Gotta Smile!: Now I Get It!

August 20 – 22, 2012

I finally figured out what makes the Chesapeake so beautiful -- in our minds. The beautiful areas aren’t really on the bay itself – it’s all of the rivers that feed into it! That’s where the scenery becomes wooded and hilly. The water isn’t so big -- you can see both banks. The quiet anchorages are still and isolated. The houses are cute cottages, restored homes and monster mansions… all with boats and docks to enjoy the water. I’m sure that sailboats love the bay, where they can follow the wind and not worry about the confines of the river banks, but we like the cozy intimate feeling of the rivers. We also love finding the small towns on those rivers. Walking up and down the brick sidewalks, we admire the restored homes that have been remodeled to accommodate life in the 21^st century. Some of the towns have thriving shops and restaurants and sometimes it’s hard to find the downtown that they claim to have. For us -- that is the fun of this trip. We read the guidebooks and plan our days, but we never know what the next day will really bring. Whatever we get we’re ready to grab it and be thankful for another safe day of exploring.

Dingy ride into town.

Georgetown and Galena are two of those towns that are basically towns in name only. Located at the end of the Sassafras River the towns are a clump of marinas and a few homes. Jon rented a car so we could see what was there. In about 15 minutes we knew we had seen everything. Since we had to keep the car for two hours, we stopped at Twinny’s Café and Gun Shop for breakfast…..no guns! Not what we expected, but a memorable stop! Dinner and Capt Ron viewing on our boat.

Havre de Grace is the self proclaimed
decoy carving capital

On Tuesday we crossed the bay to begin our trip down the west side. This is the northern end of the bay and it is much narrower than the southern portion. We were headed to Havre de Grace, the city that was almost the nation’s capital….Its fate was decided by one vote. Havre de Grace is one of the larger towns we have visited recently. Bonnie and Jon got a call that friends from Tennessee were in the area – a good excuse to have a party and go to dinner at the Laurrapin Grille (noted for only serving food prepared with locally grown ingredients).

Wednesday morning we walked into town – larger, but not as picturesque – had coffee and scones, and set off for the Baltimore area by noon. Rather than arriving at a large port at the end of a long day we anchored about ten miles from Baltimore’s inner harbor.

Bonnie and Jon had to head for Solomons Island to meet up with Hottie Scottie. He's got a new starter battery for them. Plus, they are picking up a guest. We'll meet up again after Labor Day week-end. We did a quick tour of Baltimore's Inner Harbor. This was a scouting expedition. The Baltimore Grand Prix is Labor Day week-end on the streets surrounding the harbor. We wanted to check out the proximity of marinas and anchorages to the center of activity. Found some great locations. Next issue will be -- are they available for a big week-end event.

Francis Scott Key was inspired to write
"The Star Spangled Banner" during the battle of Baltimore
in 1814 as Fort McHenry was being defended.