Thursday, October 13, 2011

Road tripping

  I made a last minute decision to head to Annapolis, Maryland to ostensibly see the big boat show but really I wanted to see some friends. When my great parents said that keeping the big girl so she didn't miss school would be no issue, I started loading up the car. Kitty and I would make it a road trip of almost 3,000 miles round trip. Mark was supposed to fly in to meet us but work prevented him from coming so it was just me and my wee co-pilot for 9 days.
The drive would normally be accomplished by me in a straight shot of 24 hours but since Kitty can handle around 550 miles a day before she howls in protest, it took us quite a bit longer. Kitty became adept at checking into hotels, meeting new people and going with the flow. I became adept at eating at nothing but Cracker Barrels on the road. When you have a kid who can't eat gluten and is picky, CB is your friend. She happily ate green beans, mashed potatos, carrot and a little bit of chicken every. single. meal. I didn't even eat one single burger as my ordering was limited to what I could split with my tiny, fussy eater. They also have lots of sparkly, shiny kitsch to look at, which toddlers find highly entertaining.

All in all, it was a great trip. We saw friends from Majestic and Patience Two who are all wonderful, wonderful people and very dear friends.  We met friends from Anything Sailing, SV Wildest Dream and the Puzzled gang.We hung out on their respective catamarans and got to experience agoraphobia. We went to the boat show and saw the equipment we needed to see in about 30 minutes (thank goodness. I never need to go to another boat show ever). We saw the leaves changing. We had such a wonderful time, just me and my wee one. Being able to spend time with just my little girl was a gift. She and I have never had such a long time alone. It made me fall in love with her all over again. We came home to Maura and Mark, having missed them terribly and hugged them and just drank them in. It was perfect.


We didn't have time for a sail but managed to go for a chug on Patience Two on the Magothy river. I could learn to love catamarans



Kitty's favorite thing to do is wave and say "hi" to everyone. People in restaurants, hotel lobbys, rest areas and cars driving by.


Kitty wanted to run with the big kids from RV Puzzled, Zach Aboard and Tig and Serena.




I am 100% over boat shows. Just too crowded for my tastes.

Mary from Patience Two
made this, which is the coolest stack pack ever. Not only is is purple(win!) but the super cool waves are made from phirtex so any water drains. You will not be seeing anything similar on Ceol Mor unless I can bribe Mary into making us one...

Chuck and Mary of Patience Two's back yard view. Kitty and I stayed with them for a few days and got to wake up to this view....

Not a brilliant shot cause we were driving at a good clip but that is a cockatoo behind that wind screen. that big burly biker kept tucking his head under the screen to nuzzle the bird. Awesome.

                                                 Eventually, my wee girl did actually sleep.













9 comments:

  1. Breathtaking photos my friend! Looks like Kitty was made to be a traveling girl like her mama! We so loved seeing you!

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  2. Send Mary the pattern and measurements for the stack pack :) Let's see what happens. Thanks for the pumpkins.

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  3. My your girl is a beauty! so glad you had a fun road trip. So nice you have a home to return to. xo

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  4. Next time, we will have to visit together.

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  5. Great photos by the way. Nice to see where I live, by different eyes.

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  6. Amen Gillian! Plus I wanna hear you sing!

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  7. Cid...

    I've read the whole blog since discovering it this AM... quite the read.. and the comments too and added a few even though they go back to the beginning... it was all new to me.

    I can't begin to tell you how touching and funny and wonderful your blog is... and how skillful you are at living and communicating your soul to strangers.

    I really have had a wonderful time these few hours with your blog.

    What a gal!

    Jeffrey
    sv Shiva

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  8. Thanks so much for the kind words Jeffrey! So do you blog as well?

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  9. It was great meeting you and Kitty. Looking forward to seeing you on the water. I agree, boat shows are too crazy. I only went to take the classes and to meet up with cool people!

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