Solomon's Island

We decided not to stay in Annapolis for the boat show. We got a good weather window, so we moved south from Annapolis to Solomon's Island, a boating community on the north shore of the Patuxent River, just up from where the river meets the Chesapeake Bay.

The island only has about 1,500 people; the surrounding area is larger but still fairly rural. Across the river, in St. Mary's County, is the Patuxent Naval Air Station. Judging from the traffic trying to get over the river in the mornings, I'm guessing a lot of the locals work there or for one of the defense contractors who have offices near the base.

Solomon's is a walkable town with a number of restaurants because it is a tourism center in the summer. It also has an amazingly good gourmet grocery store because it provides provisions for the hundreds of weekend boaters from DC, Maryland, Virginia and other places who keep their boats here in the summer. No public transit, but we went and got our car when we arrived here, so we're not dependent on buses.

It turns out that friends of ours, Don and Ruth Kalen, who own the same boat we do, are here in Solomon's as well. Unfortunately, they are here because they are having major problems with their boat. But we spent the day yesterday catching up with them and really enjoyed it. They spend most of their summers in upstate New York and have been through the areas we will travel next summer, so it was good to get their input on where to go and what to see. Later this week our friends, Rob and Carol Harris, arrive to spend Columbus Day weekend with us on the boat, so we're having a very social week.

Annapolis is as far north as we are going this year. The next challenge is to determine what we will do with the boat this winter. Jim has several possibilities under consideration, ranging from leaving the boat in northern Virginia to taking it back to New Bern, North Carolina. We're waiting to hear about availability in several marinas before we make a decision. In the meantime, I'm off to a cross stitch show with my mother next week and then we have to travel back to Cleveland where workmen are coming to work on the windows in the condo.