Surprise at the Top of the Bay! June 11-14

Tiffany Rose Motoring up Chesapeake Bay
(Courtesy of Whipoorwill)


Havre De Grace Lighthouse from Tiffany Rose

Up early to once again beat the weather. Whipoorwhil stopped by and we set off at about the same time. We had little wind but a good current going with us so we briskly cruised out of Annapolis up to the top of Chesapeake Bay. There were no big ships to contend with so we used the current and markers of the shipping channel to help us along. Whipoorwhil was headed off to Chesapeake City to make time towards home. We, on the other hand, were detouring off towards Christopher’s “Promised Land”. Who would have thought that Havre de Grace was such a place? Most Canadians would pronounce this city’s name with a bit of French flair in the pronounciation but here it is “Hav-er de Grayce”. The French was lost hundreds of years ago. As far as Christopher is concerned this city is beautiful for its train activity! We anchored right at the mouth of the Susquehanna River, beside the old lighthouse, in sight of the Amtrack train bridge. Perfect! Relax in the cockpit with a cool drink of juice and watch trains for hours! Along with the relaxing vista our ears were treated to the sound of machine gun and artillary fire. Just south of us is the Aberdeene Proving Grounds where the army trains its people and tests its firepower. We feel very safe here…
We spent some time touring around town and finding all the good train spotting locations and then we got ready for the big event. Thanks to some folks we met earlier in the trip we found out that Havre de Grace was only an hour or so drive to Strasburg PA. Strasburg is Christopher’s most favourite spot because it is live steam train central. So we rented a car, moved Tiffany Rose over to a mooring ball at Tidewater Marina and got ready for a road trip!
Early Saturday morning we were dinghying to shore to hop into the car to skoot up to Strasburg. It’s funny, as the crow flies we are now about as close to home as we’re going to be until we get into the Erie Canal. (From here we have to go south and east, down the Delaware Bay to Cape May, New Jersey then up the coast to New York City.) Pulling into Strasburg, it was odd knowing we were less than a days drive home by car but weeks away by boat.
We have visited Strasburg a few times before for summer vacation and the railroad is always a calm place to be. Not so today. As it happens, it was also a Day Out with Thomas event. That meant at least a thousand more people there, all families coming to see Thomas the Tank Engine. We hadn’t planned on that, so we didn’t have tickets for “Thomas”. Christopher knew that we would ride the regular steam train, and that he could watch the Thomas train but that we wouldn’t be going on. That was fine because there was already so much to see and do. Christopher loves to see the trains come and go, and he has all the conductor’s signals for coupling the engine to the train down pat. We were watching a train leave when a lovely lady came up to us, saying she had two tickets for the 10:45 Thomas train that she couldn’t use and that she’d like Christopher to go on the train. We couldn’t believe it! What a generous gesture! So Dave and Christopher went on the next Thomas train. When we caught up to her again later to say thank you again and give her our blog address, she said”Oh, are you sailors? We have a 34’sailboat we keep in Chesapeake Bay.” She said they'd like to do a trip like this when their kids are a little older. It is a small world.
Between doing the activities that go along with a Thomas day (rides on other rail cars on sidings, getting a 'tatoo', etc.) and doing what he has liked to do when we have visited Strasburg before (sprinting from end to end of the platform as the engine leaves the front of the train and comes back to couple on the rear), plus going on both the Thomas and regular steam trains, Christopher had a very full day. The video below shows Christopher assisting the train man to couple the engine to the cars. We ended it off by having supper in the rail car restaurant at the Red Caboose Motel further down the railway tracks. We were able to wave at Strasburg`s last train of the day, The Evening Breeze, as it went by. No sooner had we gotten in the car then it started to rain. What a perfect day!