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Our dream of cruising on a boat Around the Great Circle Loop and beyond has the drawback of leaving our friends and family far away from us for an extended time. This blog is intended to keep you up to date on our travels and adventures, and encourage you to join us for some part of our trip as we make our way around the waterways of the eastern US, Canada, the Bahamas and the Caribbean. Click on the archived posts below to follow our journey. Our dog, Ben, has been helping us write this blog since he has more time!

Saturday, May 23, 2009

Mike Gets Inspiration at the "Breastapeake" Bay

Hi All...Ben here again,
Our good friends, and across the streeet neighbors, Mike and Debbie, came from Irvine to see us for a get away. Debbie has been working hard, and Mike hasn't had time to do much writing on his book lately, so this was a good way to clear their heads of unnecessary stresses and come up with new ideas.

I think this is a picture of Mike getting some inspiration for his new book.
I don't know what this is called in the human world, but in the dog world that’s called a “bitch”. I think Debbie would agree. But Mike is all smiles. He must have come up with some good ideas.

I don’t quite know why, but as soon as Mike and Debbie arrived, the sun came out in the Chesapeake Bay. It must be the California influence. If Peggy and Larry read this, they’re going to be upset since it rained the whole time they were here. (I won’t tell them if you don’t.)
They arrived in a cab in Annapolis to meet us while we were tied up at Ego Alley in Annapolis again. Bob and Theresa were right behind to us and we were having a great time watching people watch us, and viewing the parade with Annapolis band and bagpipers. There were people dressed in old fashioned costumes. This guy looked pretty funny wearing that outfit while riding a modern Segue.

I got a lot of attention as I barked at other tourists as they walked by, just to show them that I’m a really good watch dog.
Any way, there was a lot of joyful laughter and giggling as the cab pulled up next to the boat and Debbie and Mike emerged with their boat gear in hand. Bob and Theresa joined Izzy, Jeff, Mike and Debbie on another walk to El Toro Bravo for a great Mexican dinner that night and lots of those margaritas that make them real happy.
The next day they all took a tour of the Naval Academy to see what those uniformed fresh faced young men and women that we see in the town do all day.
Debbie loves bagpipes, so we stood and watched for a few minutes as the Navy bagpipe corps practiced for their graduation show that weekend. Graduation was almost upon us so the Blue Angels gave everyone a wonderful show of spins and turns right over our heads as they practiced for the Annapolis graduation ceremonies. Myron Ward drove over from DC to join us for the event. That night we all barbecued on board and caught up on neighborhood and family happenings. A camera crew from one of the local Washington TV channels came by and filmed our boat and interviewed Jeff for their segment on boating safety for the upcoming holiday weekend. I think he told them that having a dog on board is a good thing to keep everyone safe. We thought we were going to be famous, but we were preempted by news of a new donut shop opening, and we missed our 15 minutes of fame. Here I am with Jeff and the "anchor man" ( I don't know why they call him that...he didn't even look at the anchor), and the camera man. His camera is a lot bigger than Izzy's. The next day we took off for another crossing of the Chesapeake Bay. I got into my usual post on the fly bridge and turned my back on the helm so I couldn't be blamed for anything while Debbie and Mike tried their hands at driving the boat. We went to St. Michael's and anchored out in the pretty bay where they have a big lighthouse and museum. Here are Debbie and Mike in front of the lighthouse, They had a good time in town that night at the pizza place called Ava’s and watched the finals of American Idol at the bar!
The next day we went to Oxford, MD and tied up at Brian’s restaurant, “Schooners”.
There we opened a bottle of wine and celebrated our successful journey across the Bay (again), then had a great crab dinner with Brian. In this picture I think one of the crabs is biting Debbie. I’m going to be extra careful of those things from now on. There’s no way of telling if they’re friendly.
Back across the Chesapeake Bay again the next day (doesn’t Jeff get tired of going back and forth across this bay?) to Annapolis again. This time Ego Ally was full, so we picked up a mooring ball in the harbor.
Parke and Moira Davis, our friends from Fort Lauderdale, were in town on their way back home to Ottawa and they joined us on the boat for cocktails, then drove everyone (except me) in their dinghy across the harbor to the Boat Yard in Easton for dinner. I was needed to stay back and keep the boat safe.
The next morning everyone went to Chick and Ruth’s for a big belly stuffing breakfast before we had to say goodbye to Mike and Debbie as they continued on with their vacation in New England. Bye-bye Debbie and Mike!
Say “hi” to the ducks on the lake in Woodbridge for me! I miss my old home that didn't move.
Love,
Ben








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