Sept. 30 - Baltimore, MD

Henderson's Wharf Marina

Our stay in Baltimore is winding down. We can feel roots beginning to grow, this is an easy place to get attached to...lots of friendly people and an endless array of things to do. The weather is slowly getting cooler and its time to move further south. The strongest pull drawing us to move on is our granddaughter. She is almost three months old and we haven't seen her since her birth. Cruising is wonderful, but we need a little family time. Our family and friends in Texas are very supportive and glad we're enjoying our adventure, they even enjoy following along with this blog. We know they're ready for us to return and we are more than ready to spend time with all of them. We plan to leave early Wednesday morning, but until then we will enjoy spending time with friends here and getting the boat ready to move on.

This was Stan's favorite boat at the Trawler Fest...his dream boat. It's a DeFever 50

Ted and Sally on Amici are at Atlantic Yacht Basin in Great Bridge, VA and sent us a picture of our car...it was like seeing a piece of home. Just sitting there waiting for our return.

Teddy's Stuffies (baked stuffed clams) we enjoyed during happy hour on Gallivant

Sept. 29 - Baltimore, MD

Henderson's Wharf Marina

Today Stan and I did separate things...that doesn't happen very often when we're cruising. One of the friends we've made at Henderson's is a fisherman who runs a charter service from the marina. Stan offered to be Don’s deck hand if he needed help one day. Today was the day...it was just a three hour trip and they stayed in the Patapsco River, which is where Baltimore is located. He was the first mate for a change...in charge of the lines, baiting hooks and cleaning fish. Not a glamorous job, but he had a great time.

While Stan was on the water I spent the day at two of  Baltimore's many museums. Today was the Smithsonian Magazine museum day; participating museums all over the U.S. were open free to the public. I went online and printed out tickets for the American Visionary Art Museum and the Baltimore Museum of Industry. Both were interesting, but I enjoyed the art museum the most. 

The American Visionary Art Museum is America’s official national museum for self-taught intuitive artistry. Founded in 1995, this unique art attraction has a permanent collection and holds year long exhibits showcasing pieces centered on one theme such as faith, substance abuse and war and peace. The museum houses galleries, a sculpture barn and plaza, a giant whirligig, and a wildflower garden. 

The Baltimore Museum of Industry is located in an old cannery, and has exhibits on various types of manufacturing and industry that have been prominent in Baltimore from the early 20th century. The BMI galleries recreate parts of a cannery, a garment loft from 1900, a machine shop from 1900, a print shop, Dr. Bunting's Pharmacy (where Noxzema was invented), as well as exhibits on the food industry (McCormick, Domino Sugar, Esskay). In the Decker Gallery, the Milestone wall documents inventions and processes discovered first in Baltimore and Maryland. This includes the gaslight, oldest Silversmith, railroad, umbrella company and the first portable drill…just to name a few. The BMI is also home to the Baltimore, the oldest surviving steam tugboat and a National Historic Landmark.

This evening we hung out in Fell's Point with Pam and Donny. There are so many little pubs to try in this area. We seem to stop at the same places, but this evening we made it to a new place (The Point) and one old favorite place (Koopers). Stan and I even went back for a nice dinner at The Point and had Lobster Risotto. Very good!

First Mate Stan

American Visionary Art Museum 

Lusitania made from 193,000 toothpicks and 5 gallons of glue!

A few other things I saw at the museum. I couldn't take pictures inside the gallery so these are borrowed from the Internet.

Baltimore Museum of Industry

Street performer in the Inner Harbor

Sept. 27 - Baltimore, MD

Henderson's Wharf Marina

Our water pump went out last night…luckily after our showers. Stan removed the pump this morning and took it to West Marine. It was still under warranty so no expense to us; in fact we made a little morning because they didn’t have the exact pump for a replacement. Not a bad deal! After we had the water running again we went to the Trawl Fest, which was being held in Baltimore this weekend. 

One of the locals at the marina lent us their water taxi passes so we could get across the harbor without using our bikes. It probably didn’t save us any time, but it was fun riding on the taxi. Trawler Fest is a boat show that features trawlers only…no sailboats, fishing boats, speed boats or Sea Rays. There were booths with all types of info for boating and supplies for boats, but we were there mainly to look at the boats. There were a lot of boats to look at…over 50 boats ranging in size from a small Ranger Tug 21 to a 70’ Hatteras. We definitely found boats we wouldn’t mind living on…so much luxury and space, but our little Monk is perfect for us. It's always fun to look and dream!

A few of the boats we saw on our way to Trawler Fest - Mystic Whaler

USS Constellation 

Trawler Fest Baltimore

Some of the smaller Ranger Tugs

Just a few of the boats we liked - This is a Nordic Tug 54

Seaton 56

Sept. 26 - Baltimore, MD

Henderson's Wharf Marina

Today was a girl’s day out. The Henderson’s Marina women get together on Wednesdays for breakfast so Pam and I joined them at Jimmy’s for a little food, fun conversation and lots of laughs. Mary was kind enough to spend the rest of the day driving us around town to do a little shopping at IKEA and Costco. I had a great day hanging out with Mary, Ann, Karen and Pam.

Karen, Carol, Ann, Sandy, Susie, Mary and Pam

Jimmy's in Fell's Point

Sept. 25 - Fell’s Point, MD

Henderson's Wharf Marina

I know it seems like we’ve been in Baltimore forever to anyone following the blog, but it’s a great place to just hang out and have fun with other boaters…especially at Henderson’s Marina and Fell’s Point.

Henderson’s Wharf Marina is in a neighborhood of Baltimore known as Fell’s Point. It’s history started long before Baltimore became a city and is one of the country’s oldest ports. The town of Fell’s Point was founded in 1730 by William Fell and became a major port and shipbuilding center. In 1797, the town combined with Baltimore Town and Jones Town to form the city of Baltimore. Fells Point's prosperity continued as immigrants flowed to the area to fill the jobs quickly being created in the shipyards, warehouses and factories. However, the professional class moved north to higher ground, leaving behind the more diverse working class, which made up the multicultural fabric of this area. You can still find pockets of these ethnic groups through out Fell’s Point in Little Italy, Spanish Town and the Polish area east of town.

The Belgian block streets of Fell's Point lend to its unique historic character, which attracts many tourists and businesses to the area. Today Fell's Point is home to a variety of shops, restaurants, coffee bars, music stores, and over 120 pubs. Located on the harbor and famous for its maritime past, it now boasts the greatest concentration of pubs/bars in the city. I think you could stay here all year and not be able to check out all the deals they have at these great places. 

It was another ordinary day, I had my hair cut at a little shop on Eastern Avenue and we enjoyed happy hour on the Lisa Morgan with Dave, Karen, Pam and Donny. The Lisa Morgan is a 1983 DeFever 41 and looks just like our boat on the inside…just a little bigger. We then went back to Kooper’s for their Tuesday night burger special. The following pictures show you what our neighborhood in Fell's Point looks like.

Looking up Fell Street from the marina

Looking down Fell Street towards the marina

Thames Street

Kooper's Tavern

Broadway Market

Homes in Fell's Point

Broadway and Thames Street

The intersection of Ann, Fell and Thames Streets (looking west)

The intersection of Ann, Fell and Thames Streets (looking south). If you head down this street you get to Henderson's Wharf Marina.

Sept. 24 - Baltimore, MD

Henderson's Wharf Marina

Sorry there was no blog yesterday. As you've probably noticed I usually post blog entries the following morning...if something doesn't get in the way. This morning Pam and I decided to take the bus to Townson Center and spend the day at the mall, and the guys planned to go to the Baltimore/Toronto baseball game at Camden Yards. When you live on a boat, every day activities like shopping takes planning...no car to just jump into, so your schedule is determined by buses or how long it takes to ride your bike there. So we had to leave this morning before I had time to blog. The trip to the mall was over an hour on the bus...trying to figure out the bus system took us longer to get back. Our timing was perfect though, we noticed the guys in the Dog Watch Tavern as we were walking back to the boats from the bus stop and we stopped in for a little dinner.

Yesterday Stan and I went back to the farmers market under the Jones Falls Expressway. We had planned to have lunch at one of the food venders, but it was just too crowded. We decided it would be more relaxing if we came back to the boat and grilled hamburgers...you just can't beat the view and much more peaceful. Pam found out that on Sundays the observation pagoda in Pattern Park is open (I posted a picture of the pagoda on September 13). It sits on one of the highest points in the area, so the view from the top is wonderful. Pam and I rode uphill and then climbed the stairs, but were rewarded with great views of the city and harbor.

Looking east to west from the pagoda

Henderson's Marina...the tree is blocking the view of our boats

Looking through the stain glass windows of the pagoda

Camden Yards

Sept. 22 - Baltimore, MD

Henderson's Wharf Marina

We woke up to another wonderful day…if the weather doesn’t change, it may be hard to leave here. We walked up to the local farmers market for breakfast, we hung out for a while, bought a few things and then went back to the boat. Stan needed a part for his chain on his bike and we had to wait for the bike shop to open…once that was fixed we rode over to the Federal Hill area and did a little exploring. We checked out the Cross Street Market, there wasn’t much there so we decided to keep riding and ended up at Fort McHenry. We rode through the park and then made our way back to the boat. We stopped at another farmers market along the way at the Baltimore Museum of Industry. It wasn’t a very large market, but there was a little booth called Red Fish Blue Chicken that was serving fish and shrimp. We sat and watched the water and enjoyed a great lunch.

We made our way back to the boat and relaxed for a while and then went up to a little pub in Fell’s Point and watched the end of the Baltimore Orioles game. Happy hour with Pam and Donny and dinner on the boat filled up the rest of our day.

Scenes from the farmers market at Fell's Point

Entertainment at the farmers market

Buildings in Fell's Point

Fort McHenry

Our lunch view

 Cold front moving in