Happy 4th of July!

Baltimore really knows how to celebrate Independence Day! There was music all day in the Inner Harbor, steel bands at the ESPN sports center and then fireworks last night. There were 3 barges of fireworks - one in the Inner Harbor (downtown), one in Fells Point in front of the Dominoes Sugar factory and one at Ft. McHenry, a little further down the Patapsco River. Unfortunately it started to rain early in the evening and that put a damper on some of the events, but they still shot off the fireworks which lasted for about 30 minutes and were spectacular. There were lots of boats anchored in the river and dock parties everywhere! Earlier in the evening we had dinghied over to visit Captain Tug and Ruth on the McClintik, the 1932 tugboat from New Bern. Great ribs and brats (plus wine of course) were shared by all.

In the "small world" department, we ran into Jacob Pinkham and his wife last night here on the docks. Jacob used to be the dockmaster at the Sheraton in New Bern and moved to Baltimore 7 years ago. We talked to him for a full 3-4 minutes before we realized that it was actually him!

On the evening of July 3rd, we dinghied over to Pier 6 and had a great time listening to Lyle Lovett and his Big Band. The wind was even blowing in our direction so it sounded as if we were sitting right there. It was made even better by the fact that there were gorgeous sailboats (one black Irwin 65 ketch) sitting all around us.

This morning we awoke to rain and the skies are threatening now. We're going to investigate how close a movie theatre is as it's just that kind of day. We're starting to look at weather patterns now as it's almost time to head for home. We're going to miss Baltimore and all the folks we've met here...our dock neighbors in particular. They're a young couple raising 2 small children on a 50 ft. Silverton. Phil is a french horn player for the Baltimore Symphony and also works part time at West Marine so has been kind enough to get us employee discounts on stuff like boat soap and wax! Amy homeschools their 2 children - Hannah and Ian. There are a lot of liveaboards here and it's like a small neighborhood. We'll also miss all the small pubs and family owned restaurants--and all the smells of Little Italy.

Interestingly, a 50 ft. slip here costs about $1,000 per ft. A far cry from the Sheraton prices of $3,000 per ft.

We hope all of you had a great 4th!!!!