Finally

Well, Halloween has come and gone and no work has been performed on the boat since we returned from Cleveland. I apologize, I shouldn't say no work has been performed, they did attach fiberglass for where the boat will be on blocks once it gets moved inside.

We went to the office to inquire about when the boat would be moving inside and the timeframe moved from Tuesday \ Wednesday to Friday, October 30th. As you can assume we were not very happy as no progress has been made since the 20th. 

We have been enjoying ourselves, we spent a beautiful Saturday with Andy and Carrie Polk. We were able to visit Saint Michael's by boat on Got Fish 🐟 .  Andy goes the back way to St. Michael's, just as we did, on San Domingo Creek.  

Carrie, Sharon, Rob, and Andy

On the creek, there was a sailboat that has been there as long as we have been going the back way.  He has a very interesting 🤔  setup, including his own floating garden.

We were able to enjoy the Halloween 🎃 👻 festivities: pumpkin carving, trick or treating and seeing the decorations in North Beach. We missed doing that last year.

Pumpkin carving 

The Witch created a chute to deliver candy to the kids.

Halloween Blue Moon

Now, here we are in November and ready to be heading to warmer weather, still no date as to when we will be able to leave. On November 4th, we were able to go inside and see some progress was made.

We headed to Ocean City, Maryland for the week to celebrate our 13th Wedding Anniversary.  We could not have picked a better week. The weather was absolutely perfect!  We enjoyed walking the 2 1/4 mile boardwalk just about every day, spent some time on the beach and enjoyed several sunsets.

On the night of our anniversary, we decided to try Liquid Assets. We never thought we would need a reservation in November.  Liquid Assets is a wine bar and bistro. Supposedly they are known for their wagyu burger.  The wait was actually not very long. After about 20 minutes, we were at least able to get a seat inside and order a cocktail while we waited for a table.

We started our dinner with a Rogue River Blue Cheese platter.  On the platter was fruit, honeycomb, pickled red onion, candied chestnuts, brown butter rye crostini's, and of course blue cheese. Our cocktails were a straight up vodka martini with blue cheese stuffed olives and an Asset Martini with white Godiva, Chambord, and crème de cacao.  Dinner was a Muffuletta with a Caesar salad and  Wagyu bistro steak.  There was definitely a good choice of meals to choose from.  Everything was very enjoyable and we would definitely go back.  Next time I would be just as happy with a cheese board and wine. 

Rogue River Blue Cheese platter

Martini time

Muffuletta with artisan meats, on brick oven fired
 house bread, and a side Caesar salad

10 oz. Grilled American Wagyu Bistro Steak with shishito peppers, cherry tomatoes, fingerling potatoes and caramelized onions

We were walking on the boardwalk and ran into Dave and Sharon Flynn. They invited us to join them for dinner that evening at Mother's Cantina.  We had heard about Mother's but had not had the pleasure of dining there.  We all enjoyed a margarita and a delicious dinner.  We always have a good time with Dave and Sharon.

Dave, Sharon, Sharon, and Rob

While in Ocean City we had dinner at Sunset Grill, lunch at Bad Monkey (West OC), breakfast at Bayside Skillet, happy hour at Ropewalk, and of course brunch at Crabcake Factory.  We also did a little shopping at the outlets in Rehoboth, Delaware.  Thank you Gary Stock for letting us stay at your condo!  We had a nice relaxing time.

Bad Monkey's The Randolph Cheesesteak

Ropewalk's Fried green tomatoes topped with
lump crab and creamy horseradish sauce

Crabcake Factory's The 'Original' crab lump eggs benedict

Crab Bloody Mary 

Friday, November 13th, time for us to get a boat update.  We were able to actually talk to Joe, the technician working on our boat. He was hoping we would have stopped by when they were applying the resin to the boat so we could see what they were doing.  His plan was to sand the boat, apply a coat of Pettit Protect, and then apply the bottom paint. If all goes as planned, we should be complete by Wednesday November 18th. 

Joe from Osprey

On Tuesday we stopped by to check the progress and see about completion time.  At this point the boat was completely covered, they needed to finish sanding, apply a coat of Pettit Protect and then bottom paint and we will be completed.

On Wednesday, they were finishing the bottom paint and we we were unable to install the aluminum anodes (aka "zincs") and begin loading our provisions.   The odor was overwhelming, the fumes would have knocked us out. 

In the meantime, Herrington contacted us as they were surprised 😮 we wanted to be put back in the water, they had no work order and thought we were out for the season.  Danielle informed us they were booked through December 14th, well you can imagine the look of horror on Rob's face.  

Back to check the progress on Thursday, the painting was just about completed, they were areas.  We were able to install the zincs and load our provisions.  We provisioned this time anticipating not making nearly as many stops along the way as we did last October and with the thought that states may start shutting down again. 

Our Ka'Why Knot gear arrived and we are thrilled.  Thank you Jackie Cowger. 

At this point, we needed to decide whether to stay for Thanksgiving and see our kids or begin our journey south.  It was a hard decision to make but we decided if we had a good weather window we needed to head south.

We want to thank the Julian's for their incredible hospitality. It's not easy putting up with Rob (or me) for almost two months. AND them letting us use a car for five months.  We love them and will miss them dearly.

Finally, November 21st we are leaving Herrington Harbour North, not sure where our first stop will be.  We always have a plan A, B, and C.  Stay tuned!