Kicking summer off with some more travel!

And just what have we been up to? Dirt-dwelling! Ok, that's not entirely accurate. We did spend a few weeks on the boat after returning from France, but we mostly shuttled kid #1 around to see friends and knocked out LOTS of appointments for the whole crew. And what are we up to now? Hosting some friends from France! For the next few weeks we will be between DC, NYC, the Bay, the Outer Banks, and everywhere in between to share bits of Americana with our friends.

Enjoying life OUTSIDE of the park on one of our fun stops for the teens.
(BRILLIANT, if I must say so.) More to come on these crazy weeks...

Somewhere in there before our guests arrived we actually also squeezed in a week-long car trip to Illinois to visit with my family. It was a rapidly planned and executed trip, complete with car tire/brake drama, family time, fireworks, hiking, and lots of laughs. I needed this trip more than I realized. We didn't get to see everyone I wanted to, but we made the most of the time we had.

Sister time! This was so much fun! I'm the baby. ;)

On our stop in my hometown to see my folks, we made a day-trip to Starved Rock State Park. I love it there and was so happy to share it with my family!

~Jo, 1st Mate/Travel Boss

Recap...FRANCE!

We had an epic journey to France to pick up Katreina! It was my first time back in the country since I was in high school (and that's been a hot minute!), and Frank and Trent's first trip to France. We were also joined by Grandma Sue who was on her second trip there. 

The main purpose of the trip was to get Katreina and meet her family so we spent a few days in Tours to do just that! I really like the town and can see why K was so happy there with her amazing host family. We visited her school and favorite stores, began our diet of fresh croissants, and walked miles along the streets with their charming mix of old and new buildings. While we were in town, we explored a few nearby sites of the Loire Valley--Chateau Villandry and Chateau du Clos Luce--but most of all just enjoyed staring at the face we haven't seen in person for 10 months.

So happy to see our French student!

Tours was a beautiful city!

Chateaux Villandry and its beautiful gardens.

Chateaux du Clos Lucé, final home of Leonardo da Vinci.

The five of us piled into our rental car, left the Loire Valley, and headed south toward the Dordogne River Valley. Along the way we stopped at the Village des Martyrs in Oradour-Sur-Glane to witness the horrors the Nazis inflicted on this country village on June 10, 1944. We spent a few days in the Dordogne exploring prehistoric art in the Cro-Magnon caves and enjoying the old town of Sarlat-la-Canéda. We visited Lascaux IV, Grotte de Rouffignac, and Grotte de Font-de-Guame, which was a real treat as only 78 respiring humans are allowed in each day and we somehow secured same-day entry. This region has much more for us to explore in the future!

"Remember" Oradour-Sur-Glane

Cro-Magnon Caves!

Sarlat-le-Canéda was such a great little town!

We spent a few days on the Brittany (Bretagne)/Normandy border in the cutest little carriage house as our base for a journey to the Mont-Saint-Michel Abbey, great dining on the Bretagne coast in Cherrueix, and a visit to the fortress port city of Saint-Malo. It was so cool watching the fisherman drive tractors out onto the sand at low tide to harvest mussels, clams, and oysters along this coast and the seafood was delicious!

Mont-Saint-Michel was unreal!

The Bretagne Coast and out cute neighbors at our AirBnB!

And we finished our trip in Normandy. As Trent is really into WWII history we stayed in Bayeux for a few days so that we could take our time and visit the historic locations. We visited the village of Ste-Mere Elise, Utah Beach, Pointe Du Hoc, the WWII Normandy American Cemetery, Longues-Sur-Mer Gun Battery, Omaha Beach, Port Winston artificial harbour, and the Battle Normandy Museum to learn about Allied and German planning and execution of D-Day and the war that continued afterward. Driving across Normandy really gave me a better appreciation of the geography (and the spread of our airborne forces). While the landing beaches are of great significance to the history of D-Day, on a hot weekend in June they were crowded with happy families enjoying the cool water--it was nice to see that such carnage could be replaced with joy. While in Bayeux we also checked out the Bayeux Tapestry which details William the Conqueror's rise from duke of Normandy to kind of England (and does so with some pretty graphic needlework in some spots!) over 70 yards of stitched scenes that were completed so the illiterate masses would know the story.

Ste-Mere-Elise, Utah Beach, and Pointe Du Hoc

Port Winston, Longues-Sur-Mer Gun Battery, the WWII Normandy American Cemetery, and Omaha Beach. These days were so moving and educational!

Bayeux was a beautiful village and we were able to eat a really good meal out!

We wound down our trip in the port city of Honfleur for no better reason than it looked like a cool, walkable port town with lots of good restaurants. Our group split up some for the day, but came together for one last wonderful dinner.

LOVED this little port village! As a sailor, it was great to be back near the water.

Driving in France wasn't so bad, even with our midsize car. They drive on the right, they love roundabouts (and as a former New Englander I was cool with that), and people actually only drive in the left lane to pass! Brilliant! Highways were easy, but narrow roads in some small towns were a little exciting! Parking in the cities and old town areas was tight, but we managed. The only real challenge was the stupid "AdBlue" emissions additive that we apparently were low on from the minute we got the rental. After some fabulous translation by K and the purchase of 10L of AdBlue and two funnels, we were good-to-go and wouldn't have the car shut down on us for the rest of the trip! (It's an EU diesel thing--you've been warned.)

We had one unplanned adventure on the trip--COVID. It got us all early on and while it definitely impacted the amount of time I spent at cafe tables sipping French wine, I am thankful that we all had only a day or two of minor symptoms and had nice, roomy AirBnBs to quarantine in. We were able to limit our contact with others, lay low, and make decent meals (and the grocery had great 3 euro wine!). Since most of our plans had us outdoors anyway, we only had to cancel a winery tour and tasting and we had plenty of flexibility in our trip to adjust. 

Yep, it got us. But at least our symptoms were mild and our quarantine spot was lovely!

~Jo, 1st Mate (or is it Lead Travel Agent???)

When "Thank You" isn't enough...

We've been a bit quiet lately as our focus has been on reconnecting with our daughter after her foreign exchange year in France! We actually traveled as a family (including grandma!) to pick her up, meet her French family, and do a little travel around France before returning.

About that family...they are amazing! We truly hit the jackpot with this host family and Katreina was definitely torn between being excited to go home and being sad because she had to leave them. Those are emotions that I'm glad she had! She is so fortunate to have been hosted by a family that she created a true bond with and I know she is missing them right now. 

As a military family, we have grown our geographically-spread "village" over the years and there are a few families that we've all become very close with (both kids and parents), so close that if our kids accidentally called those adults "mom" or "dad" we wouldn't be offended at all! And now Adeline and Alex have solidly joined that group. They kept Katreina safe and loved and having fun for 10 months, and she gained a few new siblings as part of the experience, too. And we are so happy to have them all as part of our crew!

Family <3
Merci beaucoup!

Merci beaucoup pour tout ce que vous avez fait pour notre fille!

~Jo, 1st Mate

Marina Life

Long, hot showers. Laundry we can walk to. $5 weekend movies. A car. $2 bowling on Wednesdays. A three-minute drive to the grocery store. Paintball weekends. Old friends. Mail. Local distilleries and wineries. Long walks. A little mom maintenance...

Friends! Land fun!

These are just a few of the things we've been enjoying since we came to our summer home less than two weeks ago. But we've also been catching up on some deferred maintenance on the boat, too! She's been given a good scrub outside, the anchor windlass has been serviced, batteries have been topped off and equalized, the fridge has been defrosted (and boy was THAT overdue!), the water maker has been pickled, a/c filters have been cleaned, rugs have been cleaned, and the bilges have been super-cleaned! And we also did a beach clean-up as a family!

We have plenty of cleaning and projects to keep us busy this summer!

Cleaning a beach as part of "Clean the Bay Day."

And somewhere among all of that work we got the Skipper a whole new wardrobe (not exaggerating), went on a few dates, and started prepping the starboard aft cabin for the return of OUR DAUGHTER! I can't tell you how EXCITED we are for all that June has to offer! The Skipper is on his way to Scotland for another round of hiking and Scotch-tasting this week with his brother-in-law, then next week Trent and I will join Grandma Sue and fly to France! We can't wait to hug on Katreina and meet her French family before taking a week to do a little sightseeing in France. 

We are so thankful for all that our girl has experienced this past year while living in Tours and can't wait to meet the family that has welcomed her so generously. Good things are coming.

~Jo, 1st Mate

Hurry up and wait...and get home!

As military veterans, "hurry up and wait" is something we have known all too well over the years! It transfers well to boat life as we are always at the mercy of Mother Nature and boy does she make us hurry up and wait sometimes!

We hurried out of Charleston after one night with the intent to do an overnight passage to Beaufort, NC. In the middle of the night, thunderstorms offshore and lumpy, short-period seas drove us to head for Wrightsville Beach, NC instead. We arrived just after sunrise and grabbed a prime spot to wait out the clocking winds over the next few days. Shore access is super easy here so we went right in for a big Mexican lunch and some errands!

Passing by the T/S State of Maine at anchor in Charleston; a little bird hopped a ride with us; and we finally had a meal and margaritas ashore!

Winds were pretty strong out of the north for days. We kept looking for a chance to creep along close to shore to Beaufort but seas were still forecast to be uncomfortable (and this is supposed to be fun!). The ICW was an option, but we aren’t huge fans of this section so we waited. We booked some travel (woo hoo!), relaxed, and eventually…I got stir-crazy. We have sooooo much to do this summer and once I was rested, I became restless! So I pitched a plan…a 24-hour run to Florida and back. See, we have some things in storage that we need for travel and school next year, and some things that would be better to have on the boat this summer. With a 1-day rental I could make it there, get stuff out of storage, get our mail, sleep a bit, and get back! I left at 1730 one day and was back 24 hours later with our stuff and a bag of Bojangles biscuits for the boys. Success!

The life of a road warrior. Outside of the boat and our car, this little bit of stuff in storage is all we own.

By the time I got back Frank had also decided that we might as well take the ICW. With just a few long days in the ditch, we could be back to our marina in Maryland. After six nights in Wrightsville Beach we set off on a long, cold, windy transit to Morehead City. It honestly went fine and we had a pretty good rest despite thunderstorms in the area.

I was NOT ready for this wardrobe!

Wind, fog, and thunderstorms would continue to factor into our travels as we went from Morehead City to just south of Dowry Creek Marina. Our transit of the Alligator-Pungo Canal and Albemarle Sound the next day was one of the calmest we’ve ever had, and we had a very peaceful night on the hook in the North River, just south of Coinjock. We were up at sunrise Sunday to make the run to Norfolk, but opted to continue on until sunset and settle into a nice creek up the Poquoson River near York Point, VA to wait out some severe storms the following day.

Scenes along the NC/VA Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway.

We were up at sunrise again today and now here we are, heading north in Chesapeake Bay, just north of the Potomac River. Tonight we will tie up to a dock for the night for the first time since mid-December. 

I really do love sunrise on the water!

This will be our home base for the summer. In two weeks we will begin some travel that will end with our daughter returning to the U.S. after 10 months in France. We won’t spend much time on the water this summer and will instead spend our time visiting friends and family and preparing for the next chapter as this one closes. Lots of changes coming, but it’s good to be home.

~Jo, 1st Mate