So, after visiting family in Kentucky, I headed back in Florida and my wonderful husband (not necessarily in the order) for a couple of weeks. Once settled back in, we divided our time between partying and finishing up a few last-minute chores before we were to take off again (I'll bet you can guess which one took preference!!!). To add to the fun, Jim and Pat (Pedro's parents) came down for a visit. While the premise for making them come visit was to enlist their help for our Kentucky Derby party, we managed to squeeze in even more fun. We both had and attended a few other parties, got to visit my sweet baby boy Bentley (yes, thankfully he still remembered me), talked Polya and Roberto into coming for a visit and even found time for beach walks.
Our next party was our "not so annual" annual Kentucky Derby party. We've not had this party in several years and were excited to be able to do it again. It was a huge success and we were so excited to see our wonderful friends (many of whom who hadn't seen in a long-time). Thanks to our dear friend Angie who made a beautiful customized cake, we were also able to celebrate Pat's birthday. She and everyone else there loved it.
With the party over and the parents heading back home to Kentucky, it was time for us to move the boat to her new temporary home in Maryland. However, deciding that we still needed one last party, our amazing friends Larry and Michelle brought their boat over to raft up with us. It was the perfect send-off as we enjoyed a great dinner party at our anchorage the night before our multi-day passage.
The next morning, we caught the first opening and headed through the locks and out of Port Canaveral. Our 700-nautical mile sail took us 5 days from Port Canaveral to Norfolk, VA. We had some moderately rough seas and spirted sailing but overall we had a great trip. Pedro even managed to catch us a fish. From Norfolk, it took another day and a half to sail 100 more miles before we landed in Deale, Maryland. With most of the last few miles against the wind, we were more than happy to arrive.
Our arrival timing in Deale really couldn't have been better. Within about an hour of our arrival in Deale by boat, Fred and Beth (our aunt and uncle in case you've forgotten) also arrived by car. They had graciously offered to drive us back to Louisville so we talked them into coming a few days early for one last sail together on this boat.
Thank you again Fred and Beth for both the ride back to Louisville and for being such an integral part of our journey so far. This was the perfect way to end a chapter and plan for the next one. We (somewhat tearfully but mostly excitedly) bid farewell - albeit, maybe for just for now - to our home and our girl. We calculated that, over the last 9 years, we'd sailed about 19,500 miles on her. I have to say this number surprised us both. We knew we had had a lot of fun and covered some miles but it's interesting to see the actual distance all added up.
In case you know anyone looking for a great boat, here's the link for her listing:
Back in Louisville, we excitedly met up with our boating buddies Dan and Alison. With their boat, Equus, safely moored in Spain, these two are also traveling mostly by land. They are enroute to California for the birth of their 4th grandchild. They planned a stop in Louisville to spend a month caring for my dad and arrived a few days early so we could catch up. Since neither of us had our own boat, we managed to borrow Julie and Dude's pontoon and had a great day boating on the Ohio River. We love our boating buddies and cannot wait until we both are back on our own sailboats and traveling together!
From Bar Harbor, our first stop was Kennebunkport, ME. Despite the cold drizzle, we enjoyed wondering around this adorable town.
Next, we drove to Portsmouth, NH where we spent the night so that we could tour further the next morning. This was definitely one of our favorite cities. Next, we stopped for a few hours to wander around the adorable but not at all spooky town of Salem, MA before stopping for the night in Newport, RI.
Too soon, it was time to slowly start our way back north. Our next stop was Cape Cod, MA where we spent the night in Provincetown and fell in love with everything Cape Cod. We next stopped in Chatham, MA to see the beautiful lighthouse before heading to Boston to spend our last 2 days. Not to be outdone by the other New England cities, Boston also stole our hearts. We got an Airbnb just outside of the city and took the subway. With Pedro as our navigator, we managed a whirlwind tour.
What a perfect way to end our New England road trip before we headed back to Portland. We grabbed one last Airbnb in Portland so we could have time to visit a few lighthouses, hike a bit and grab a Maine lobster dinner.
I took a ton of pictures, so here's the link to them all:
Shoooooo!!!!! Well, that's finally gotten me caught up. As I type this, we are again "sailing" over to Europe but this time someone else is doing the driving. We are aboard the Queen Mary 2 sailing into Southampton, UK. We thought we would take a couple of months (since we technically are homeless) and visit parts of Europe we haven't yet gotten to see and will most likely never sail too (remember, we don't do cold water). But, we'll fill you in on that next time!
Until next post!
