Great Loop & Cruising Adventure Blog

After the tour of the Arlington National Cemetery, we proceeded on to our scheduled appointment and guided tour of the BoatUS Headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia.

From left to right: Bernadette Bernon, Colleen Halverson, Gordon Cameron, Lisa, Jim and Terri Parrow Botsford

Last week Gordon Cameron, BoatUs’ Web Content Coordinator, emailed us and suggested that since we were still in the area that we should come to Alexandria, VA to meet the staff at the BoatUS Internet Operations, which we have been working with since Bernadette Bernon signed us on as contributors to their Online Cruising Logs.

We were given the royal treatment and gained some valuable knowledge about this wonderful organization. For instance, we did not know anything about their on-site in-house library, which houses a huge collection of magazine, books and videos, or that they have a department just for evaluating a boat’s worth.

We enjoyed meeting Bernadette and Gordon that we have previously known only through email and phone conversations. We were also happy to get to meet Terri Parrow Botsford, Vice President BoatUS Internet Operations and Colleen Halverson, Web Content Coordinator, and get to know them all a little over lunch in the Dinghy Deli, which is located on-site.

We feel fortunate to have this opportunity to work with such a great group of people and a valuable organization which is a vital link to anyone who boats and at the same time be able to share our adventures with other boaters around the United States.

Make sure to check out the BoatUS Cruising Logs by CLICKING HERE

… they were all buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

Today we made a road trip to Alexandria and Arlington, Virginia. First we visited the Arlington National Cemetery.

Our national cemetery is the best known of over one hundred national cemeteries in the United States. It is 624 acres and shelters the remains of over 320,000 servicemen and women, veterans from every war and major conflict in United States history.

The memorials and monuments are interspersed with the graves of hundreds of thousands of other Americans important in American history.

This is a TEST of sorts… if you think you know the answer to our query please email us (kismet@favorsweb.com) what you think the answer is. Here we go:

Can anyone tell us what the following all have in common: Joe Louis, Walter Reed, Richard Byrd, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Abner Doubleday, John F Kennedy, Medgar Evers and General Douglas MacArthur? The obvious answer would be that they’re all dead however this is not the answer to the question. Submit your answers to kismet@favorsweb and return to this page in a few days to learn the answer.

Sometimes, while docked at a marina, it can be easy to get caught up in boat chores and other tasks of life and work. The marina is busy with boats coming and going and people to talk to and socialize with. Don’t get me wrong, we love marina life, the boats, the people (not so much the boat chores and work).

So whenever a hot, calm, August Sunday presents itself to us our thoughts, almost simultaneously, turn to thinking about the joys of a peaceful afternoon, night and early morning coffee, at anchor. It doesn’t take us long to say… “Let’s go!”

Our new favorite spot, off the Patuxent River, in a cove off St. Leonards Creek, is just a few miles from the marina and we can be there in just under an hour.

So we did our morning chores, went for our daily walk, untied the lines, stopped to get a pump-out and headed up the river around 11:00 am. Which got us anchored around noon.

What do we do all day while anchored out. Well mostly its time to relax, play games, make festive drinks like Bloody Marys, cook, read, talk, watch the wildlife fly and swim by, take photographs, watch the sunset, listen to the sounds all around us especially at night when the woods come alive with a buggy opera. This particular night the surrounding woods near our anchorage was rich with a chorus of critters. We like to sleep with this buggy music wafting into our portholes along with a cool breeze and the gentle rocking of the boat.

For us… this is the life.

We last saw the Wade’s as they waved goodbye to us from the docks of their Morehead City homeport marina back in May, so we were excited when Louis and Diane said they could come to Solomons for a visit. They called upon their noon-time arrival so we met them for a two-hour get-caught-up lunch, lots of laughs about our shared boating experiences and discussion of future plans. Later we all met back on Kismet for cocktails and one of Lisa’s fabulous dinners, more conversation, stories and laughter.

This is what it is like when you have choosen the Looper or cruising lifestyle. New and old friends seem to appear out of nowhere but they are mostly coming or mostly going as you are doing the same. So, we all know in our hearts that we must make the best of the time we have together and oftentimes we end up playing and laughing like kids at recess.

When you’re on the Great Loop there are an endless array of museums to visit along the route and once one returns home you can start to have museum withdrawal so Lisa and I took the Wade’s to the Calvert Maritime Museum for a little fix. The Calvert Museum is a wonderful museum that’s dedicated to the Chesapeake and Solomons area water heritage and we were not disappointed. Later that evening it was off to Vera’s White Sands for dinner and more fun. However the real fun started when we returned to the boat to play a dice game called greed. Unfortunately we were not very gracious hosts as the Wade’s never won a game but we did have a good time.

          Louis said that we should have worded the above this way…

          ”Although we have played the game on three occasions now, the Wades thoroughly trounced us on two of those occasions.  This third time, because of Louis’ position on the board, the Favors were able to squeak out a win.” 

Before we knew it Louis and Diane were pulling away from our marina in the Solomons and it was our turn to be the ones standing on the dock waving goodbye. We are all excited that we are planning to head south together, in the fall, to explore the St. John’s River in Florida. Time sure flies when you’re having a good time, especially when you’re sharing it with good friends. Ya’ll come back soon.

After over three years of hearing about Saint Michaels, MD and how this is a must stop on the Chesapeake Bay for all cruising boater’s bucket lists we decided it was time for us to cross it off our list.

We departed for Saint Michaels, a 45-mile trip to the east side of the Bay from Solomons, at 7 a.m. With Bob and Sharon, Catch Me If You Can.

Part of our boating mission, this summer, is to visit new places and the excitement of traveling to and staying in Saint Michaels was as rewarding to us as we had anticipated. Over 300 years old, playing an important roll in the War of 1812 against the British, rich in marine history and ship building, Saint Michaels is nestled snuggly up the Miles River, a short distance off of the Chesapeake Bay.

We enjoyed walking to and from town, going out to dinner, Bob and Sharon over for dinner and relaxing by the pool for three glorious days. We remarked that it felt like being on vacation. We gave this small town the award for cutest in-town homes.

Like all good things it seemed to end rather quickly as we departed to enjoy one of the calmest water days one could ask for on the Bay with a reputation. We’ll be back but not until we explore more Chesapeake treasures, stay tuned.