Norfolk, VA

We're docked in a downtown marina in Norfolk, conveniently located close to tourist attractions, movie theaters, a shopping mall, walking paths, and even a grocery store that drives boaters and their purchases back to the marina. I have to say it is nice to be in an urban environment after two months of rural, coastal America. Just having the option to buy a Starbucks latte is a pleasure.

Unfortunately, we arrived at the same time as the hottest weather of the season. The heat index yesterday was 105. We did our tourist thing in the morning and then went to the movies in the afternoon.

Our tourist adventure was a visit to the USS Wisconsin, an inactive but still commissioned battleship docked in downtown Norfolk. The picture is Jim standing next to the anchor chain. Each link in the chain weighs 120 lbs. Our entire anchor chain on Down Time weighs less than two links of the Wisconsin's chain. Her anchor weighs 35,000 lbs; ours weighs 35 lbs.

Then we treated ourselves to a cool afternoon seeing Julie and Julia, which we really enjoyed. Since Jim is devoted to cooking from Mastering the Art of French Cooking, it was fun to see the story of how it got written. One of the pivotal recipes in the movie, Boeuf Bourguignon, is also one of Jim's specialities, so as people in the movie were waxing eloquent about the flavor I could identify completely.

Today we will go across Hampton Roads to the Hampton Yacht Club, finally, officially entering the Chesapeake Bay. It has only taken us three months to get this far. I know we said we were going to take this trip slow, but somehow we didn't expect it to take us until the middle of August to get this far. Oh well, we're retired; we don't have to hurry.