Storming the Capitol

Sacagawea, glowing in the foreground, with The Washington Monument glowing in the background. Our Washington D.C. marina was perfectly located.

We stayed ten days in Washington D.C. Why so many days? We had family to see, museums to peruse at a slow pace, and Mike had some boat maintenance to complete. We had more fun than we even expected. Knowing us as you do, we maximized our time.

First, we were so glad to see family--the youngest family members we met for the first time! We took my nephew Jacob and Mike's nephew Nick and their young families, including our great nephew and great nieces, for a cruise down the Potomac to George Washington's plantation, Mount Vernon, and back. It was a perfect day for a boat tour and a perfect way to catch up with our Millennial generation. I'm so proud of their healthy attitudes towards their professions and how they approach family-hood. 

As you can see, I relished these times with my extended family. Here were our Washington D.C. nephews and their lovely, growing families.

Mt. Vernon from the Potomac. The way visitors have seen it as they approached from the water for 240 years.  

On the return trip from our Mount Vernon cruise, going under a bridge.

We also caught up over lunch with my cousin, once-removed, Martin Small, who has a second home in Washington D.C. It's so great to take the time in retirement to get to know my relatives. 

And talk about Washington D.C. restaurants for lunch, and dinners! The food choices and variety were outstanding. I had my first oyster tasting categorized by fresh, brine, and salt water oysters.(1)

Our time was mostly filled with old-school Smithsonian museums: the National Archives and the National Gallery of Art.(2) We also took a large group tour of the Capitol building. And, we pulled out the folding clown bikes to tour the national monuments. 

Here are my favorite memories from these museums and places.

At the Thomas Jefferson Memorial. A literal and figurative giant. His quotes on the walls were profound and amazingly relevant today. And, inspiring, actually. It’s hard for me to rectify the inconsistencies in the well-rendered opinions of the Founding Fathers with the way they lived their lives. For example, they were able to philosophize about liberty because slaves provided their income. I would like to think that they knew where they wanted their society to move towards, but they didn’t know how to get there long term.

Mike observing art, observing Mike. “Thinker on a Rock” by Barry Flanagan at the Sculpture Garden at the National Gallery of Art. 

Could it be AMOR by Robert Indiana? Or just a good pic of us in the Sculpture Garden at National Gallery of Art? 

“FREEDOM IS NOT FREE” — at the Korean War Memorial. This is a small part of a larger, eerie and moving installation.

On the clown folding bike heading towards Washington Monument. (3)

“Skiffs” by Gustavo Caillebotte, 1877. I connected with this painting, as it reminded me of our kayaking in Florida. I had never seen this painting before, either. They kayaked in 1877! 

Can you read the inscription? It’s Sacagawea! In the Capitol Building, each state has erected two statues that are meaningful to their state. This was North Dakota’s. 

The new-school type of museums were experiential, with heavy use of audio, lots of artifacts clustered together with explanations, and newer video types such as 3-D. The experiential museums that we perused were The National Museum of African American History and Culture, The Spy Museum, and the National Museum of American History. Mike also went to the Holocaust Museum.(4) While old-school museums exhaust your body (sore legs anyone?), I find experiential museums exhaust my attention. In contrast, Mike loves the vibrancy. Give me a Seurat painting in a hand-carved gold frame against a white wall (and please throw in a bench in front of it) and I'm happy. 

We went to a Nationals vs. Dodgers game. It would be nice if we could go to as many baseball parks as possible on the Loop. We always cheer for whoever is playing the Dodgers. Alas, the Dodgers won this game. The next time we go to a baseball game, we should preview the team players so we know them better. 

One Looper task we've been putting off is measuring the height of Sacagawea. We haven't planned which routes we'll be taking through Canada. Our route will depend on if we can squeeze under some low fixed bridges and if we can float through shallow, but not too shallow canals. While at the marina, we borrowed a ladder from my nephew, Jacob. Mike climbed on top of the radar arch which encloses the fly bridge. Then, using an extended boat hook, a level, fishing line and a weight we got that measurement. Now we can start to plan!  

We still had many more destinations to go before entering the NY canals and into Canadian canals. We still had time to dream about what they will be like.

Strolling through Georgetown for our first time. Mike finds The One. How can you pick just one fantasy house from Georgetown?

FOOTNOTES FOR FUN FACT FANS

(1) I wasn't sure I'd like the freshwater oyster, but it was the winner of the dinner. 

(2) The National Archives house the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution/Bill of Rights. It was a profound experience to see these large documents (about 30" x 29" on parchment paper). However, they are extremely faded. They were accompanied by great panels to explain the purpose of these documents and their edits.

I went back four days to the National Gallery. I wanted to break my time up. And, there was too much classic art to fit into one leisurely stroll.

(3) Three fascinating fun facts about the Washington Monument. #1 Original funding was generated by the selling of $1 bonds. However, in 1864, this was only enough to build 152 feet of the original 600 foot design. #2 The lawn around the incomplete monument was used as grazing land for federally owned cattle during the Civil War. #3 The design we see today was finished in 1884 at 340 feet. 

(4) I'm not making a political statement -- I promise. I wasn't sure I'd learn anything new at the Holocaust Museum. And, I find most of the imagery and stories too disturbing. I'm glad there is a Holocaust Museum, but I wonder if it gets through to the people who need to see it most. 

Crossing the York River

Colonial Williamsburg was an immersive experience. Even the sounds placed us in the late 1700s. Clomp, clomp, clomp went the horses hooves as this carriage passed us by.

Before we opted to take a one-hundred-fifteen-mile side trip up the Potomac to Washington D.C., which was a fantastic decision, we made a two-night stop to see Yorktown National Historic Park and Colonial Williamsburg.

These stops are along the York River which is a feeder to Chesapeake Bay. 

We stayed across the York River from Yorktown at a lovely marina in Gloucester Point, VA.(1) The harbor master informed us that, unfortunately, there was no public transportation over the York River's half-mile bridge that connects Gloucester Point to Yorktown. Nor were there any Lyft/Uber drivers who were willing to cross the bridge, which had a toll, to pick up tourists like us and bring them over to the historic sites. 

Instead, the harbor master very kindly volunteered to drive us over himself after work our first day as well as the next morning. Lyft/Uber drivers are willing to drive us back from historic sites, he said.

YORKTOWN

We arrived at Yorktown National Historic Park at four p.m., so we had one hour before closing time to absorb everything we could about the siege of Yorktown by the colonists/revolutionaries, leading to the General Cornwallis’ surrender of the mighty British forces. This essentially ended the Revolutionary War, everyone!(2) 

I don't remember the details I learned as a youngster about American History, so this immersion at the Yorktown Museum and all these historic places was almost new information for me. 

We were wondering why battalions were accompanied by boys rat-tat-tatting on drums. This exhibit explained it was a method to communicate orders. A-ha!

My takeaway was that in addition to blocking the British army from retreating via land, the colonial army won this decisive battle at Yorktown because of two things. First, an overwhelming number of French Navy frigates blocked the British Navy from retreating down the York River into Chesapeake Bay. Second, a windy storm blocked a retreat across the York River. General Cornwallis began sending his army a half mile across the York River in small row boats towards Gloucester Point in the dark of night. He got word that most of his soldiers died in the water when their boats sank. (That must have been a major storm!)

And, we knew that there could have been major currents right in front of their camp at the York River; we witnessed it ourselves. It's a dangerous combination with opposing winds.

General Cornwallis had no choice but to surrender. 

Do you remember making dioramas in school? This is the first professional diorama I recall ever seeing. It  brought the formal surrender of the British to French and American forces to life for me:

COLONIAL WILLIAMSBURG

On day two, the harbor master drove us to Colonial Williamsburg.(3) It was time well spent. First, it was a beautiful Spring day. The town was surrounded by a profusion of greenery, bloomed dogwoods, and puffy white clouds floated in the sky. There were rolling hills and a bubbling creek meandering through the town. And, talk about immersion, this reconstructed colonial town was filled with real artisans and actors dressed in eighteenth-century garb.(4) 

We stopped at various "shops" where Makers were making to preserve or reconstruct the town. All the professionals took their jobs seriously and seemed to relish history and authentic details of their craft. 

We stopped by the cabinet maker and the brick maker/layer.(5) 

The cabinet maker. Note the eighteenth century tools. He patiently explained to us different types of joinery techniques. They have recreated seventeenth century furniture that appear in Williamsburg in this workshop.

Making bricks! It’s just as you might imagine. They made thousands of bricks here that were sourced in Virginia and used locally. 

We toured a meeting house/inn and the Governor's Mansion.(6) The tour guides made it easy for us to imagine the colonists meeting in the rooms and sneaking around the taverns and homes to plan their treasonous acts. Some tour guides took on the viewpoint of enslaved people and explained the choices they had and the living conditions they endured during The Revolution.

Pretending to be dinner guests at the Governor’s Mansion.

Mike chatting with a tour guide in the Governor’s Mansion entry hall. Guns and swords filled all the walls.

We watched a well-spoken monologue by a "Young Washington." He explained that a serious impediment to convincing King George to address their grievances was that the colonies had disparate needs and had come to him with one voice. 

At first, they presented their grievances and signed their names "your loyal subjects." It was when they began in secret to overturn the court-appointed governors that they became treasonous. They had to plan and act in secret because so many colonists were loyal to the King and treason was an executable offense. Overall, Colonial Williamsburg was an interesting and unique way to experience history. 

Strolling in the Governor’s Mansion gardens.

THE POTOMAC

The next day, it was our turn to storm The Capitol. It took two more days (about eighty miles) in the Chesapeake just to enter the Potomac River. The Potomac is about five miles wide at its base and slowly narrows for sixty miles until it reaches Washington D.C. as it heads Northwest. It was about 165 miles from Yorktown to Washington D.C. by boat, taking us four days. 

We saw only a few boats along our cruise. It's a long way from marina to marina on the Potomac, so it seems few bother to make the trip. 

Mike took this lovely sunset pic of Sacagawea with his drone at a quiet anchorage off the Potomac River.

As always, we followed along on our charts and Google Maps, looking at notable landmarks. Similar to the Intracoastal Waterway, we saw enormous mansions along the waterfront. As we rounded the last bend, the glorious Washington Monument appeared. We knew our marina home for the next ten days was just a half mile away. 

Approaching Washington D.C. The pointy thing on the upper left is Washington Monument.

FOOTNOTES FOR FUN FACT FANS

(1) The York River feeds into the Chesapeake Bay. It's on the Western side near the Southern portion of Chesapeake Bay. While it would have been more convenient to stay at Yorktown, a little research proved that the currents were strong and unfavorable at the marina in front of Yorktown National Historic Park. It would have been a nightmare to try to dock there. Lo and behold, once we were dropped off at Yorktown, we saw only one boat in the entire large marina: an American Cruise Line ship. Other recreational boaters must have come to the same conclusion as we did. 

Side note to this footnote (!): we saw American Cruise Line ships at the greatest ports. I'm not sure what it's like on these boats, but if you want to come via water to the same cool spots I've written about like St. Augustine, FL, Beaufort, SC, Charleston, SC, and Yorktown, you should check it out. 

(2) We also learned that British officers still occupied New York City for two years, even though the British Army leader, General Cornwallis, surrendered for the whole British military at Yorktown. 

(3) Colonial Williamsburg is not a government park but a non-profit originally funded by John D. Rockefeller around 1930. One of its functions is to maintain artisan guilds. The guilds have artisan training programs in specific crafts such as cabinet making, bricklaying, baking, and sewing historic clothing.

(4) Clothing wasn’t 100% authentic because they wore modern leather shoes and many clothes looked store-bought with zippers. 

(5) The cabinet makers were using eighteenth-century tools. Even the broom was made of wood and straw. During our visit, they demonstrated how they inlaid wood designs and various types of nailless joinery. The brick maker said they host apprentices who work for years before becoming journeymen. And, the clay was all sourced locally. We saw the massive ovens he used to fire bricks and many cords of wood he used as fuel.  

(6) The Governor's mansion had beautiful English garden grounds. The entry hall and stairs had expensive marble floors which contrasted with walls hung with dozens of swords, like an armory. The town was also home to people who lived there full-time.

The Unexpected

 

This is a front-on view of the surprisingly narrow bow of The Wisconsin. It was built for WWII. The last time she saw action was in 1991 during Operation Desert Storm. We toured it on Mike’s 60th birthday.

QUICK TRIP TO ALBEMARLE PLANTATION

"Are you okay going out for three hours in major wind, Elaine?" Asked Mike. We saw a 25-knot wind forecasted and it would hit us mostly head-on. Not ideal.

"Okay, let's see what Sacagawea can do in four or five-foot waves. That's why we picked this boat instead of a smaller one like the Nordic Tug(1), right?" I agreed.

"We can always turn back," Mike reminded us.

Why did we put ourselves in this position, you may ask? After one day, we really wanted to leave Albemarle Plantation. 

Mike met a kindly gentleman Gold Looper (2) at one of the marinas in Florida. They were discussing great stops and he emphatically stated, "You have to go to Albemarle Plantation in North Carolina. It's like a resort with everything you'd want...". We decided to budget three days there because who would question an ardent recommendation like that? 

Albemarle Sound is a one-day deviation from The Looper's route. It is a large body of water, running East-West for forty miles, yet very shallow (fifteen-foot average depth).  It's like a mini Chesapeake Bay, which we discovered was filled with a checkerboard of crab pot buoys. It's very shallow on the sides and has a channel in the center. In other words, getting in and out of Albemarle was no picnic.

Here’s one of hundreds of crab pot buoys we have avoided. This one was easy to spot. Some of them are colored dark black or blue!

As you already know, Albemarle Plantation was a big flop for us. Finding nothing at the marina besides a pizza place, we stretched our legs by riding our bikes around the flat, 1990s-era neighborhood looking for amenities. Instead of a nice resort, we only found a dated community center. Besides the pizza place and a fancy restaurant exclusively for yacht club members, there was nothing else for visiting boaters. The people we met were welcoming and they also went out of their way to profess their love for living there. Sort of a mantra? So we left.(3) 

In the end, the pounding sea conditions did not feel unsafe. But it was not fun. We will avoid them in the future.(4) And, we'll do more research when we think about deviating from the Looper route. Unexpected can be fun--but it can also be a bellyflop. 

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT

Sometimes our days are so filled with cruising that we don't have time to plan much. When Mike is skippering, I like to look down at my iPhone as little as possible. So we don't know much about what's ahead. That's part of the fun.

Our next few stops began the American history phase of The Loop in Virginia. We stopped in the twin cities of Portsmouth and Norfolk, which are split by the Elizabeth River. Since I did no research, I was surprised to see a two-mile waterway lined with Navy shipyards. This was unexpected considering just a few miles South we experienced many days of rural canals and small towns.(5) 

On our left was a wild combination of old Navy barrack vessels and new ships being built with tall, multi-level equipment platforms like the one in this photo. On the right were new ships, perhaps, but they looked closer to completion. Or, perhaps they were getting refitted/repaired.

Here was a three-story barge pusher passing us on the Elizabeth River. It was the cleanest and one of the largest ones I’ve ever seen. It looked freshly painted in yellow stripes.

We learned that these shipyards are steeped in history and tradition. They have been the powerhouse of Naval strength since colonial times, before the Revolutionary War, in 1767. Snug in our marina, we heard a low thrum of power tools humming away day and night. 

There were more than just Navy vessels in Portsmouth. I guess these two cargo ships were loading to or from a railroad. Busy waterway!

I'm so glad we were able to celebrate Mike's sixtieth birthday in Norfolk in style. Mike discovered an excellent, fancy-pants restaurant for his birthday dinner. (6) 

We also toured the USS Wisconsin, per Mike's birthday request. What a great way to get up close and personal with the old Navy shipyards surrounding us. 

Mike on the Wisconsin deck in front of the impressive 16-inch guns. The tour was like other Navy ships…bunks, radio room, dentist office, and so on. The intimidating guns were new for us. Also, the Wisconsin had teak decks! 

“WARSHIP 72, WARSHIP 72, THIS IS MV SACAGAWEA..."

Mike kept to the Eastern, right side of the wide waterway as we left Portsmouth and continued North early on the overcast morning. We passed many vessels like tugs, military police, and a handful of recreational boaters like us. As we plied the water on the grey morning Northwards, we spied an enormous Navy ship coming toward us in the middle of the channel. It was a little like the Wisconsin we toured the day before. Three powerful tugs were guiding it. We were in awe of its size and importance. 

"Calling white yacht traveling North in Elizabeth River, this is Navy Vessel 7," we heard squawking on the VHF. We quickly glanced at each other and Mike immediately picked up the handheld. 

"Navy Vessel 7, this is Sacagawea on your port bow." 

"Move to the West side of the river immediately!" Came the disembodied voice. 

“Copy that,” said Mike as he made a hard left which scooted us quickly across the bow of the behemoth ship. At the same time, the tug boats released her and she turned left, apparently going back into the maintenance bay, which we were passing! "Well, that was exciting," I said. 

Very soon, as we continued on the left side of the river, we spotted yet another huge Navy ship coming towards us down the river. Mike looked at it through binoculars. I think we had the same thought: "Not again!"

Without missing a beat, Mike picked up the handheld, "Warship 72, Warship 72 this is MV Sacagawea on your starboard bow on 16." 

"Go ahead," we heard a casual reply from the awesome Destroyer. 

"Am I okay continuing my course here?" 

"Yes, continue your heading. Thanks." 

We've heard from trusted sources that commercial vessels appreciated hearing from recreational boats like ours in tight waters. They can't put on brakes. And, they have the right of way. Navy vessels are probably "in the same boat" with that opinion.

The Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) ends in Norfolk, as the Elizabeth River empties into Chesapeake Bay. With the narrow, shallow channels and awe-inspiring shipyards behind us, we looked forward to the unexpected in the great Chesapeake Bay. It was much more like cruising in SF Bay or Puget Sound. We were not exposed to ocean swells, but the waterways were deeper and wider. Next stop: Yorktown, Virginia.

FOOTNOTES FOR FUN FACT FANS

(1) Unwine’d, our Nordic Tug, that we took to Glacier Bay, was thirty-four feet overall and was not comfortable in four to five-foot waves. We discovered that in small-craft warning conditions on San Francisco Bay one day a few years ago. On another note, we sold our Nordic Tug! A couple in Seattle bought her with help from our excellent broker at Seattle Yachts.

(2) Gold Loopers are people who have finished the Loop. They are continuing on a second Loop or just cruising around and flying the gold burgee. They are a wealth of knowledge, usually!

(3) As we departed the marina, seeing waves with foam in the distance, I realized they never took my credit card number. I called them to say we decided to leave early and he said, "That's okay. The first two nights are free." You get what you pay for. 

(4) Boaters take head-on waves at an angle, not straight on. It takes a little longer to get to your destination, but it's safer and slightly more comfortable. We hit a few six and seven-foot waves that day too. I think the pounding may have produced two broken items: a bolt on an engine battery post clamp and a broken hydraulic fluid filter cartridge in the stabilizer fin hydraulic system. So, in the end, we could take the pounding, but delicate items in the engine room may not have. Mike can now add stabilizer fin mechanic to his growing list of accomplishments.

(5) We also noticed the first hill on our trip. It was just South of Norfolk. Turns out it was a capped garbage dump, but we did begin to notice small hills at this point. It's hard to explain this, but it was refreshing to see uneven land.

(6) Mike's only trousers on the boat are the blue jeans kind! Our working schedule had us in a one-restaurant town called Coinjock for Mike's birthday. I was glad we cut Albemarle short so we could have a gourmet experience.