Saturday - August 23

Rainy, drizzly Saturday.   We exercised and Mark made delicious breakfast of blueberry pancakes and sausage.   Left the anchorage at 9:30 and cruised up the Potomac River (Virginia on our left and Maryland to our right) for 36 miles and now settled in our slip at Capt, John's Crab House and Marina in Newburg, MD on Neale Sound.      We are 45 miles south of DC (as the crow flies). Shortly before we arrived, the drizzle started....

 

So we are back to some civilization after 2 days at anchorage.   Hooked up the electric cord and water

hose, grabbed our raincoats and ready for a walk.    Drizzle didn't last long.....we walked across the bridge to Cobb Island and first stop....."Beaches and Cream" - yummy ice cream cones ("salty caramel" for Mark and "peach cobbler" for me - excellent)!   Walked around the residential area (around 400 homes with 1,166 residents).   Went into the Cobb Island Coffee Shoppe and Galleria - nice gift shop and good coffee and nice chat with 2 local ladies.   Stopped at the little market for a few groceries and back to Catrina.   Put the groceries away, grabbed the bikes and off we went.    Wanted to do a dry run to St. Francis de Sales Church for tomorrow's 8:00 Mass.   It was 2 miles from here on a very nicely paved road with no traffic thru the woods.....and then tah dah, found the little country church in the middle of NOWHERE overlooking the Potomac!   The church has an address of Issue, MD....but there is absolutely nothing else around!    No "Issues"....ha!

 

Rode back to Cobb Island where we had our ice cream and coffee this morning and stopped at the Scuttlebutt Lounge and sat outside for an Orange Crush (me) and beer (Mark).    Met some folks (9) from across the river in VA .  Had a nice visit about us traveling on our boat and spending the summer on the Chesapeake,  1st time on the Potomac, etc.    One of the gals mentioned she was from a large family.  Whenever Mark hears this, he always asks "How large" and usually wins this one with 13 children in his family.    But.....this gal came from a Catholic family of 14 so she and Mark had some good laughs and gabbed about growing up with lots of siblings!       Left these very friendly folks (today was their 34th wedding anniversary) and rode around Cobb Island.    The drizzle started but we went from one end of the island to the other and returned to Catrina just before it came down heavier.

 

So happy for our friends, Pat and Brenda who welcomed a new granddaughter last night near St. Louis.    Brooklyn Ray weighed 8 lbs. 1 oz. and is 20.75" .   New Mommy, Kassie is 25 days younger than Ryan.   Brenda and I went thru our pregnancies (surprise for both of us) together!   Mark and I were at Santa Rosa Beach, FL for her wedding to Kyle in June, 2013.

Congratulations to all....

 

Brooklyn Ray

 

So tonight we meandered to Capt/ John's for dinner.   The parking lot was packed this afternoon around 3 when we were bike riding and when we got there at 5:30, had to wait for a table.    DELICIOUS dinner......crab and shrimp and so fresh!    The big draw here is steamed crab where they spread big sheets of brown paper across the tables and bring on the platters of steamed crab - what a mess and not our thing;.   We both LOVE crab, but prefer someone else do all the work!   Ha....

 

Our friends Bob and Carol (Bob took the neat Blue Angel photos last weekend in Chicago) sent us some pics from the tallest  flagpole in the USA......they just took a road trip around Lake Michigan and came upon this flag pole and flag in Sheboygan, WI.    It is 400' tall and 11'  diameter.  In normal conditions, they fly a 220 lb. flag and a 350 lb. flag is flown in harsher weather.    The flag measures 60' by 120' and each star is 3' high and each stripe measures 4 1/2' wide.   This flag proudly stands at the Acuity Insurance Company (headquarters) in Sheboygan.   It is dedicated to our veterans.

Carol and Bob at base of tallest flag pole

Beautiful photo of very large "Old Glory"

Dedication

Nighty night from Catrina and crew on this rainy night in Newburg on Neale Sound.