was a center for our nations history, but it was a surprise to find that it is also a tremendous commercial seaport. We saw all the commercial docks and the river rolling with ships and tug boats pulling barges. It is always exciting to see the working boats and think about the lives of people who devote their time to them.

After leaving the beautiful harbor of Baltimore, we were disappointed to find that the waterfront of Philadelphia is basically relegated to super highways. There are 12 lanes separating the marinas and piers on the river from the city, so it was a little tricky to find the way to the old city on our bicycles. But we were brave and ventured out to find an underpass and cycled into the historic district. The National Park Service has done a terrific job with the visitor center there where we saw a movie reenacting the memories of the history shapers involved in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. There was a woman there in period dress spinning thread and a gentleman playing a hammered dulcimer. We also went through the security checkpoint to see the old cracked Liberty Bell on display in its own building on Market Street. "Proclaim LIBERTY throughout all the Land unto all the inhabitants thereof" (Leviticus 25:10). It was cast by Pass and Stow in 1753 and rang from the steeple of Independence Hall on July 4^th when the Declaration of Independence was first read aloud from the hall’s steps.

Back at the marina, we have discovered that the Benjamin Franklin Bridge where TNTY is docked, includes a train trestle. Actually, rather than the noise being a bother, there is a unique rhythm and charm to hearing the trains rumble above!

May 21: Chesapeake City, MD

On Wednesday it was a short ride up Back Creek to sleepy little Chesapeake City which is the western entry point to the Chesapeake and Delaware canal. This canal passage way changes the distance between Baltimore and Philadelphia by close to 300 miles for commercial ships headed north. It was dug by hand in 1824 and included 3 locks. It is safer in storms than the Atlantic and is the busiest canal in the world. We saw ocean going freighters, huge barges and pleasure craft all making way through the canal. We arrived at the free city docks in wonderful sunshine, and took our bikes out for a tour. We saw the Lock House that was built in 1894. It had a tall wooden waterwheel 38 feet in diameter that was driven by two steam boilers. The water wheel operated until 1927 when the canal was widened and deepened so as to no longer require the lock. After visiting the lock house, I had a 5 mile ride along the top of the levy and saw many blue herons (or maybe just the same one over and over!) as well as a huge orange freighter from Hong Kong.

We had a delicious dinner including perhaps our last taste of cream of crab soup at the Bayson House near the docks. This three story frame house, built in 1824, is the oldest house in town and overlooks the canal. It was a delight to walk through the house and imagine the lives of the people living there when the canal was new and it was a hub of activity. There were luscious blue purple butterfly flowers out front that made me miss mine at home.

May 21: Havre de Grace

All I can say is that the sunshine is certainly fickle. We cast off from Baltimore around 10:00 AM Tuesday in the cold and pouring rain. We took a few pictures of Fort McHenry as we headed down the Patapsco River, and noticed that you could see your breath as we sat in the unheated upper deck. I had a fleece jacket on under the blanket I had brought up from below.

It rained all the way to Havre de Grace, a small hamlet at the mouth of the Susquehanna River. Havre de Grace was two votes short of being selected as our nation’s capitol in 1789 when the legislature made the selection. It is strategically located – currently two highways and two train tressels cross the Susquehanna River there. In the afternoon it cleared up and we rode our bikes to see the Lock House built in 1840 for the Tidewater canal. There was a wonderful wood plank promenade built along the waterfront over natural areas where I enjoyed taking pictures of the stately blue heron on the rocks. We saw the white conical Concord lighthouse there, it was dedicated to John O’Neill, a local hero from the War of 1812 and the first keeper of the light there.

May 19: Baltimore Inner Harbor

Visiting the Baltimore Inner Harbor was really a treat; beautiful views of the water, historical ships and city lights. I recommend it to all boaters! Back in 1904 there was a fire that burned all of the warehouses and buildings surrounding the Baltimore harbor. Since then the city of Baltimore has intentionally restored the waterfront in a systematic and creative manor. Circling the harbor, you can see the Seven Knoll Lighthouse (moved from the entrance of harbor in 1997), the Tandy Coast Guard Cutter (only ship surviving the attack in Pearl Harbor), the National Aquarium, the WWII submarine (with big teeth painted on it like a shark), the Chesapeake Lighthouse ship (with the light still operating), the Pratt Pavilion (full of shops and restaurant), the USS Constellation Sailing Ship, and the Baltimore Science Museum. Wow!

The weather today was cool and sunny and we had a nice walk around the circular waterfront to arrive at the National Aquarium. On the way we saw a strange contraption cruising the harbor - it has a grill and a conveyor belt in the water collecting trash. Pretty smart! We had a wonderful time investigating the Aquarium this afternoon. Let me say first of all, for those who know I love the NC outer banks, that the aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores has equivalent exhibits covering the NC waters as this one and is a lovely place to visit. What I enjoyed the most about this aquarium was the dolphin show, sitting on the fourth row because the first three rows were the “splash rows”, we saw the 5 Atlantic bottlenose dolphin play with their trainers in a huge aqua pool with glass windows behind overlooking the harbor. Most of those dolphin were actually born at the aquarium and have never been in the wild. Tom’s favorite was seeing the 4-5 foot green sea turtle in their huge tank. The green sea turtle is the one we saw laying her eggs on the NC beach one early summer night years ago, and it looked just like this one. This one, however, had been rescued, and had lost one of her front flippers so the Fish and Wildlife Commission granted permission for her to live at the aquarium as an “unreleaseable” animal. I also enjoyed the exhibit on Australia which was a multistory glass trapezoidal pavilion on top of the building where we saw the bearded dragons and the emerald doves. The exhibit on frogs from all over the world was also amazing as you saw the diversity in size, coloring, body shapes and toxicity. There was also an amazing live coral exhibit.

We dined tonight on eastern NC barbeque and slaw served up on our aft deck overlooking the harbor. The cuisine was thanks to Bob and Penny and we were happy to have our feet up after the afternoon’s long trek.

May 18 (Sunday): To Baltimore

With the prediction of thunder storms and high wind for the afternoon, we changed our plans for this morning. We got up early this morning and took the narrow channel out through the rock jetty at Rock Hall to make the run back to the Yacht Center in Grasonville. Bob and Penny took us in their car to the Kent Island Methodist church.where the youth minister brought a message for their young people on the characteristics of Faith (comparing faith to various games and toys). This was a friendly church, and it was a blessing to be there this morning. I took a picture of the wonderful farming scene we passed along the way as we dashed back to the boat just as the rain began. Bob and Penny headed home after a quick lunch with us. We were hesitant to proceed to Baltimore, but the wind calmed in the late afternoon, and we decided to brave the trip. Luckily, it seemed the storm was running before us and the Bay was calm until we met a deluge just in the outer harbor of Baltimore. This is where the huge seagoing vessels were moored with all their commercial goods in transit. We also passed some major gray Navy ships with massive loading ramps and a large Red Cross vessel.

We cruised under the Francis Scott Key Bridge which marks the location where Key was imprisoned aboard a British warship during the British attack on Fort McHenry during the War of 1812. This was the event that inspired the writing of our national anthem, The Star Spangled Banner – which I sang as we came by the fort and saw the American flag flying there. We are docked at the inner harbor just under Federal Hill and it is just beautiful. We are directly across the water from the architectural wonder of the National Aquarium and next to the Science museum (where you can see the dinosaurs through the multistory glass window at the end of the building). I guess I will be able to sleep tonight!

May 17: Rock Hall, MD

Tom and I had a rush around day on Friday getting ready to meet my brother and sister-in-law for their weekend visit. We had a flash back to when we were first married by going to the laundry to wash clothes and dashed out to get a pizza before putting the clothes in the dryer. With the props newly tuned, the boat back in the water and the frig full of food, we were ready. Bob and Penny Friday made it over the high bridge into Grasonville and we set off to Rock Hall just north on the Eastern Shore. We tied up at Rock Hill Landing and had a great dinner overlooking the bay at the Waterman’s Crab House.

What a lovely day we had in Rock Hall on Saturday. We visited the Waterman’s museum – a restored waterman’s house, and the Rock Hall Museum which was two rooms in their Municipal Building, filled with interesting relics from the watermen’s life and work collected by a local family. The museums really showed off the evidence of hard work and ingenuity of this working life style, including the little house barges that the men would tow behind their fishing boats when they were too far away to go home at the end of the day. There were pictures of their families coming to visit them on the water but also the picture of loneliness and grueling days.

We wandered through various shops, and finished off the afternoon with a visit to the soda fountain at Durding’s Store. This store has been in continuous operation since the early 1900’s, and they served cokes and sodas all hand mixed from syrups and seltzer water. The walls were the original beaded paneling and the ceiling was old timey pressed tin. It was a luscious step back in time and we all sat on the red topped stools at the marble counter and sipped wonderful concoctions. We found a nearby church, Rock Hall United Methodist, built in 1835 which is in walking distance where we will worship tomorrow. We got back to the boat in time to set up the GPS on my laptop for our back up navigation system and grill chicken out for dinner. Wasn't it fun to watch the Preakness horse race on TV? We celebrated "Big Brown"s amazing victory.

The sunset was a beautiful end to the great day.

We had a great trip to Phoenix, the green desert - weather much different than the Chesapeake Bay. Even with temperatures 19 degrees below average, the days were in the 80's, and they had not had any rain since February. We had fun seeing the Diamond Backs baseball team play with Randy Johnson, their 6’10” pitcher, getting the win in their beautiful Chase stadium. We also saw the Pueblo Grande archeological dig showing how the Hohokam lived in the valley with their amazing hand dug irrigation systems from the Salt River dating back to 450 AD. We also had a lazy afternoon on a bass boat on Lake Pleasant. A couple of folks caught striped bass, but all I caught was a tree branch... it really put up a fight though! IBM had wonderful motivation sessions where we heard from Sam Pamisano, our President, and Frans Johansson, the author of the Medici Effect, and 2008 Grammy winner and civil rights activist Angelique Kidjo. Angelique Kidjo is a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador and has become a spokesperson on African child-labor issues and an advocate for the children who have been drugged, kidnapped and forced to become child soldiers in African wars. She is also an amazing vocalist and she and her band performed for us. Talented Leann Rimes, country and pop musician, gave us a closing night concert including some of her original songs, for a sweet end to a memorable event.

On our return to the east coast, and with TNTY in dry dock having its propellers “tuned”, we spent the night in Annapolis, Maryland.

May 11: Mother's Day

Our visit to Saint Michaels was lovely – I recommend it to all boaters. When we cruised into the harbor yesterday, there was clarion music wafting over the water from one of the local churches playing “Fairest Lord Jesus” – such a welcome. I had a special Mother’s Day with a card, gifts and telephone calls from my wonderful daughters. After breakfast we walked down Mulberry Street and saw the “Cannon Ball House”. This old brick house on St. Mary’s Square gained is fame during the War of 1812. During an attack by the British a cannon ball came in through the chimney rolled down the stairs and out the front door. We attended the morning worship service at St Luke’s, and found the second story sanctuary with antique stained glass windows, dark ornately carved pews, and a huge pipe organ. Since it was Mother’s Day, Tom and I thought a lot about our wonderful mothers and what a wonderful influence they were on our lives – how very blessed we are. I also really missed being at home at Trinity today.
After church we cast off, cruised by an old schooner in the harbor, and headed up to Grasonville arriving early afternoon. This is where we picked up the TNTY’s in the beginning and we returned to The Narrows restaurant for a late lunch including awesome cream of crab soup. Later in the afternoon, the bottom dropped out of the sky and the torrential rains started. Wow! With wind speeds over 25 – 35 MPH on the Bay, we are so glad to be safely tucked in at Grasonville.

Tomorrow Tom and I head for Phoenix, Arizona, to attend the IBM Corporate Technical Recognition event while the engines get tuned up at The Yacht Center. Maybe the weather will improve as well.