Sunday, June 8, 2014

Update

Hey, folks!

Just posted four blogs below, and one on Ri's page.  Scroll down to read them in chronological order.

Having fun visiting with family at "camp" (Scott's folks house in Holden).  Especially enjoying the newest member of the family, Henry, who is going to be two in July.

Readin' with Ri
Blowing bubbles with Wren
I really need to get a tripod.

Also, dealing with a stuck break caliper on our van.  It seems that vehicles, like people, get stiff when they sit still for too long. Scott, of course, has it under control, and will be replacing the part tomorrow.

And Riley had a great 12th birthday yesterday!  Here are some pictures:


I made a lemon cake with custard filling.  She insisted on decorating it herself.  I told her people don't usually decorate their own birthday cake.  She said she didn't care.


Note the missing frosting on the side of the cake.  Baxter, Mike's Bernese mountain dog, apparently doesn't like lemon.  He probably could have done a lot more damage than this.
Henry likes lemon.
Hoping to hop back on Kiawah (who is resting in Somesville harbor) on Tuesday.  Let's hope for good weather this week so we can make it home for the 14th!

Cheers all,
s


Dismal to .... ?

Well, if this is considered "dismal"...


Then I lack adequate words to describe this:



Coming out of the Dismal Swamp and finding ourselves smack dab in the middle of the the Naval metropolis of  Norfolk, VA was quite a shocking transition.  Nothing against the Navy or anything.  The landscape was just a little more.... industrial... than we prefer.  We like green things.






We got a little close to "the fence" here and the Navy police came screaming out with blue lights flashing.
They got a good look at these two goofballs and took their guns off us.
We were now in Chesapeake Bay.  We sailed on to Hampton, VA, enjoyed a rendezvous with Silhouette, and pressed on to Annapolis, MD.

The Dismal Swamp

Two waterways diverged on the ICW, and we-
We took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference

Okay, so I stole that from Robert Frost.  I thought it fitting though, as apparently Frost also chose to venture to the Dismal Swamp.  The story has it that an unrequited love affair forced Frost to retreat to the Dismal Swamp with intentions of killing himself.  He wandered through the night contemplating his situation and soon realized that if he actually did muster up the courage to off himself, no one would ever find him or even know how he met his demise.  That's hardly any fun at all if your intention is to bestow pain and guilt on your unresponsive lover!  Lucky for American literature, he sucked it up, brushed off the mosquitoes, came out, and kept on writing.  He also ended up marrying the lass.  Things always have a way of working out.

Our reasons for going to the Dismal Swamp weren't nearly as dramatic.  We just thought it sounded really neat.

At one time the Dismal Swamp covered over a million acres in North Carolina and Virginia.  Early European settlers referred to such swamp land as "dismals", deeming it uninhabitable wasteland.  Apparently they did not confer with the thousands of species of plants and animals that made their homes there, or the Native Americans who used the area as prime hunting and fishing grounds.  So, in the true European tradition of the time, they commenced to exploit it.  They harvested what timber they could access via existing waterways.  In the late 1700's, seeking greater access to timber and a way to transport wood products to market, they began construction of the Dismal Swamp Canal.  This 22 mile trench was completed in 1805.  The brawn behind this massive undertaking was of course, you guessed it, slave labor.  Enslaved men dug for 18 years, waist deep in mud and water, mosquito larva and leeches.  Day in.  Day out.  The ones who worked really hard were rewarded with a blanket to sleep in at night.



As Kiawah made her way down this arrow straight canal, it was so serene and beautiful.  Turtles sunned themselves on exposed logs, warblers sang from dense thickets, and ducks and geese courted in the eddies.  As peaceful as it was, I couldn't help but envision the scene 200 years ago.  White men supervisors looking down from the safety and comfort of the high banks- barking out commands to the hoards of laboring slaves in the ditch, "Dig harder! Nineteen miles to go!"

But as much as the Dismal Swamp was hell for so many slaves, it also provided a safe haven many who chose to run away.  Some lived in maroon colonies deep within the swamp.  Others used the swamp as a safe place to rest on their journeys north to freedom.  The Dismal Swamp is recognized as a site on the National Underground Network to Freedom.  

Amen.

Here are some shots of our adventures at the Dismal Swamp State Park.


Each year the park hosts a Paddle for the Border event.  You can barely make out the last of 300 kayakers making their way 7.5 miles to the Virginia boarder.

Gotta love a complimentary slip space for the night!

Riley, providing more shelters for homeless fairies

Solid.  Ground.

Mammals of the Dismal Swamp

Rebel without a cause
Boardwalk through the swamp

My favorite beetle- a tiger beetle- fastest running insect on Earth!

I spy an Eastern box turtle

Hiking along the canal road

Please tell me I don't look this dorky in this hat







Elizabeth City, NC

We had a wet and wild ride across Albelmarle Sound to Elizabeth City, NC.  One minute we were flying the spinnaker in 8kn winds and the next minute we were in the middle of a 30kn squall.  We celebrated an epic day with a free slip space at the town dock and dinner on the town.


Don't tell Blue, but we saw LOTS of dogs on boats.  And even several cats!
The next day we spent touring the Museum of the Albemarle, which was a top-notch museum chronicling life in that region from Native American times, through to the present. It was fantastic.


Add caption

The smoke house

Sail rig used for menhaden fishing
Later that afternoon we checked out Port Discover, a science discovery museum for kids.  

Okay, so it might have been a little young for Riley.
But certainly not Scott.

Wren, controlling the unruly air traffic.
Yup. Dead.

We headed out to spend the night at the South Mills Lock so we'd be there to catch the 8:30am opening.  We were all excited to go through our first lock!

Ri's self portrait
Chillin' with Wrennie

Fishin' at the lock.  No luck.
So we had to eat brats.
8:35am.  Entering the lock.

Tying up to the side

The gate closes
Water is pumped in
The exit gate opens. Viola!  Ten feet higher.  Now entering the Dismal Swamp Canal.
We were surprised to see Eastport on this sign.  Only 988 miles to go!  Gulp.