Loop Life with Greg and Reenie

Wednesday, August 29, 2018

MARYLAND - CHESAPEAKE BAY (Part 3)

And... SNAP ✅ Our month in California ended way too fast!

Some of the highlights were: Visiting family in Arcata, Carlsbad and Del Mar, Pageant of the Masters Music, Bridge, Spa Days, Music in the Park, Girls Dinner, Old Guys Lifeguard Reunion, Spin Class, Date Night, TK Pot Luck, Visiting Friends, Tommy’s HH, SB Wine Weekend, Fluffer Get Together, Gardening, Mexican Food and the list goes on and on....If we didn’t get a chance to see you no worries, we plan to be back in California this October, with extra time and more Great American Loop stories to share 🙂.

We flew back to Baltimore on August 18th, arriving back to Thistle in the wee hours of the morning. She looks great and we are thrilled to be back aboard. After a month away, the weather is noticeably cooler, but still lots of rain in the weather forecast. It looks like we will have a few days to explore Baltimore before there is a decent weather window to continue up the Chesapeake Bay.

Think about this 🤔...When was the last time you heard or read good stories about Baltimore?....That’s what we thought, Not too often ⁉️

We want to let y’all know that Baltimore has been one of our favorite stops on the Loop! Friendly peeps, easy bike/walk trails around the harbor, wonderful restaurants, lots of unique museums, great history, art everywhere, we felt safe the entire time (Well, maybe not our 2 am airport cab ride 🤪) and Anchorage Marina was fantastic.

Baltimore was founded in 1729, and is the largest city in Maryland. It has a long history as an important seaport. It is the birthplace of our National Anthem, “The Star Spangled Banner”. During the War of 1812 Frances Scott Key wrote the tune that later became the National Anthem. Baltimore has a few nick names “B’More” (For locals). It has hundreds of identified districts, and is dubbed the “City of Neighborhoods”. In the early 1970’s Baltimore’s Inner Harbor was neglected, full of empty warehouses and abundant crime, it’s other nickname “Charm City” came from advertisers seeking to improve the City of Baltimore’s reputation. The Inner Harbor today is a vibrant happening area full of locals and tourists, it is recognized as one of the largest and most successful redevelopment project in the country. Some famous people are from Baltimore: Edgar Allen Poe, Billie Holiday and Babe Ruth (To name a few). After three enjoyable days exploring Baltimore we had a good weather window to push off the dock and continue our Great American Loop Adventure.

Looper Tip: Anchorage Marina was a perfect place to dock Thistle safely for a month. We had a great monthly rate and BWI was an easy 25 minute UBER or Cab ride. We Highly Recommend ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.

We traveled up the Chesapeake Bay to Havre De Grace. Havre De Grace is situated on the mouth the of the Susquehanna River and the head of the Chesapeake Bay. It is named after the city of Le Havre, France. During the Revolutionary War, General Lafayette (a War hero), visited the town several times (Then named Harmers). He commented that the area reminded him of the French seaport Le Havre. The towns residents were inspired and and incorporated the town in 1785 as Havre De Grace. In 1789 George Washington stayed here on his way to his first inauguration. During the first Congress in 1789, Havre De Grace missed by only one vote being named the Capitol of the United States. From 1912 to the 1950’s Havre De Grace was known as “The Graw” a gangster and gambler hangout. Al Capone was reported to stay at the towns historic Chesapeake Hotel. The City was honored as one of America’s top 20 best small towns to visit in 2014 by Smithsonian Magazine.

The next day we headed to Chesapeake City. We exited the Chesapeake Bay (loved our time on the Bay ♥️ Thank You ) and entered The Chesapeake & Delaware Canal (C & D Canal). The Canal is notorious for its strong currents and challenging docking situations. We planned accordingly, and arrived at the Chesapeake Inn during slack tide. The Inn didn’t take take dock reservations (first come first served), we got lucky 🍀 and were assigned the last slip for the night! It’s a charming old town with a population less than 1,000.

It was nice to take a month break from Loop Life...but...after a week back aboard Thistle, we know it’s it’s our happy place ⚓️🇺🇸♥️🙂.

😍

The many neighborhoods of Baltimore.

We were the Red Star near Fells Point.

Thistle on the dock at Anchorage Marina.
More Rain☔️.

The Pendry Hotel is an prime example of the “Charm City”.

It was an old delapadated waterfront warehouse (Before) and today (After) is a spectacular hotel.

Art in the Pendry.

More art in the Pendry.

“O Say Can You See...”

The Baltimore Harbor is challenged with runoff storm debris.

There are numerous Professors Trash Wheels strategically placed around the Harbor.

The American Visionary Art Museum.

Reenie’s favorite museum.

😜

Famous Lighthouse and Coast Guard Cutter in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor.

Dinner in the “ Little Italy” Neighborhood.

Sightseeing in Baltimore.

Cobblestone Streets (difficult on a bike).
Brick Sidewalks.
Escher like flooring in the Pendry Bar (tricky to negotiate after a glass of 🍷 wine?).

All Smiles 😊😊to be back on the Loop.

MV Redhead (owned by the Active Captain creator) was at Anchorage Marina.

We had to dodge huge tree trunks exiting the Harbor.

Our final port stops on the Chesapeake Bay (yellow line).

Baltimore

Havre De Grace

Chesapeake City

Muddy water (from all of the rain) on the Chesapeake Bay.

Log Pond Marina in Havre De Grace.

Beautiful homes on the Main Street.

Susquehanna National Wildlife Refuge in Havre De Grace.

Breakfast at an old school diner.

Lighthouse.

Thistle docked at Log Pond Marina.

The water cleared up after two days of no rain 👍.

Beautiful homes and farms along the waterfront.

The C & D Canal.

It is a 14 mile long, 450 foot wide and 35 feet deep,

man-made Canal connecting The Chesapeake Bay and Delaware River.

Chesapeake City Inn docks.

Yes, pink lighting 🎀.

Great dinner @ Prime.

The Inn was on this month’s cover of Chesapeake Magazine 💖.

Wednesday, August 8, 2018

MARYLAND - CHESAPEAKE BAY (Part Two)

We absolutely loved our week in Annapolis♥️

And...Now (July 5th) it’s time to push off the dock, with plans to explore the Chesapeake Bay for another couple of weeks! We made some tentative slip reservations, but have decided to just follow our hearts and enjoy the beautiful Chesapeake. The only timeline we have is to fly from Baltimore to California at the end of July to visit family & friends, and take care of some business.

Our first stop after Annapolis was in Deale, Maryland, where we stayed at Shipwright Harbor. The town is rural with many marinas and boats. One night would have been enough, but with small craft warnings we stayed for two nights.

A great weather window was forecasted, so we crossed the Chesapeake Bay (again) to Oxford. Oxford is a picturesque small historic town, with a polulation of about 1,000. It is one of the oldest towns in Maryland. The town began around 1667. An early inhabitant was, Robert Morris Jr. known as “The Financier of the Revolution”. We were excited to dock at the Oxford Yacht Agency and meet John Shanahan. He is known as the United States expert on Grand Banks (Boats). Thistle is frequently mistaken or compared to a Grand Banks Europa. We met John and he was delighted to take a tour of Thistle. He was very impressed with Thistle, and invited us to visit his other Boatyard on Tarppe Creek in the next few days. He suggested a minor exhaust hose replacement for Thistle. (We planned to accomplish this replacement during storage this winter, but he had the parts available and offered an AC & AGLCA discount 😀).

The following morning we pushed off the dock and headed to Cambridge. Originally, we planned to stay at the Cambridge Municipal Yacht Basin, but instead continued a few miles further to River Marsh Marina at the Cambridge Hyatt. We were very happy with our choice. Once docked at the Hyatt, we enjoyed their infinity pool for the afternoon (a real treat 👍). Wait until you see the picture below!

It would have been nice to stay in Cambridge for another day, but John’s mechanic was ready for Thistle at the Boatyard. We made the short trip up La Tarppe Creek to Oxford Yacht at Dickerson Harbor. There we left Thistle over night for the hose replacement. John drove us to Easton where we rented a car to visit Washington DC.

As suggested by fellow Loopers (Thank you again Lab Partners), we parked our rental car at a Metro station outside of Washington DC and rode the Metro to the center of DC (very nice that we didn’t have to deal with traffic or parking)! We used the DC rental bikes (Capitol Bike Share) and toured all of the museums and monuments...very exciting 🇺🇸. We checked into the Mayflower Hotel for the night, had a wonderful dinner at Barcelona Restaurant, and then went on a night bike tour of the spectacular illuminated monuments. The next morning we rode bikes to the Capitol Yacht Club...on our bucket list as a future Thistle stop! After lunch we rode the Metro back to our rental car and drove back to Easton. We decided to spend the night in Easton and travel back to Thistle the next morning ⚓️.

Looper Tip: John was wonderful to meet! He gave us a personal tour of his home town and was happy to share some interesting local history. Thank You ...⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. His mechanic finished our project as planned and was very professional. We highly recommend.

We are happy to be back aboard Thistle 😍...on our way to Saint Michaels. Saint Michaels was one of our favorite stops on the Chesapeake. The town was incorporated in 1804 and its earliest industry was shipbuilding. The town played an important roll in the War of 1812. The British forces targeted Saint Michaels because of its ship building. On the August 10, 1813, the Battle of Saint Michaels commenced. The British bombard the town, but failed to destroy the shipyards, or cause substantial damage to the town. The towns people dimmed all of their lights and hung lanterns in the trees beyond the town so that the British cannonballs overshot the town. The town was spared and Saint Michaels became know as “the town that fooled the British”. Shipbuilding declined after the War of 1812, but the oyster industry thrived. Today it is a charming town and in 2007 the town was named as one of he top 10 Romantic Escapes in the United States ♥️ By Coastal Living Magazine.

After three wonderful days in Saint Michaels we pushed off the dock headed to Rock Hall. We snuck through Kent Narrows (Yes, it was very narrow 😱) and docked at Osprey Marina in Rock Hall. The Marina was very nice and we plannnd to stay two nights........but the weather had other plans! With small craft warnings (wind) predicted we changed our reservation to one night. Normally we would have stayed longer, but we did not want to chance missing our flight leaving Baltimore in a few days.

From Rock Hall we traversed the Chesapeake Bay again! We crossed under the Francis Scott Key Bridge to enter the Baltimore Harbor. It was a beautiful day with may ships of all sizes out on the water. We were assigned our slip for the month at Anchorage Marina. We spent a few days exploring Baltimore...very cool 😎 waterfront area with lots of revitalized buildings.

The best part of being in Baltimore was that our special Looper friends aboard Tyre-less drove from Annapolis to Baltimore to join us for a fun filled evening. Including docktails with hors d’ oeuvres aboard Thistle, then a wonderful dinner at Duck Duck Goose.

We fly back to California in the morning....❌⭕️ to ⚓️Thistle for a month 😘.