We thoroughly enjoyed our time in Yorktown. Back home in Wisconsin and Texas, we like to stop and read all the historical markers when we encounter them along the way. If we did that here, we would be stopping all the time because this area is just full of history from before Europeans settled here, through colonization, the slave trade, the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, and ever since.

We used our America the Beautiful Pass to get into the Yorktown Battlefield. There’s a small museum that contains the very tent George Washington stood under to give his orders. There’s a short video to watch, and there are outdoor tours given periodically throughout the day. We didn’t do the tour, as we arrived just as the last one was starting.

There is a driving tour, but you aren’t allowed to walk it because it goes on a highway. We were able, though, to walk out to Redoubts 9 and 10 and stand where the Americans and the French won the last battle of the Revolutionary War. Later in the week we rented a car, and we drove some to some of the other sites, like the Civil War Cemetery at Yorktown, and Surrender Field where the British forces surrendered. I think the field was named after the event happened, otherwise there was some kind of creepy clairvoyance happening OR someone had named it that for some other reason and the Americans wanted to rub it in. But I kind of doubt the conversation went like this:

Cornwallis: I give up. We’re going to surrender.
Washington: Okay. Meet us at Surrender Field.
Cornwallis: What? Where’s that?
Washington: It’s in Farmer Bob’s back 40. We’re going to call it Surrender Field from now on.
Cornwallis, raises fist: Bollocks.

Actually, it went more like this:

During the week, I went to the Watermen’s Museum which honors the men and women who worked on the waterways all these years. A woman there told me a lot about the history of the river and its inhabitants. It was pouring that day, so I didn’t see much of the outside exhibits. The building itself is a bit of history.

The best museum in town is the American Revolution Museum at Yorktown. We both really enjoyed the museum, how it was set up, the vignettes of people on the periphery of the war who experienced it in a different way from the soldiers, Lafayette’s pistols (!), and outdoor exhibits. This museum was so well done. We wish we had been able to go to its counterpart in Jamestown, but we ran out of time.

We went to the Waterstreet Grille (ahi tuna nachos!), Umi Sushi, and the Yorktown Pub, all within a short walk of the marina. The marina was great, except that choppy seas meant several bumpy nights.

On Thursday, we rented a car (rented from the Newport News/Williamsburg airport because they have extended hours that fit our timing. Uber there was about $20.) so I could drive back to Morehead City, NC, to pick up our newly refinished props. On the way back, I stopped at Colonial Williamsburg. Again, the weather was so cruddy, but I had an umbrella and an urge to soak up history. There were very few people there–a few school groups who went rain or shine and some other couples and families who were determined to make the best of a stormy day. I loved that the people there were so knowledgeable and, in most cases, passionate about the subject matter. I only had four hours there, but it’s definitely a place to spend an entire day or more.

The car made it easy to provision the boat on the way back from Williamsburg. There is a Target just minutes away from the park. Side note: there is a Food Lion in Yorktown, but there’s no grocery shopping near the marina. Instacart is available, though.

On Saturday morning, it was time to leave. We had been in the marina with just a tourist schooner and another boat all week until the last day when six boats came in. We were the second to leave on Saturday morning.

There is a boating adage, “Sometimes you get to watch a show, sometimes you ARE the show.” In most cases, we are the ones watching the show. But on this fine morning, it was our turn to BE the show. We had a bit of a challenge leaving the dock for which we needed help. Thankfully, our boat neighbors were able to assist, and, yadda, yadda, yadda, we were on our way. No one died, there was no property damage, but holy moly, sometimes you just want to cover up the name of your boat and hope you never see some people ever again because of the sheer mortification of the event. This was one of those times. I sure hope our boat neighbors don’t have blogs!

Anyway, when things go wrong, it really shakes our confidence. We’ve done a lot of training and practicing, and we’ve gone 4300 miles on this trip alone. We feel like we should be able to handle ourselves in every situation or be able to figure it out. So we talked through what happened and what we’d do differently next time. That’s the best we can do.

It turned out to be a beautiful day on the Chesapeake. We were happy to see dolphins searching for food. After a week of rough weather, we were greeted by barely-there winds and waves less than a foot. This is the way we like it! Loopers tend to fear the Chesapeake, but it’s just like Lake Michigan: watch the weather, check it again and again, and be willing to stay put if it’s rough.

We went nearly 100 miles to the Solomons Yachting Center, where we filled up at an astonishing $5.99 a gallon. It had been awhile since our last fill up, so we needed 178.8 gallons. I hate seeing that big number. We’ve heard of possible diesel shortages coming to the northeast, so we better make sure to fill up wherever we can. I hate going to a fuel dock for 30 gallons at a time, but we might need to just in case. If there are shortages, I don’t have any black market connections here in the northeast (or anywhere, to be honest), so we would be out of luck!

After fueling up, we headed to our anchorage at the mouth of Kingston Creek. This is our first night in Maryland! Owen dropped the dinghy almost immediately to explore. I stayed behind to write this missive. Reading about the Revolutionary War this last week makes me want to use words like “missive” instead of “blog post.” You’re welcome. We’re looking forward to a calm night on the hook.