July 09 Washington DC, Chesapeake Bay, Philadelphia, New Jersey, New York and Long Island Sound

July 11th
On Thursday, after seeing the orthopedic surgeon and getting a goretex and fiberglass cast, we left for Washington, DC to see our friends Josh and Sara for the 4th of July weekend. We drove into the city and the initial traffic and crowds were unnerving at first! We have lost our ability to be in the city , and it took a little getting used to. The first night, we ate in an Ethiopian restaurant and then went out for some of the best ice cream I have ever eaten. The girls chose cotton candy flavored ice cream, which was an unnatural neon blue! They loved every minute of it. On Friday, we went to the Smithsonian. And not just one museum, but four in one afternoon, with Josh. We went to the American Indian museum for lunch, and saw the entry hall, and the cafeteria, which was excellent, and then we went to the Air & Space museum and saw most of the museum, albeit quickly, and then onto the Natural History museum to see an Atlantic Right Whale, a 42 foot squid and the dinosaurs. We ended with the American History Museum, where we saw the hall of presidents, and a few other exhibits. By this point we were exhausted, and as the ice cream parlor had closed, we had no way to get our energy back, so we went back to Josh and Sara’s apartment, where a fabulous dinner awaited us. On Saturday, the 4th of July, we visited friends of Sara and Josh’s in the suburbs for a pool party and then had dinner at their neighbor’s house. It was one of the best and most memorable 4th of July celebrations I can remember. We had a great time. And the girls were able to see their first fireflys, had their first knox blocks and use their first sparklers! On Sunday, we saw the white house from afar, but it was impressive, none the less. Monday, we took the boat out of the water and went to see my brother and his wife, Kim, in Walkersville, MD, where Kim’s parent’s are from. Kim’s mom invited us to a local restaurant, with great sandwiches. Although our time was limited, it was great to see Al, Kim and Kim’s mom again. On Tuesday, we slept in and headed back towards the marina, to check on the boat and see the doctor again for Marie’s arm. He said everything was fine, and that we should get it removed in Paris, when we return. When we returned to the marina, we had the wonderful surprise of finding our Swiss friends, Chantal and Frédy, who had just arrived from DC in their catamaran. We decided to go out for local seafood, including crab cakes and soft crab, which is the specialty. It was expensive, but some of the best seafood we’ve had during our trip! We left Solomons on Wednesday evening, with a newly painted underside of our boat and a repaired keel. The boat is much faster…almost an entire knot (about 1 mile an hour - almost 20 % faster than before). Sébastien is thrilled! We met Chantal and Frédy on Thursday for fondue (yes you read that correctly, fondue in July…only people who have lived in France or Switzerland understand that! It was super yummy!). Today, we arrived in Chesapeake City, at the entrance to the C & D canal. Tomorrow, we will go through the C & D canal and head up to Philadelphia, to meet my mom. I can’t wait to share Philly with the girls and Sébastien.

July 21st
We are now in Atlantic City, NJ. We arrived on Sunday, in a little anchorage just to the North of the center of the city, which is like a little haven away from everything. It is very well protected and almost empty on weekdays. It has been a nice place to relax and rest before heading to NY. We were completely worn out when we arrived here on Sunday. We had gone to Philadelphia. The first night, we arrived in Essington, which is about 12 miles South of Philly. Essington has a little harbor which is relatively well protected from waves and current. However, it also is next to the Philadelphia airport, to a number of train tracks (with trains going all night long) and a wetlands project with lots of bugs. In addition, they say that it is dangerous to anchor there because people have thrown old motors into the bottom (they were used as weights for moorings which have since disappeared). Also, the local « yacht » clubs are not very welcoming to outsiders. We tried to land our dingy and were told that it was not possible, and that we should go to the municipal dock next door. The municipal dock said «  no trespassing and no dockage at any time ». Luckily, these signs were only for those coming from the parking lot, and not posted on the actual dock, so we didn’t realize it until after out walk about town. So other than the mounds of goose poop, the dock wasn’t too unwelcoming. The public dock was actually a former dock for immigrants coming into the city. They had to go though Essington for medical inspection and were also kept in quarantine there, if they had anything that appeared communicable. The building was built in the late 1700’s and used until the early 1900’s. Anyway, it was an adventure, but certainly not a place I would go back to by choice. The next day, Monday, we finished the rest of the trip towards Philadelphia, to meet up with my mom. The trip up the river to the marina was treacherous, because there were many floating logs just under the surface of the water, and we ran into a few of them. We even saw a picnic table floating by with a seagull who was using it to leisurely raft down the river. It certainly was interesting. The marina was also interesting. There was only one other boat in the entire marina. The location, however, was ideal, in the center of the city at Penn’s Landing. My mom and her cousin, Julie, picked us up on Monday afternoon, and took us back to Julie’s house. We took the girls swimming in a nearby pool and then came back for cocktails and bbq. It was wonderful to be back in civilization and to see Julie. On Tuesday, Julie took us on a tour of the city. We went to the Philadelphia Art Museum, which I loved, and then to a restaurant on the waterfront, called the Waterworks, which overlooks the Schukyll River. Afterwards, we went to the Please Touch Me Museum, which is the Philadelphia Children’s museum. We bid our farewells to Julie and had dinner with my mom. We were all happy, but exhausted. On Wednesday, we visited « Historic » Philadephia, with Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell and Betsy Ross’ house. On Thursday, we visited the Benjamin Franklin Post Office and the Seaport Museum, and then went out for Philly Cheessteak sandwiches. Afterwards, we wandered around and just enjoyed the city. We ended at an indoor market, with many different vendors. It felt as if I was back in France. We really liked Philly for its human size and we loved how well you can eat in Philly! The food was fabulous!

We left on Thursday morning, for a trip back down the Delaware River. Because of the current, we were only able to make it to Delaware City, DE. We stopped in an anchorage just outside the city, because our keel was too deep to enter into the inner harbor. We then took our dingy in to visit the city. It reminded me a lot of my hometown, Rockton, IL. It was a quaint little town, but there wasn’t a lot to see for a tourist. We wandered among the shops, ate ice cream and went back to the boat. We knew that the next day, down the Delaware River would be a long trip. On Saturday morning, July 18th, we went from Delaware City to Cape May, NJ. Cape May is a big sport fishing area, and there were few sailboats. Our next stop was Atlantic City, NJ. We had only planned to stay for one night, but we were lucky enough to meet up with our Swiss friends, Frédy and Chantal again, who had found a wonderfully calm anchorage, next to Brigatine Beach, just on the other side of Atlantic City. It was nice to have a place to stop and relax. We spent the next two days there, and of course, visited Atlantic City. When I was little, everyone in the family called my Grandmother the Jersey flash, because of her driving. I now truly know what they mean. The drivers in Atlantic City make the Parisians look tame (even the bus drivers). The girls enjoyed the Boardwalk and seeing the opulence of the Casinos. We took a ride on the ferris wheel, which they loved. It was nice to see, but not really my thing. The next day, we left for Sandyhook, NJ, which is 76 miles away (remember that our average speed is about 5 mph). We left at 5:30 am and arrived at 8: 30 pm. It was a very long day and we were happy to finally arrive! We celebrated with our Swiss friends, with a bottle of Champagne, because we had finally made it to New York (well almost…we could see NYC in the distance). At 7 am on Thursday morning, we once again set sail, this time for NYC. We had to leave early, because of the tide, to make sure that the current would be with us, and not against us, for our trip into the city. I have to say that the arrival by boat in New York harbor, is one of the most spectacular things I have done. We sailed right next to the Statue of Liberty and up the Hudson. Our marina is across the river from Manhattan and we have a magnificent view, especially in the evening. I have to be honest, as , frankly, I was prepared to not like NYC. I had been here before when I was 16 and found it overwhelming, and the people very rude. I guess that living in Paris has softened my vision of « rudeness », and frankly, I loved it and had a wonderful time. We actually stayed in a marina on the New Jersey and which was a nice compromise. We were only a fifteen minute train ride from Grand Central Station, but life was a little more quiet and less expensive than it would be if we had been in the city. We spent the day yesterday touring the City. We started with the Empire State Building. We only looked at it from the outside. Frankly, waiting in line for one hour to pay 80 dollars to take an elevator for a nice view is beyond my comprehension. We then had lunch and continued our stroll up Fifth avenue. We visited St Patrick’s cathedral and then went over to the MOMA (Museum of Modern Art). It was interesting to visit the museum with girls because they have a wonderful way of seeing abstract art, and it was a discovery for all of us.

July 31st
On Saturday, the 25th of July, we continued visiting the city. We visited Times Square. The girls loved all the things there were to see and the huge TOYS R’ US, with a life size mechanical dinosaur, a statue of Liberty made of Legos and a Barbie castle you could walk (and shop) in. Then we headed into the suburbs to the charming city of Dobb’s Ferry, to visit my cousin, Aaron, his wife Jen and their two sons, Kai and Chase. The girls were thrilled to have some « kid » time with Kai and we were excited to spend time with Aaron and Jen, who we hadn’t seen in a while. When we finally arrived back in Jersey City, we were once again exhausted, but happy. Marie declared that it had been a great day because there was adult stuff and kid’s stuff! On Sunday, we had hoped to get to the Statue of Liberty, but never really got our act together to get going early enough. We later our found out that our « laziness » had actually saved us, because it isn’t open on Sunday. We spent the afternoon with my mom’s cousin, Julie’s son, Jeb and his wife Katie. They live in the West village and we went out for a wonderful brunch and then walked around and discovered the neighborhood. Late afternoon, we stopped for a tapas snack and then went back to their apartment. They graciously offered to babysit while we went out for a dinner just the two of us. This was only the fourth time since we left in October, so it was a great treat! The girls had a wonderful time with Jeb, Katie, and their dog Peanut, and so did we. Monday morning we finally got organized and made our way to the Statue of Liberty. The lines were long and you couldn’t actually visit the statue (you had to buy the tickets in advance online!), so it was a let down. We did, however, visit Ellis Island, which has a wonderful museum and we learned a lot about American immigration. Around two, we headed back to downtown Manhattan. We had a late lunch and then, as it was pouring, went to the Smithsonian American Indian Museum (in DC, we had only seen the cafeteria, so it was nice to see exhibits). There was a wonderful exhibit on the dresses of Native Americans. It was very interesting. Afterwards, we went towards our train station and ended up going past the twin towers site. Unfortunately, it just looks like a big construction site, so its hard to understand what really happened there just by visiting the site. We went back to the boat and prepared our trip for the next day.

On the morning of Tuesday, July 28th, we left New York Harbor, with beautiful, sunny conditions. We went under the Brooklyn bridge and the Manhattan bridge. They were impressive. We were happy to have sun as our trip in had been under a dense, pea-soup fog, with grey skies. Everything looks better with sunshine. We made it to Manhasset Bay on the 28th and spent two days there. The anchoring had fabulous holding, the town dock and internet were free, there were no bugs and the people were lovely. We found a West Marine store, a grocery store and a hardware store. In one of the antique stores, we met the two owners who had traveled extensively, and had a beautiful collection of antiques. They even gave the girls each a present. Marie received a Winnie the Pooh porcelain sculpture and Constance a Minnie Mouse tea pot. They were both thrilled with their « souvenirs » and look forward to displaying them in their room at home. In the hardware store, we met the owner, Patty and her dog. She was wonderful and made us feel as if we were coming for a visit instead of to a store. She even helped me to find a place to get my hair cut. And not just any place. The person who cut my hair, Mr. Franco, used to be the personal hairdresser for Jaqueline Onassis Kennnedy and for George Bush Senior. Needless to say, my hair looks wonderful. In addition, he was also a charming person, who has traveled the world, and who knows how to make a woman feel special (homemade cappuccino for me and a banana for Constance). We had a fabulous time in Manhasset Bay. It is wonderful little town, with incredibly friendly people.

Next we moved onto Oyster Bay. Because of the time we arrived, how far away we had to go to find an anchorage, and the bugs, we decided to stay in the boat. We moved onto Jefferson Port on the 31st . We did visit Jefferson Port. Frankly, after Manhasset Bay, I guess that everything is a let down. It was a very expensive little town, with people who weren’t very welcoming. In addition we had rotten weather, which reminded us of the storms we had in Spain in November. Not a bad experience, but nothing that would make us want to return.