UPDATE

A couple weeks ago, when we had Knotugal pulled out to have the rudder fixed, John fell while getting down off the swim platform. He landed on his wrist. It swelled and hurt, but he tried to "gut it out". Anyhow, it was still bothering him, so he went to the doctor and found out he had a fracture. He has to wear the cast for 4 weeks and then should be good as new. The fun never stops !

BACK HOME

We departed the Occaquan Harbor Marina in Woodbridge, VA by car on 8/16....a 1400 mile trip which we did in 2 days :-( We will return to bring Knotugal south in October (after Hurricane season).
We got home to find everything in good order. We are now busy getting caught up on things here. I guess the things we miss the most about home is: weekly visits to Don Picos Mexican restaurant, our friends, a regular exercise routine, our friends, a larger shower, always having a car available, our friends, going to the movies every Sunday, letting Dorsey out the back door and not lifting her on/off the boat, our friends, sitting our on our patio and looking at the lake, having a dishwasher, central time zone,and our friends!
That said, we are already starting our pile for our return to Knotugal in October. We look forward to the adventures that lie ahead on the water!

ALEXANDRIA, VA

We left DC for Alexandria on 8/13. It was our second trip over there, but this time with Charles and Linda. We walked the quaint streets and found a couple cute places for Happy Hour.....one included a wine tasting from an Oregon vineyard.

NATIONAL HARBOR, MD

Tueday morning 8/14 we headed across the Potomac to National Harbor...a fairly new marina area with lots of shops, restaurants and hotels. From here, we rented a car and drove to Mount Vernon for the day. We enjoyed the tour and all the history of Washington's home. That evening, we ate at a waterside cafe entertained by live beautiful Peruvian flute music.

FIRE!

JOHN WANTS THIS RIP RAP FOR  OUR LAKEFRONT!

WASHINGTON DC

Our trip up to DC was great! As we got closer, we could see the Capitol and Washington Monument in the distance. We got settled in at the Capitol Yacht Club and Charles and Linda (good friends from TX) arrived in time for happy hour onboard. We enjoyed the beautiful evening sitting up on the sundeck.

Saturday AM we hit the ground walking.....we walked for miles seeing the sights. We rode the Metro to Georgetown for dinner. HOWEVER, after exiting the subway and walking up Pennsylvania, we smelled smoke. We looked up and saw black smoke billowing from the roof top of a restaurant. Lo and behold, we were first on the scene for a 5 alarm fire. We stood and watched as 2 hook and ladder trucks, a canine unit, police cars, and mobile air unit arrived. We probably watched this for an hour, as it truly was exciting. Anyhow, the fire in the Kabab Kitchen was put out and we were on our way.

Yesterday, we set out again in our walking shoes visiting several wonderful monuments and memorials. One fun stop was at the famous and Historical Willard Hotel. Since it was Linda's birthday, we celebrated with an ice cold beer at the Round Robin Lobby Bar. Did you know the word Lobbyist originated from this hotel lobby and bar? Statesmen would gather here, and if you wanted an opportunity to bend their ear, this was the spot to "lobby" your cause.

OCCAQUAN HARBOR MARINA, WOODBRIDGE, VA

We are back to our slip here for a few days. Got to get some routine chores done.....boat washing, dog washing, laundry, grocery shopping, wine shopping and a bit of sightseeing in the area. We even made time to catch a movie this afternoon.
We head up to DC on Friday, where we'll be joined by friends Linda and Charles.

ALEXANDRIA, VA DAY 2

We got up and did a long walk all around the town. Thus far, of all the cities and towns we've been to, this is one of the best. It is not just one street of quaintness, but blocks and blocks of historic home and buildings. Everything is clean and so well maintained.  We had lunch at the Majestic. A unique place with unique food and drink  that has been around forever. John had some food choice challenges to deal with. Not only that, they did not serve Miller Lite. He had to enjoy an exotic beer, much to his delight :-)

The heat has been a factor. We are very thankful to have a good AC system on the boat. Momma doesn't do hot and sweaty very well .

ALEXANDRIA,VA

Yesterday, we headed up to Alexandria . The Occaquan River Yacht Club has a trip up there this weekend, and we got to be a part of it. A couple highlights of the day were: sitting on the dock having docktails with the dome of the Capitol in the distance, sitting on our aft deck later in the evening, full moon overhead, and a great band playing music from the 60's & 70's just steps away!

YET ANOTHER GOOD DAY ON THE WATER

Thursday we continued our trip up the Potomac to the Occaquan River. After 9 hours of good water/weather conditions, we arrived . Long time friends, Don and Anne Bennett met us at the dock to catch our lines. They keep their boat here and will keep a watch over Knotugal when we head back to Texas, mid August.

PUCKERBRUSH, VIRGINIA

Here we are out in the middle of nowhere on the Yeocomico River, just off the Potomac. We had a super day of cruising. The weather threatened afternoon squalls and thundershowers, so we started out at 7AM. As it turns out, we had the entire Chesapeake Bay to ourselves on mirror flat water. We got one call on the VHF radio from the US Navy asking us to move over a bit as we entered the Potomac. Evidently, we were "in their space". We docked @ White Point Marina by 4PM. It is a nice mom & pop place. We borrowed the courtesy car to drive into the town to pick up some groceries. This time we had a late model Cadillac. Wow, that was a treat:-) It was the owner's personal car.

Couple updates....John's wrist is doing better, but still quite sore. The galley floor is still not dry :-(