Leonardtown to Colonial Beach

Wednesday, September 7- Leonardtown to Colonial Beach

Pulled out by 0800 and headed across River to Colonial beach headed toward Boathouse Marina.  The water was calm which allowed Colletta to do some preparations for the guests which were to arrive today.  Followed the channel in, docked, got settled and Tom promptly began cleaning boat and getting ready for Jim and Pat Childs to arrive.  It was wonderful to see them and spend time with us.  They are vacationing on the Eastern shore of the US, seeing National Parks, and visiting their friends along the way.  This is also our first time to have another couple on board overnight so we are testing out the sleeping accommodations.  We visited on the back deck, enjoyed a shrimp alfredo dinner, the homemade cookies they brought, and even McDonald's hot fudge sundaes.  

Boathouse Marina

Boater Lounge

We had a strom front blow thru and it literaly blew my bike off
the dock. It was about 10 feet from the end of the dock and all
I saw of the bike was its wheel as it blew off the dock into the
water. We used a magnet the next morning to help locate the bike
and then a long boat hook to retrieve it. Rinsed it off with
fresh water and WD-40'd the heck out of it. The jury is still
out on how it will fare.

Thursday, September 8 - Colonial Beach

As you know, when a car is available, cruisers make good use of it.  This time we used the car to visit historical sights in the area.  We visited the birthplace of James Monroe, our 5th president and then the birthplace of George Washington, both of which are national parks.  Jim and Pat are consistent park visitors and Tom and I are catching the "bug" too.  John and Pam then joined us in the afternoon as we went to the Stratford estate which is the home of the Lees ( as in Robert E. Lee).   We ate dinner at a local restaurant, Denisons Market, which is known for its fresh fish and that is what the men enjoyed-to the amount of 30 oysters between the two of them.  They had them prepared 5 different ways and enjoyed them all, with the favorite being grilled oysters.  We made a quick food stop at Food Lion and returned with ice cream for the gang at the dock-11 of us.  A perfect way to end the evening.

the welcoming committee

Touring George Washington's birthplace

The foundation of the original home of George W.

Stafford House the home of Robert E. Lee

The grounds of Stafford House

Wandering around the grounds

On Denson's Market and Restaurant with Rocky
the owner giving me some pointers on shucking
oysters

The dock partners from Lake Michigan Yacht Club on the
docks at Boathouse marina

Late night ice cream on the docks

 

Friday, September 9 - Colonial Beach to Mattawoman anchorage

We rose early, enjoyed breakfast with Pat and Jim and then they went their way and we took off on our trip up the Potomac River.  The water was flat and the ride was peaceful and quiet.  There is very little traffic on the ride and the boating season even on the river is coming to an end.  As we pulled into the Mattawoman anchorage the water was flat and refreshingly cool.  As we attempted to anchor, the anchor did not catch even with 75ft of line out in 9 ft of water.  We pulled up the chain to try again only to find the anchor had snagged an 8 ft log.   With a line tied to the log and with the boat hook, we released the log, anchored again, the anchor set immediately.  We enjoyed swimming off the back of the boat and a beautiful sunset.