We took a trip down to Annapolis for the boat show this year. We arranged to have uncle Edwin come down with us to help look after the kids, while we were at the boat show. The beans traveled quite well in general, but I guess that is all relative.
The trip in itself was a disaster in many respects. Even before departure, our AirBnB was cancelled a week prior to departure because of water damage. After a scramble, we booked 3 separate place, which in retrospect, I think was a better decision as it placed us right in the middle of the action, instead of being a 20 minute drive away. The winter tires that I changed a day before leaving on the Subaru almost fell off, necessitating a return trip to Kal Tire who replaced all the hub rings and gave me two new wheels. The hub rings were installed backwards. Needless to say, we took the CX-5 down. My parents having just drove back to Red Deer, and seeing cars and trucks in the ditch due to a recent storm and black ice, came to awaken us at 3:45am so we wouldn’t miss our flight. That was good because it took us about 2 hours to get to the airport. The flight left late, so we missed out connection, and Delta did not inform us that we were switched to a different connection, so we missed that too. We ended up with a 6 hour layover in Minneapolis airport. We arrive well past midnight because some how we were last to get a rental car from Enterprise (whose desk was closed, then open after we lined up at National). After seeing the boats, we got some sandwiches from a fundraiser booth and all three of us got food poisoning. Fortunately, the kids didn’t. When that resolved, Shannon broke out into a rash and headache, and had shingles on her forehead, so she missed half of Cruisers’ University. She had to see the health clinic there, and an ophthalmologist!
Everett was great on the flights. What a difference two years makes! He plopped himself on the seat, and was perfectly content watching iPad, enjoying airline snacks and drinks. No problems. Sierra on the other hand, was just like Everett at her age. She could not sit still, but we had expected this, so it didn’t seem a onerous as with the first child. The Minneapolis airport actually had a nice little children’s play area where Sierra continued to practice walking.
We had wonderful weather in Annapolis – instead of the usual drizzle, it was sunny almost every day, and only really one day of high humidity. The boat show was great! We got to tour a bunch of boats and see some catamarans that might have potential. The Lagoon was a favorite coming into the show. They didn’t have the 400, which would have been the sweet spot to see. The 380 was too small as I couldn’t stand up completely in the rooms. The 42 was nice, but I’m not sure if we would need that size. We got to the the Bali 4.3 with spacious lounge and garage door style wall. I think this one would be interesting to charter and see how it goes. I was surprised that Shannon wasn’t as interested in it as I thought she would be. Fountaine Pajot had their line up as well, and we saw the Helia. In all regards, I think this is a great boat. It is relatively new, so in the future, it would be interesting to see how a production boat holds up after a couple of years in service. Unfortunately they were missing the Lucia, which is 40 feet compared to the Helia’s 44 feet, which I would have liked to have toured given that it’s Scot Mountain’s current favorite.
On the weekend, we took a break from Annapolis and went to Washington DC to check out some sights and visit with Edgar, Alesia and meet Aiden for the first time. The three kids were still in parallel play, but it was great seeing them, along with uncle Chi Kong and aunt Pearl. One benefit of being sick is that we didn’t go out and spend much on food or restaurants. We hit the sights including the US Capitol, Washington Monument, The White House, Reflecting Pool and the highlight for me, watching Marine One come and pick up the President and fly off.
The beans did quite well with the sites, being outdoors and getting plenty of air. Everett had a good time at the Air and Space Museum. He kept wanting to go in the airplanes. There was a small section for kids. Everett was a bit small for all of the science, but there were things for him to push and pull, and climb up on into the mock aircraft.
It’s amazing how many free activities there are in Washington DC. We went to the zoo as well, which was “free” but parking was $22. We zoomed around the park with the highlights being pandas, “Simba and Nala” the lions, a tiger and elephants. Shannon was having a “break” being sick, so she stayed in Annapolis and didn’t get to partake at the museum and zoo.
Cruisers’ University was excellent, I must say. I guess I didn’t really have huge expectations for the event, but the speakers were really quality, professional sailors, if there can be such a thing. These were people who wrote books on sailing, organized rallys and some who cruised and just ended up somehow being experts in the field. I attended the courses with great interest. Shannon was enrolled in the Cruising for Women course which spanned two days, but the second day, she was sick and couldn’t attend which was really too bad.
I went to talks about heavy weather strategies, crossing the Gulf Stream and weather, cruising with children, health, and overviews of world cruising today. Some talks were on photography and writing about cruising, others were on money and safety. I bought a couple of books, books I’ve seen on Amazon, but now that I’ve met the authors and got really inspired, ordered some online as souvenirs.
Cruising and sailing is a dream of mine, one I’m trying to get Shannon to adopt as well. I’m not so sure how sold she is on the idea. The allure for me is the aspect of traveling and exploring with family. It is like RVing, but on a sailboat, in nice beautiful coastal countries. They say that one day of sailing with children is equal to three “normal” days, since you spend all your time together, instead of working and only seeing the kids a couple of hours a day. My plan is to go in about 4-5 years, taking a one year sabbatical and seeing how it goes. It is possible our family plans might take another form at that time, but who knows, maybe this will be something that our family will enjoy.
The other part of Cruisers’ University is meeting all of the other people attending. Most are of course older, and many have plans already. They have or are close to purchasing boats, and many are getting ready to leave in the next year on their cruising adventures. Meeting them and hearing their stories were very inspiring, and it was definitely a great place to connect with others sharing the same dream.
Overall, the trip was both a disaster and a great trip. It was more of a disaster than average for us, but we managed to survive it all. The photos and videos show us having a good time visiting D.C. and the boat show, spending time with family as well as seeing family down there. Every time we return from a trip, we swear it’s going to be a couple years before we go anywhere with the kids again, but then we forget and book another trip…
