Back to Lynnfield

We saw this yesterday - two lighthouses on the 50 acre Thacker Island off the east coast of Rockport. This was the 11th and last lighthouse  originally built (45') under British rule in 1771. These 124' granite replacements were built in 1861. This is the first lighthouse to mark a "dangerous spot", all previous lights were built to mark harbor entrances. The original 1st order Fresnal lens from the south tower is now on display at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in Groton, CT. The two towers, north and south, were constructed and placed so that when


a ship sights on both towers they point to true north allowing sailors to check and adjust their compasses

Today we're leaving the Cape Ann area and heading back to Lynnfield to find out what's happening to our home on wheels. Neither one of us was particularly interested in visiting Salem (maybe because of the witches) but we were both up for Marblehead. This has always been a major yachting and sailing spot.  There are plenty of mooring balls in the water but the boats are still shrink wrapped and stored on the hard.

This is Marblehead light built on the spit overlooking the harbor. The original light was built in 1835 for $4,500 which was obtained from the government through the then newly enacted US Lighthouse and Navigational Aid System. The light was 23" high and 57' above mean high water. Some cottages were built close by that obscured the light so an adjacent 100' mast was erected with a lantern hoisted every night. This was still ineffective so the second  (existing) light tower was built in 1855, 105' tall and 139'above MHW. It was office with an 6th order Fresnel lens and find white light. In 1910 the light was changed to fixed red and again changed in 1938 to fixed green. The light was extinguished during WWII and in 1960 the light was automated.

Below is the harbor and mooring balls waiting for the season to start.

This is one of the crusty Yacht Clubs in Marblehead. It was chartered in 1885. Guess I really should have taken pictures of the yacht club buildings.

An interesting item is that Marblehead is considered to be the "Birthplace of the American Navy".

Thank goodness for the GPS. Apparently we took the shortcut back to Saugus which immediately adjoins Lynnfield. I had no idea where we were. At the MB dealership we were told that only one error turned up on the diagnostic and it had to do with the exhaust. After some additional work by the mechanic they felt like the main problem was with the starter. The have both a starter and the part for the exhaust in stock so we should be able to be back on the road around mid day. 

 

Cape Ann

We're staying in a little 60's type motel a few miles out of Gloucester. A little old, but very clean and the main reason we're here is that they are dog friendly with no up charge. On the way here from Newburyport we checked on some of the franchise hotels and they would allow dogs - one for an additional $75, that's per night.

Today was a touring day with a drive around Cape Ann. All we had to do was to take a right turn and follow Hwy127 through the little villages of Riverdale, Annisquam, Bay View and Lanesville.  We're on a great road with hills and curves but nothing that resembles anything commercial. By this time we're looking for a place to have breakfast and lo and behold we just get past the sign for Lockport and we see a little place with a flag out front an a signs for seafood, salads and sandwiches. And the flag out front said OPEN. Next door a guy was working on the front of his house and when asked he said that the place not only served breakfast but it was very good.

 How could you pass a place like this. Nate's, overlooking the beach across the street, probably was a little beach house at one time before being converted to a restaurant. Nate's has 20 seats and 18 were filled when we walked in which left two for us.

 Who do you think this is devouring her Eggs Benedict with Greek sausage and feta cheese. Me, I had their Barnyard Special, a short stack of blueberry pancakes with two scrambled eggs, bacon and hash brown potatoes. I promised that I would give them an excellent review on trip advisor.

Before leaving Rockport we drove around their waterfront which was full of wharves and fishing boats. Lots of mooring balls for the boats when they get out of their shrink wrap. Look like about a 10' low tide.


                                                                                 

Rounding a corner we saw the Twin Li
   









                                                  

Our next stop was in Gloucester where we lucked out and hit a home run. These were just two of many wooden hull boats in the Gloucester Marine Railroad Yard which their sign says is the Oldest Working Shipyard In America and by the looks of the yard I feel that they have right make that claim.

Our last stop was at the dog park at Stage Fort Park. We took Shadow to the small dog side but he wan't very happy or friendly. He stayed by the fence and looking at the big dogs side. So we took him around and let him loose with the big dogs. He had a ball playing with a young lab and running around chasing all the other dogs. Shadow was the star of the dog park running with the big dogs. Some of the other owners seeing Shadow playing around brought their dogs over to the big dog side, too. After that we went back to the motel and gave him  bath in the bathtub. Now he is out or the night. Shadow says that if you can't run with the big dogs then stay on the porch.

Dateline: Gloucester, MA

How did we get here? Strange things were happening. We researched all the RV campgrounds and State Parks and because of the "Season" we couldn't find anything open in Salem or Gloucester, the closest open park being in Salisbury so that was our destination when we left Cape Cod. Our three choices were to drive through Boston on I-93, drive around Boston on I-95 or take the I-495 Beltline. Being sort of middle of the roadish we took I-95 and headed to the Post Office in Newburyport to collect our mail care package. The USPS says that Priority Mail takes two days but in reality the mail sometimes doesn't arrive until Saturday which was the case today, we hoped.

So here we are sitting in a 30 minute spot in front of the PO and there are some funny lights on the dash and the engine doesn't start. Well, we've got both emergency road assistance and aftermarket warranty contract, so no problem. Except it's now Friday afternoon and most of the repair shop don't work are on Saturdays, all the RV service places are booked up weeks in advance getting the locals ready for the "season", and trying to find someone who can and will work on a MB diesel engine. After about 20 calls we found a MB dealer in Lynnfield that would work on the engine and had a Sprinter mechanic that was working on Saturday. The wrecker guy can't tow us until after 7 PM because of other towing jobs, but he is in the neighborhood an stops by to see us. When I showed him what the problem was, guess what, the engine starts. He leaves and we take off for the MB dealer. We arrive about 4 PM and go over the details with the service advisor and are able to get a rental car from Enterprise. Because of the time, we decide to call it a day and check into a local motel where we enjoyed a wonderful Italian dinner catered by a nearby pizza place that delivers.

Saturday morning after a breakfast of champions at McD's we're at the dealership to talk to the mechanic to tells him exactly about the problem. No such luck, the mechanic is sick and doesn't show up for work. Well, we have a car, we unload some more clothes from the RV in our Trader Joe bags since we didn't think that we would need suitcases or duffels and take off for Newburyport to retrieve our mail which did arrive. Now we have two or three days to bum around so we are able to visit, after Newburyport, both Gloucester and Salem. So we took the lemons and made lemonade and now  we are now in Gloucester for a couple of nights.

Right across from the PO is this  wonderful little park. The thing that I though was interesting is that this church had a clock in the spire. I can't remember the name of the park but the bronze is a guy named William Garrison, called The Liberator because he published a newspaper by that name and was very involved in the abolition of slavery and some other various causes.

Market Square is in the middle
of Historic Downtown Newburyport which is filled with shops, restaurants, parking lots and much traffic. Very interesting - there is a time limit for street parking with no charges but the parking lots are three hour limits @ .50 cents per hour. We found Susan's knit shop and also two pet shops. The town is very dog friendly and many of the shops had water bowls outside. Shadow had a real field day. This is the best of the historic down towns that we have visited.


                           

This is their waterfront park which is mostly grass and shade trees with a minimum of walkways and vertical improvements. That is my lovely bride and Shadow walking on the promenade which is on the Merrimack River. There was a sign that said that on the old waterfront the Middle Shipyard in 1798 built the 24 gun ship Merrimack for the new U.S. Navy, another good trivia question.

This is the in-town boatyard on the Merrimack. Never being up north in the winter it's amazing for us to see so some many boats, shrink wrapped, and on the hard. Along the roads we also have seen a lot of other shrink wrapped boats in the yards of their owners. Shrink-wrapping must be a good seasonal business.

         

After leaving town we drove along the river towards the inlet. This is a neat little house that we talked about where the cupola may have come from. The house looked like it was built on concrete pilings whereas we also saw two new homes under construction that were being built on steel I-beam pilings

No not a light house, but on Plum Island, by the inlet is this range light for the river. After leaving the island we drove down to Gloucester and took a lap around the waterfront and saw this great bronze sculpture . The Man at the Wheel, 1923, is a memorial to the 10,000 Gloucester fishermen lost at sea.

And that is that....except for the 1/2 gallon of espresso ice cream we ate for dinner at The Captains Lodge, our old but clean motel!  Good night all..Susan (and Lou and Shadow)

Actually, it was only a quart and really good - expresso with chocolate chips...............L

Rest day

Here's a couple of pictures that I missed last night -

This is the walk up food stand on the street to MacMillan Wharf where we bought our lunch. I have to admit that I didn't know that Linguica is Portuguese sausage which as Susan said was really good. Between the divided street there is a little park with benches where everyone was sitting and eating. There is a huge parking lot by the wharf which was almost filled - my question is, what's this place like in the season?

The ride home parallelled the Cape Cod National Seashore for about 20 miles. We stopped at the Cape Cod Lighthouse but didn't see the beach. When we did stop this what the beach looks like. It's hard to see in the picture but in addition to the shore break there is another break farther out. On the right is a 40 - 50 foot sand dune. You can access the beach by a wooden stairway.







Wednesday- We drove down to Woods Hole, location of the Oceanographic Institute and other related  buildings of the Marine Biological Laboratory and National Marine Fisheries Service. The ferry to Martha's Vineyard is also located in Woods Hole. The place is an old fishing port with narrow streets that has grown so large that I couldn't even find a parking spot. Some of the streets had parking on both sides and there wasn't enough room for the two way traffic.We drove around drooling because we wanted to walk around the village and visit some of the shops, especially the coffee shop. No such luck, so no pictures. So we made a coffee stop in Falmouth on our way to Hyannisport for afternoon tea with the Kennedy's. Today just wasn't a lucky day since their family was not in town.

  We drove back to Sandwich to look at the Cape Cod Canal which really is wide. Its part on the ICW for yachts traveling north and south. Off of the canal is a large well protected marina with dockage for commercial fishing boats, private boats and home of the Coast Guard Station Cape Cod.









Heading back to the RV we talked about how Sandwich got it's name. Susan is sure it's named after the Earl of Sandwich. I, on the other hand think that this is the place where the pilgrims, when they were exploring the cape, came for lunch and ate their sandwiches.

Thursday - Today is a rest day. We're not leaving the park. Rest, we'll be cleaning and straitening up the RV, doing laundry and I'll be figuring out how we're going to drive around Boston. Our mail care package is arriving tomorrow in Newburyport. We'd like to stop at Salem or Gloucester but so far haven't found an RV park or State Park that is open. They really are serious about their season which apparently starts on May 1st. Looks like we may wind up in Salisbury.

Rain, rain, go away

Monday - After our anniversary celebration it started raining, not a hard rain, but enough to spoil going outside and the temp started to drop and the wind picked up. It  went on all night long and all day Monday. Our plan was to visit Jamestown, which we did and then drove over the bridge to Newport, RI. We wanted to see all the XXL size mansions, drive down Broadway Ave. and stroll along the 3 1/2 mile Cliff Walk. Not this trip - we didn't even get out of the car except to visit the Welcome Center and get some local maps. And, no pictures, you'll have to google Newport unless you've already been there, done that. We figured it was still early and it was still raining so we drove on over to Cape Cod and got a campsite for two nights.

Tuesday - We'll staying in the town of Sandwich which is on the north side of the Cape just over the Cape Cod Canal which claims to be the widest sea-level canal without locks in the world. I mention that as it would be good for trivia if you ever play at Sandy Bottoms. Interesting ,over 20K ships pass through the canal every year and quite frankly I never even knew that there was a Cape Cod Canal. By the time we got going the rain had stopped, thank goodness, and we drove to Provincetown which is in what they call the Outer Cape, actually the most northerly part of the Cape.

Provincetown has a real working waterfront. There are heavy duty fishing boats, whale watching boats and many moorings in the harbor for private yachts. There is a also a terminal for ferry boats from both Plymouth and Boston. Those are lobster pots in the foreground.

We didn't see the lighthouse at Province town but the Pilgrim Monument was very visible, the tallest granite structure in the U.S. They tell me the the Pilgrims first landed here in 1620 and spent five weeks exploring before sailing on to Plymouth.

On the way back to Sandwich we drove past the Cape Cod National Seashore and the next blog may have a picture cause it's on Susan's iPhone. This lighthouse, for some reason has two names. It's called both the Highland Light and the Cape Cod Light.  **

**  Lou forgot the best thing about Provincetown - the street food by the dock.  We had linguica in a homemade Portuguese roll.  Yum Yum.  -  Susan

20 Years

Our plan today was to start off driving down to the coast to visit a Rhode Island lighthouse and then meander up the coast and end the day with a visit to another lighthouse .

This lighthouse is just barely in  Rhode Island  and was almost due south of last night's campground. Some people call it the Easterly

lighthouse maybe because it's so far east in the state or because it's near the town of Easterly but the real name is Watch Hill Lighthouse. It's on a little spit of land called Watch Hill because the area was used for watchtowers going back to the Niantic Indians in the early 17th century. The current lighthouse was completed in 1856 and the light was automated in 1986 and can be seen for 16 nautical miles. The Watch Hill area has become a nice beach town and fishing area.

To get the lighthouse we had to park on the main street and then walk down a windy lane between several huge New England styled, weathered shingled houses and then out on the spit of land where Susan is standing. On the way we passed one house that had a very unique fencing. We thought the style may have a name and asked the gardener. Nope, he said that it was something that he made up and hoped people would like. We told him that we like the fence and so did Shadow.

I may have mentioned that I-95 and Hwy US 1 hang along the coast. Now we got on Hwy 1A that is the scenic highway even closer to the coast. When we got to Narragansett, on the map it looked like the town was to the north but driving through all we saw was some beaches and no port or fishing boats. Our trusty GPS led us south to the older part of the town and we saw lots of fishing boats, fish and lobster processing plants and the terminal for the ferry to Block Island

This a real working waterfront! And then we drove over to the Point Judith Lighthouse on the part of town that extends ore than a mile from the Rhode Island coast, marking the entrance to Narragansett Bay too the north and Block Island Sound to the south. In 1857, a new 51 foot brownstone tower and brick dwelling were constructed. Point Judith Light escaped the great hurricane of 1938 although 250 feet of seaway was destroyed. In 2000, a major restoration was performed to restore the lighthouse to excellent condition forth next 100 years.  

        

The heading of this blog is the anniversary that Susan and I are celebrating today. It sure has gone by in a hurry from riding motorcycles to all the National Parks out west when we lived on Las Vegas to now driving the RV up and down the east coast and living in Fernandina Beach. We're still loving each other and looking forward to the next 20 years. 

On the way home - Fisherman's Memorial State Park we stopped at a Rhode Island icon walk up restaurant serving some of the state's best seafood - Iggy's Doughboys and Chowder House. We ordered, waited, along with 15-20 others and then parked the RV and split a half dozen clam cakes, a bowl of clam chowder, a lobster roll and we could only eat a couple of the doughboys  OMG, some kind of good!

Couldn't get Susan to look for the selfie in front of Iggy's

   

Mystic Seaport

Yesterday we stopped by the Post Office to pick up our postal care package which we were politely told that it did not arrive. That meant that we had to come back on Saturday sometime before noon when the PO closes. We were kind of disappointed because we always look forward to our Friday mail call. The timing would work out because we still had to go back to Bristol and pick up the RV and because Friday was a rain day and since we left al kinds of rain gear in the RV we didn't want to visit Mystic Seaport in the rain. We had checked out of the motel and after lunch we decided to pick up Shadow from his play day and head back to Bristol with the high hopes the the A/C would have arrived and the RV would be finished in the afternoon and not on Saturday. Despite the rain a call to the service manager made us feel better - the repair work was completed and they would have the billing done before we got there. We arrived just before   four and at the same time the Geico claims adjuster showed. Every thing turned out great and we decided after we would dry camp in the front parking lot after the rental car was returned. Now we felt great.

 Saturday morning we woke up[ and the sky was blue, the sun was out and the temp was forecast to be in the 70's. We couldn't wait to get back to Mystic. We went directly to the PO, our package was

there - we were happy campers. Besides the aquarium there are two other special places to visit. This is the Mystic River Bascule Bridge which was built in 1920. During the season there is a lot of boat traffic and the bridge opens on the hour. Check the huge concrete counterweights. When you get here there is a wonderful ice cream shop on Broadway just past the bridge.

If you do nothing else you should spend half a day, or more, at Mystic Seaport, one of the top Maritime Museums in the country. All of the boats are old, big and small, mostly sail with some powered fishing boats. They have created a. what looks like, 150 year old fishing village and the are many exhibits for  kids. There is a wonderful seaport gallery and gift shop that contains a marine bookstore - the building also has a bakery and snack shop with delicious fudge that would give the fudge shop on Centre Street a run for their money.



This is the Charles W. Morgan, a whaling ship that was built in 1882. Susan and I visited the Seaport in 2009 and at that time this ship was up on the dry dock and it was being completely restored. It was great to see it finished and back in the water. You're able to inspect most of the boats and it really made us have a lot of respect for the crews that sailed these boats. In the dry dock  today they are restoring a replica of the Mayflower that was originally built in 1967.

               

Shadow enjoyed the Seaport, too. Surprisingly, they allowed dogs on the property but not on the boats or in the buildings. He liked looking at the boats but he had the most fun playing with all the other dogs that were leading their owners around.



So here we are in a very nice KOA campground just a few miles up the road. We getting our home all straightened up and we're planning for tomorrow's attack on little Rhode Island.

                                            

Mystic, CT

Today was a interesting day. I'll probably say that a lot. We're in a dog friendly Hampton Inn in Mystic along with a lot of other dog lovers. The first stop for us was to take Shadow to his grooming appointment in Pawcatuck, a small tow a few miles west of Mystic. How did we get that appointment? Jennifer, the groomer at VIP in Fernandina Beach, is from this part of CT and let us know that she had a good friend, also a groomer, who would take good care of Shadow. We called Jennifer who in turn called Linda and gave her grooming instructions and made the appointment. Linda gave us the name of a great Pet store where we later bought dog food and a waterproof raincoat for Shadow. She also gave us the name of a dog day care where shadow will go tomorrow when we visit Mystic Seaport.

             

We were now ready to visit a lighthouse - the Old Stonington Lighthouse which is now a museum. Sorry about the picture, had to move out of the sun and that tree jumped out right in front of me. And the museum doesn't open until May 1st (season) so all I can tell you that it's made of beautiful stone and it appears the lantern, lens or light has been removed. Driving to the light we went through the picturesque Village of Stonington one of the best places that we have been, so far, on the trip. In the center of the village is the brick library, surrounded by a park, built in 1898, in the place usually reserved for a Courthouse or City Hall.

Just wanted to mention that Susan wanted to visit a some of the shops on the Village's Water Street which fortunately were not open either. We did do a coffee shop stop and shared a very tasty homemade apple fritter.

We continued on to Mystic and stopped at the pet store which is one of best either one of us have ever been in. Across from the pet store was the Post Office so I crossed over to find out about the time tomorrow that our Priority Forwarding mail package would be in.

From there we spent the rest of the afternoon in the Mystic Aquarium. The building was filled with people mostly  parents with anywhere one to six kids all below 6 years old. Never seen so many one and two seat strollers before in one place.But even with all the kids we enjoyed seeing all the displays, our favorites being the sub tropic penguin and the sea horses.

We picked up Shadow and called it a good day. And here he is.

CT Bound

Our last night in New Jersey was in the boon docks and more or less resembled as a work camp for migrant farm workers. Dirt roads,  a bunch of empty trailers - I guess it's off season here, too. They did have an office and small camp store and a lake that looked like a former borrow pit. Now I can imagine what the beach towns like like in the season but what what the RV part would look like is actually scary. Attached to the office were the comfort station. I went into the men's side and noticed that the showers only had a one hose bib type valve for water. I turned it on and after a while the water came out warm - no hot or cold water control, just warm. That's interesting, cell phone was in the RV or I would have snagged a picture of that. Just goes to show when you're advertising you can make any property look like winner.

In the morning we started our run for Connecticut - thank goodness for the Garden State Parkway and fortunately we were paid up with Easy Pass so we could breeze through the toll stations which seemed to appear every other mile. Most of them are for only $1.50 but I think that the reason for their existence is to slow down the traffic.

In not too long we had circled around New York, crossed the Tappan Zee bridge and connected with I-95 north. WE pulled off at one of the exits to find some waterfront and a seafood restaurant. While winding around we went under a low electric train overpass and realized that we had made a wrong turn. So we made a turn to go back under the next overpass which was right next to the road and unfortunately this underpass was lower than the first. I started to turn right and looking for traffic from the left and then it happened. I looked back to the underpass and the sign said 9'6", Too late, by the time I could stop I had lost most of the A/C.

We made our way to I-95 and the first rest stop. The good news was that Geico saved the day of us,
We weren't exactly sure where we were but the nice claims agent found the name of a Winnebego RV dealer in Bristol, about 50 miles away. We had googled some closer companies and called to no avail. The service manager at Crowley RV said we could drive up but they would not even be able to look at the damage until Friday. We told him that we had no other choice but to drive up and if it was OK with him we would overnight in his parking lot and talk to him in the morning.

What happens is that because there is a season the RVs are winterized and the boats are shrink wrapped over the winter and then about this time of year every marina and RV shop is swamped with business to get all the toys ready for the season. The next morning was quite different - they bent over backwards to survey the damage and find out where and when they could get a new A/C unit. The bottom line was that the new unit will arrive tomorrow or Friday at the latest and repairs will be finished no later than noon on Saturday, We were absolutely surprised and thrilled by the way we were treated by both Geico and the employees of Crowley RV.

                                               

Knowing this we rented a car from Enterprise

Claims report issued and estimate for repairs signed, we rented a car from Enterprise, packed for two nights out and headed for the coast. The nearest town was Old Saybrook and check out Susun's smile while having lunch at Johnny Ad's, which has been serving food for over 52 years. After lunch we drove along the coast as good as the roads would let us and then checked into the Hampton Inn in the town Mystic. Tomorrow Shadow is going to the groomer for a bath and trim and Mom and Dad will spend the morning or more at Mystic Seaport. We'll be back in Bristol Friday afternoon and back on the road again soon.

More (or less) of New Jersey

Oh, here's a picture that I forgot to add in yesterday's blog. This made me think of the SW corner of 8th St and Gum, a rather useless property that you can't get to, that has been for sale forever and probably won't sell any time soon or at all.  What if the City could acquire that property and turn it into a beautiful park with a  small, maybe river shrimp boat, shrubs and flowers and name the park after the donor of the property. Wouldn't that help to beautify 8th Street? I sure think it would.                  

We got our act together, not too early, and headed for the road north that was closest to the coast. A few turns and over a couple of bridges and we drive to this sign, not Hollywood but Wildwoods which is just above Cape May. Then we got to North Wildwood, Stone Harbor and Avalon. Next was to be Sea Isle City but when we got to the bridge over Townsends Inlet we found out that the bridge was shut down either for rebuilding or repairs. Not too bad, we would backtrack to North Wildwood and go west to pick up the Garden State Parkway and take Exit 11 East. 

On the way to the GSP we discovered something - neither one of us was enjoying this part of the trip and we didn't really like the towns we were driving through. Here's what we talked about - the towns each had an older section with basically beach cottages. In between and around was new construction of large homes that blended in with the neighborhoods, but super large homes. Because it wasn't the season most of the homes were vacant. The streets were mostly empty and  except for a few, the stores, shops and amusement areas, of which were many were collecting cob webs. The towns looked like they had been evacuated with just a few strays staying behind just like happens when a hurricane is on the way. Most of the traffic lights instead of going red, green, yellow, red was just left blinking yellow or red depending on which way you are driving. Susan and I thought that it just felt creepy so we have changed our travel plans. Enough of New Jersey's coast, lets get up and around New York City and get to CT, RI and the Cape.

This tells the story. Sign on the door of a toll booth on the way over to one of the beach towns. 

No Toll

Closed for the season

Thank you

On To New Jersey

The weather gods smiled at us, well, a little bit.

After another cold (46) night we woke to clear
skies, the sun shining and a relatively light
breeze. That's looking pretty good, isn't it? And the bridge over the inlet remind us of the Dames Point Bridge in Jacksonville. This is an amazing State Park. Their are two campgrounds, one on either side of the bridge, each with full service hookups and water for the tent camping areas. There is a beautiful marina  with floating docks and over on the beach side, a huge parking lot for day timers to us and a restaurant that's open in the season. As you can tell from our picture this is not the season yet, however there were several others RVs which were scattered around us.

At 8 AM we called office for the ferry from Lewes, DE to Cape May, NJ and made a reservation for our next cruise which sails at 12:45 and better be there 45 minutes ahead of time because we were considered a large vehicle and it was Sunday and the mid day ferries would be full with people going home. Hey, it's not in the season, yet.

That done, we finished our breakfast and decided to visit Rehobeth Beach on the way to the ferry. Over the years we had heard a lot about Rehobeth Beach and how it was such a popular place for people to visit in the summer time, especially for Washingtonians. The main street to the beach was super wide with parking meters that were covered up because - it was't the season. We did didn't walk the boardwalk but it was packed probably because the weather had warmed up considerably. Parking was scarce even for off season and on the way out we found a spot about two blocks after we passed a great looking coffee/bakery shop which we found had OK coffee but over the top bakery goodies.
Our score for Rehobeth on a scale from 1 to 10 would be 5, mainly because for it was just another blah beach town, sort of like a big, crowded Delray Beach.

So here we are at the ferry terminal an hour ahead of time, first in line for the large vehicles which we later that there are two others, one that was behind us at the SP. No problem, we had a little housekeeping to take care of and I had time to let Shadow check out a ferry that was his size. Going across Delaware Bay took about an hour and a half, the seas were calm and Shadow slept most of the way. Susan read her soap programs off her iPad and I talked to a biker couple with a new Harley Limited, the guy in the other RV from the SP and took some pictures which didn't turn out too well. One of my pet peeves these days is that are lots of class for photographers if you have some pricey equipment but there's no classes for a guy with just an iPhone. You would think that are plenty of us using iPhones who would like to be able to take better pictures.


So the ferry docks and now we're in Cape May, NJ.

Without maps I set the GPS for the lighthouse and
within 15 minutes there we are. The lighthouse is absolutely wonderful and majestic even with it's plain Jane white paint job. The surrounding grounds consists of a ramp and deck for watching hawks, a walkover to the beach and a museum  and gift shop and the lighthouse keeper's dwelling. The first lighthouse, 68 feet tall, was built in 1823 and it's location is now under water. The second lighthouse, 78 feet tall, was built in 1847 and was replaced by the present lighthouse because it was poorly constructed. The current lighthouse was first lit on October 31, 1859. It is 157' 6" tall and has 199 steps in the tower's cast iron spiral staircase. In 1936 the original first order Fresnal lens was replaced with a DCB-36 rotating beacon and is visible 24 miles out to sea and flashes every 15 seconds. Wow, that was a lot of steps. The lighthouse is in an area called Cape May Point and from there we drove over to the older Historic Cape May which is full of many, many Victorian homes. In the center of the business district a street has been removed the and all of the shops and businesses open on to a beautifully landscaped walking promenade. And yes, they too have a parking problem and it's not even in the season.

We did find a place to park down by the convention center where the parking meters aren't used until May 1st -that must be when the season starts. A short walk to Zoe's where a late lunch became our dinner. And then to our campground for the night.

Cape May gets an 8 only because it's in the north and is very cold in the winter. If it were down south it would get a 10.

Back on wifi

Susan, my communication guru, after a stop at the AT&T store in Rehobeth Beach has now got our wifi up and running. I think our last blog ended with us nodding off at Kitopeke State Park in Lake Charles, VA.

Before we left the park we drove over to the park's

beach and fishing pier. There was something strange in the water just offshore. Back in WWII when steel was very scarce the U.S. Maritime Commission contracted with M. H. McCloskey & Co. to build 24 merchant ships out of ferro cement. Each ship was 336 feet long and had a beam of 54 feet. Interesting,  the ships were constructed at Hooker's Point Yard in Tampa, beginning in 1943. After the war was over the ships were berthed in Mobile Bay just like the Liberty ships that sat for years in Green Cove Springs. Beginning in 1934, the Eastern Shore and Hampton Roads was connected by the Cape Charles - Little Creek Ferry. In December, 1948
nine McCloskey ships were towed from Mobile, around Florida, and up to Kiptopeke Beach where they were sunk to serve as a breakwater for the new terminus. Today there is no ferry and the terminal is gone but the ships are still there and probably will be there for some time.        

Our goal was to drive up to Assateague Island and overnight at Maryland's only state park on the ocean.  We didn't make it. We stopped for lunch in Historic Downtown Berlin at Rayne's Reef, established in 1901. For some reason we both had a Reubin sandwich, very good and large enough that we both saved half for dinner. Walking back to the RV we thought that we should have shared one sandwich and then we could have shared a milk shake, too. Next time. We called the park. They're seasonal and the park wasn't open yet so plan B was to continue up to Killen Pond SP which is just above Harrington, DE.  

 On the way the weather gradually went from pleasant to cold, there was a very slight drizzle and it was windy. The rain stopped but it was still chilly and then the wind calmed. So here we are for two nights. Shadow chased lots of squirrels and Susan and I buttoned up and hiked a little but the best news was that the sun would be out on Saturday with temps in the high 60's.

That's us in the woods

 

Triple Threat BBQ contest at the Delaware State Fairgrounds

So we were supposed to leave FB on March 15th but some medical issues got  in our way and we didn't leave until the 29th. That's 14 days that we would have spent meandering around along the coast. In the meantime I had been confirmed to judge in the Triple Treat on April 11th so we skipped a couple of places just to make sure that we got here today. If we have time we'll catch some of the missed places on the way home. Last night we camped in the back 40 of the Fairgrounds along with a  dozen other RVs. The others were from DE, VA, PA and NJ and they all had one or more dogs. The couple behind us had a 70 pound, 7 month old Ridgeback - that was our 12 pound, 8 months old Shadow's favorite dog to play with. He had a great time.The contest was over by 2:30 and we packed up and drove south to the coast, more specifically, a little past Rehoboth Beach to the Delaware Sea Shore SP and we're parked on the south side of the Indian River inlet. Pictures tomorrow.                                                                                                

                                                                                     

Virginia

We're using Google maps on my iPhone for our GPS. We have a bracket on the dash to hold the phone and when we use Susan's + phone the screen is much bigger than the old Garmin that I previously used and on either phone the voice is better and the directions are much more direct. We followed the GPS to the Holiday Travel Park which is the largest campground that I've ever been in. Since this is not in the 'season' they  are not too busy and we had our choice of sites. We picked one in the back and near the dog park. As it turned out the dog park was also very large and we found out that most of the campers near us had at least one dog and some had two or three. Shadow ran with the big dogs, for sure, mostly some type of labrador.

We got some laundry done but mostly just goofed around for two days. It felt good just to sit in one place for a while. The second night I cooked some pork chops on the grill and I enjoyed a rum and tonic while Susan polished off her last bottle of alcohol free wine, as decreed by her,  used to be, favorite doctor.

When we left the park we headed to the Virginia Beach resort strip by the beach that is appropriately named Atlantic Ave. Mostly hotels on the ocean side and everything else on the other side and there was a lot of everything else. The street parallels the ocean and then turns west when the ocean meets the bay at Cape Henry.

At the cape is Fort Story, a military base named the Joint Expeditionary Base East meaning that it is shared by both the Army and the Navy. I'm not sure just what 'it' is but they had armed guards at the security gate inspecting the cars in front of us. We had to show our driver's license and registration but we caught a break, and because we lived in our vehicle, they just asked a few questions and let us in. The reason we drove to the fort was to see the Cape Henry Lighthouse.

This is the first lighthouse authorized by the U.S. government and also the first federal construction project under the new Constitution. Construction was completed in 1792 and the original contract was for $15,200. The construction was an octagonal shape exterior, circular interior originally with wooden steps inside. Originally built 550 feet from the ocean the beach has eroded over the years, sort of like my hairline, and is now the lighthouse is only 250 feet from the water. The winds have also blown enough sand away that about 10 feet of the limestone foundation is showing. I forgot to ask the depth of the foundation but I did count 192 steps.

This is a beautiful 8 sided building with it's large brown shaded brick exterior. At the top, under the glass dome, the lens has been removed and there is a platform to stand on.

This is the new lighthouse which was built 150 yards away from the old lighthouse. This one has a first order lens and is not open to the public. Note the interesting paint job.














After the leaving the fort we wound around to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel which is a modern day construction wonder that was completed in 1964. It has two, mile long tunnels under shipping channels and a high level bridge for smaller boats plus a half mile long fishing pier along with a restaurant/gift shop just before the southern tunnel. They say it is 20 miles long but to us it seemed to go on forever. We drove past Kiptopeke State Park and out to Cape Charles, a former railroad town on the Chesapeake. Drove past some century old houses, B & B's and some shops in the downtown are. We had previously stopped at the Bridge Tunnel administrative offices and purchased our Easy Pass, for the toll rolls ahead, which in Florida is called SunPass. Someone suggested we stop at a restaurant called Shanty. It was right next a beautiful marina with first class floating docks - what a surprise. Susan had a cup of chowder which was wonderful and I had a dozen raw oysters that were small but very tasty. This area is known for its farming oysters in the Bay.

Driving into Cape Charles we saw this really neat looking
lighthouse. It wasn't on any of our maps and we didn't have
any idea that Cape Charles had a lighthouse but, what the heck, the town is on the Bay so why not have a lighthouse.
Leaving the town we stopped and took a better look - to our surprise, it's not a lighthouse, it's the water tower for the town that is dressed up to look like a lighthouse. Big surprise!

Leaving the Outer Banks

Up in the morning, walk Shadow, have breakfast, disconnect the electric, crank it up and drop off the trash on the way out. That's our usual morning routine when we're traveling. Today our plans are to visit the Wright Brother National Monument at Kill Devil Hill and then make our way back to the mainland and find our way north which means make a right turn.

The site of the monument is just wonderful. Big hill to the right, which has to be the Kill Devil, which has a monument at the top of the hill. long flat area which has to be the original take off area, a couple old  wooden sheds and a relatively new visitors center housing an interpretative area and a auditorium with a replica of the original airplane where a ranger tells you all about the Wright Brothers and their flying machine. We listened to the presentation and then walked up the hill to the monument where Shadow got his picture with one of the Wright brother - they had separate busts on columns twenty feet  apart.

Now as the story goes the brothers came to  this area because of the hill and the, most of the time, steady winds. In 1901 they brought a glider and used the hill for their take off. The glider didn't do too well so they made some adjustments and came back in 1902 and the older worked better. Happily they went home and installed an engine and props an were successful in the first manned flight. For takeoff they used a steel monorail and Orville held the wing level while Wilbur did the takeoff run. Or Wilbur held the wing level while Orville made the first takeoff. We left the presentation early and I'm not sure who was at the controls. Actually, their were no gauges and the only control was for the elevator in front (rudder was in the rear) of the plane. The pilot laid on the wing holding the rudder control in his left hand and held on to the front of the wing with his right hand. Just a beautiful Easter morning outside at the monument and, no, we didn't find any Easter eggs.

This is inside the visitors pavilion where the ranger is telling
the story about the Wright brothers and their flying machine

The Wright Brothers monument on top of Kill
Devil Hill. Just amazing that two bicycle
mechanics could design, build and actually
be the first to fly a powered aircraft. 

 On the way north we saw a sign for the ferry to the northern part of the Outer  Banks - we never heard of this before. So at Currituck we took one more short (free) ferry over to Knott's Landing - a
small rural farming area where we stopped at their downtown, a combination gas station, convenience store and cafe, for an afternoon picker, upper cup of coffee.  Our GPS got us out of there and up to Virginia Beach where we are now.

PS. Remember Cedar Point Ferry terminal? Forgot to tell you that there is a historical sign there that  said the Ocracoke Inlet was a major trading inlet back in the yesteryears. Also, and probably their
claim to fame, is that the notorious pirate Blackbeard was killed in 1817 somewhere near there.  Just thought you would to know especially if you're playing trivia at Sandy Bottoms.