St. Michaels escape and some warm fall weather

Having skipped really cruising the bay on our way north we wanted to spend this month cruising and enjoying our old home. St. Michaels was at the top of my “must do” list. At first glance, it’s not my type of town—pricey shops, upscale eateries, art & jewelry—but this town won me over in our early years with plentiful parks, a great museum, and ice cream. It has stayed at the top of my list due to the fact that the anchoring is good, it’s walkable, and there are some great dining/drinking options. And I still love the museum! 

This visit we mostly stuck to the waters around the boat as the weather was PERFECT for paddling! Warm and calm! We anchored in San Domingo Creek and Baby Owl Cove, and we made a few trips to town to visit our old favorites—JoJo’s Cupcakes & Ice Cream, Eastern Shore Brewing, and Blue Heron Coffee. It was great to relax and enjoy some wonderful fall weather!

On-water fun

In-town fun

A visitor!

My big sister came to visit this weekend and I couldn’t be happier!  We goofed off in D.C., she visited my office, and she got to experience the joy of sailing the Bay with a visit to St. Michaels!  Loved having her here!

Return to San Domingo

The kids had a few days off this week so we ditched work and had a lovely sail to one of our favorite places--San Domingo Creek in St. Michaels, MD.  I've missed it so much!  For some reason we had missed some real gems on the south end of town during our past visits, maybe because the kids were younger.  Anyway, we hit up Eastern Shore Brewing, Lyon Distilling, and St. Michaels Winery for the first time.  While the wine wasn't quite our thing, the staff was great and there was a good variety to try.  The brewery and distiller will definitely be part of our return visits.  We walked the town, sampled the ice cream, ran into some friends from another Navy tour, and relaxed on the hook. 

A quiet end to the festivities

After the excitement of Annapolis we crossed the bay to the Miles River and the relative calm of Saint Michaels.  Sadly the nettles were pretty bad here so swimming was out, but we had fun with dinghy rides, playing at the park, and cooling off with ice cream.  We hit up our favorite toy store to pick up classic Monopoly and watched Captain Ron to refresh us on some of the rules.

Saturday we took advantage of the free admission at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum for military families.  It was great!  In all the times we'd been to this town before we hadn't visited, but with two nights on the hook we were finally able to.  It was blazing hot out, but the combo of buildings with a/c and outside displays was bearable.  Then while cooking dinner back at the boat we spotted a dolphin right in the anchorage among the boat!  The third and final fireworks show of the weekend capped off our visit and it was great, too!

Sailing home, heading for the pool to cool off!

Happy b-day weekend!

As I sit here nibbling the last of my birthday cupcakes from Crumbs, I'm reflecting on the most perfect weekend a girl could wish for. We spent the weekend anchored in San Domingo Creek on the "back side" of St. Michaels, MD. While the weather always threatened a little, we survived a very humid weekend with hours of swimming. It was wonderful! This wasn't too different from other weekends there--a dinghy ride, a stroll through town, playing at the park, ice cream--yet I had so much fun swimming with the kids that it will surely hold a special place in my memory. And of course there were the cupcakes! I kind of wish every weekend could be at least three days long!

I love long weekends!!!

After a wicked rough week at work we were rewarded with a great day of sailing! And it was mostly downwind which always makes me happy. We joined a growing crowd at San Domingo Creek and set to swimming for a few hours. It was perfect! We jumped off the stern, the port side, and the bow. The kids did great! And the water was just perfect! We got a few small jelly stings, but it was no big deal. Ahhh... As we were cooking dinner, Frank tested out the generator to run our air conditioning and it worked beautifully! A little early sample of my birthday cupcakes and a movie with the kids has wrapped a pretty awesome day. :)