we go together like donuts and peanut butter

I said I'd try not to go another week without posting... oh well.

I'm posting from Thunderbolt Marina in Savannah. The last thing I told you was that we were in Charleston again. We stayed at the Charleston City Mega Dock and were among GREAT company. 

Check out our neighbors:

Themis

Magic

(Some dumb name) but isn't she BEAUTIFUL!?!

Primacy- another Outer Reef, but not present at the rendezvous

From Charleston, we traveled south to Beaufort (BYOO-fort), SC.  Barry and Alice had some visiting to do, as well as some grocery shopping in the marina's courtesy car, so Grace and I went window shopping. And, amazingly, it was happy hour by the time we finished!

I had a Carolina Lemonade (sweet tea vodka, oh em gee! and lemonade.) I'm a believer.

 

This boat was at the base of the dock. Barry said, "If ever a boat LOOKED like it's name..."

This was our sunrise the morning we left Beaufort for Savannah. Wow.

We got to Savannah around noon yesterday, ate some lunch and then Barry and I washed down the boat. Alice got some incriminating pictures- me singing and dancing while working.

Dad, I think I was humming along to the Rockford Files theme song in this one! Haha

Thunderbolt is the marina- you may remember from the last time we were here- that brings fresh Krispy Kreme doughnuts in the morning. We love this place.

Tonight we are planning to eat supper with Barry's sister Ardra at Vinnie Van GoGo's- they have the best pizza! I'm gonna try to remember to get a picture (of us all at supper, not of the pizza). 

I hope everyone is having a great week!

p.s. Congratulations to Roomie AND to Ryan Allred on new opportunities!! Yay you!!

THE Prince Diamond?!

Hello friends and family!

I am writing about our travels from a marina just outside of Savannah, Georgia. We have had two long, but pleasant traveling days so far.

We stayed on the boat Thursday night- here's a semi-sunset picture for you:

Then we left Doctors Lake at sunrise Friday morning and I set my breakfast down long enough to take some pictures- just for you!

Buckman Bridge:

We have had two very pleasant traveling days. I took some great pictures of our trip through downtown Jacksonville.

The Cummer:

EverBank:

Once we got a little north of the stadium, THREE dolphins joined us! They seemed to be enjoying our wake very much. I took 3 pictures and this is the best one. It is very difficult to take a picture of a happy dolphin from a moving boat.

We had a very pleasant encounter with a sailboat named "Prince Diamond."

With a name like that, I feel like we should know who he is. This encounter prompted a lively conversation between Alice and me about the new Liberacci movie. Matt Damon is going to be in it? And everyone's ok with this?
I digress. My apologies.

On a lighter note, Zephyrhills makes sparkling water: raspberry-lime or orange flavored. It is wonderful and you should try it.
Perhaps with a little vodka.
You're welcome.

Friday night, Barry and Alice's friends Grace and Leo joined us for a very yummy supper at the Coastal Kitchen at Morningstar marina. I had blackened redfish. Best fish I've ever had. We'll likely catch up with Grace and Leo later on as well.

Saturday we didn't leave Brunswick until 10 AM because we had to accommodate for some low tides along the way. I spent little time on the bridge; most of today I was working on Hemingway homework. I learned quite a bit: Ernest and Hadley's son John Hadley Nicanor Hemingway was born in October of 1923. They called him "Bumby."

That's all for today, we'll catch up with everyone once we get to Hilton Head!

Don't worry, it's not terminal.

Yesterday afternoon, when we passed the lighthouse on the point on our way in to Golden Isles Marina on St Simons Island, I decided I would wait until this morning to take a picture of it for you... the sunrise would be behind it and it would be prettier.

So this morning, when we were leaving Golden Isles, headed out to the ocean, I was sitting up on the bridge with Barry, coffee in hand, watching a great sunrise... hot pink, a little hazy, it looked HUGE, coming up right next to the lighthouse...

I said, "Wow, that is beautiful. It would make a fantastic picture... you know, if I weren't so lazy..."
To which Barry responded, "It's a disease, Ashley."

My coffee was really good.

Well, anyway, let's move on to what I DID take pictures of...
We left yesterday morning at sunrise and I got this picture of Doctors Lake Bridge:

Then, as we headed past downtown Jax I got some pretty cool ones too:
The Landing:


Maxwell House (coincidentally, what I was drinking at the time...)


EverBank Stadium:

and the fire station:

Then, I took a picture of this huge ship...

Just to show you this fender... because I think they look cool.

We got to Hilton Head to today around 3 maybe... rinsed the boat, took a walk around the marina... you know where it's not ANY cooler than at home? South Carolina. It is blistery outside.

Thanks for reading! Miss you! :)

Rabid Grasshoppers

Good morning!

...and a HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Todd Lampke!!! The big 2-0! Yikes!

We're in Oriental, NC. The sailing capital of NC, apparently.

It's been too long since I posted last. I left you in Williamsburg. I spent the day browsing the bookstore, eating lunch at The Cheese Shop, window shopping, and even chatted with some strangers- it was a good day!

That night we had supper at the marina's restaurant. I had trout. just fabulous. We left Saturday mornin for Coinjock, NC and saw THIS: b-e-a-YOU-tiful!

The trip to Coinjock was an eventful one.
We stopped in Portsmouth for fuel, which took about an hour.
Then we had to wait TWO HOURS for the Gilmerton Bridge. It was the weekend, they were doing construction, blah blah blah.
Then we went through the Great Bridge locks and bridge.
THEN, about 30 miles north of Coinjock, we lost engine controls.
Like... the boat wouldn't GO.

Barry asked me to drop the anchor. If there's a question that will get me out of my seat and on my feet faster, I don't know what it is.

I dropped the anchor, Barry notified the barge coming down the waterway that yes, we were anchored, and sorry but no, we can't move.
Then he fixed the engine controls, I pulled in the anchor, and we went on our merry way!

I think this is a good time to thank God for a Captain that knows what he's doing. :)

We left Coinjock Sunday morning and headed for Pungo Creek- the same place we anchored on the way up. We found our spot and camped out for the night. During supper, we watched a storm approaching on the radar. It broke up and almost completely missed us- we got just a light rain, very little wind :)

Yesterday morning, we pulled up the anchor- and a TON of mud! Gross! I took a picture... ...this time wasn't quite as bad as the 1st time we anchored there (I've become fairly handy with a water hose!) but you get the gist...

We got into Oriental Marina yesterday around noon. Had lunch, I finished up some chores, and then went to the pool. We had supper at the restaurant approximatley 20 feet off our bow. There was no need to get moving this morning- we're headed to Beaufort (that's BOW- like you wear in your hair) today and it should only take about 3 hours to get there. We're planning on leaving around 10:30ish.

I'm excited about Beaufort- it's a neat little town. The schedule says we're laying over there- which we may, unless the weather is ideal for traveling outside tomorrow- Barry would like to get in some ocean time...

Thanks for following us! Hugs all around! :)

p.s. we'll be home in 11 days. But don't tell Alice- she gets cranky.

No really, thank YOU!

Good afternoon, friends!

You may want to grab a snack. This is a long one.

First of all,


Happy Birthday SCOTT THOMAS!! woo-hooo! the big 2-3! :)

Secondly, Happy August! Can you believe it? Where did July go? I was rather enjoying that month... *sigh*

Alrighty, I left you in DC. I have to tell you about Friday. I explored the city and had a blast! I started the day at Starbucks, then went to the Farmers Market held every Friday near the Smithsonian (in between the Smithsonian and the Printing and Engraving building, if you're interested). From there, I went to the Smithsonian garden to swipe some free internet and people-watch a little before I caught the bus to the Capitol. Check it out!

After wandering around for a while, I caught a bus to Union Station to grab some lunch. Cool photo of Union Station:


On the way to the National Cathedral, the bus took me through Chinatown.

Even Starbucks has some Asian flair!


My favorite part of the day (maybe even the whole trip so far) was the Cathedral. Whoa, baby. It was so gorgeous. I took a ton of pictures, but here are the ones you just have to see.







When I left the Cathedral, I had to wait a little while for the bus. While I was waiting, the cutest little Mexican family (I'm not stereotyping- I witnessed them take about a dozen pictures of the Mexican embassy. Call it deductive reasoning.) sat down next to me and in very broken English, asked me which stop they had to take to get to the museum. What followed was a little episode involving entirely too much head nodding and hand-signaling, pointing and stumbling over words (me more than them).
Eventually I think I convinced them that they had to get off on "STOP TWENTY! VEINTE!!!"
Everyone knows they understand better when you talk louder.

Not 30 seconds went by, barely enough time for me to stick my headphones back in my ears, and continue to mind my own business, and this woman came out of the little building next to the bus stop and asked me if she could set her box down next to me while she went to get her car. What do you say to that?
"Sure?"
So she went, got her car, and I grabbed the box, and brought it to her passenger side door.
No big deal, I thought.
The woman went into hysterics. "You didn't have to do that! That was above and beyond!!!"
I told her I didn't mind, I had the time...
So then she proceeded to run after me with Sugar Babies. To thank me.
This is how everyone should say thank you.

The bus eventually came before I made too many more friends and took me to Georgetown. I wandered, shopped (found nothing), but mostly did a lot of people-watching.

From there, I went to the Lincoln Memorial.

The architecture was very cool, and it was neat to be able to see the reflecting pool from that angle.
I met a nice family there. They took my picture.

Saturday morning, we left our cozy little spot at the end of the Washington Channel. There was a beautiful sunrise:


We headed south on the Potomac and stayed overnight in Ragged Point, VA.

This morning, the weather was a tad chilly- I needed a sweatshirt! :)
We passed by Point No Point:

and made it to Solomons, MD before lunchtime. We washed the boat after lunch. Now we're clean.

Tomorrow is a layover day. There is a pool here, but the wind will have to quit for this wimp to get in.

Lastly, I found a great boat name:

Hope everyone is just ducky! Thanks for reading! Hugs!