A day at the park

Often when the wind isn't blowing we look for other adventures locally to enjoy our time together and get some exercise. Last Sunday was one of those days, no wind (...forecasted, anyway...) and a bright sunshiny day. We went on a biking adventure to Back Bay Wildlife Preserve and False Cape State Park. This is a park located at the very southeastern corner of Virginia and is only accessible by bicycle or foot. It's quite a hike to get there. So we loaded up the bikes and headed out for an epic bike adventure, our first one of the year.

We parked at Little Island City Park about 1/2 mile from the Back Bay Wildlife Preserve. I unloaded and strapped the camera on to the rack and we were off on our adventure.

We only made about 100ft from parking lot when we found a launch for kayaks and canoes- here is the First Mate at the launch spot.

 The launch puts into Back Bay, a shallow bay full of wildlife and beautiful scenery. We wanted to check it out, as we had obtained a gently used canoe over the winter and need a good spot to try it out. I always enjoyed canoeing as a youngster and look forward to a future epic canoe adventure from this site. 

As always...someone found the water! She couldn't resist. If there's an ocean she'll jump in, dressed appropriately or not.

We were fortunate that it was low tide and we were able to ride our bikes on the beach along the shore, which extends all the way to the state line into NC.  If we had fatter bike tires we would have been able to explore the beach much further. As is was the tide was on its way in so after an hour or so on the beach we headed back into the park.

                                     

Beautiful beaches here, we had it almost completely to ourselves. There were a handful of other walkers and another couple on bikes but that was about it. Because cars are unable to come anywhere close to this beach and sunbathing and swimming aren't allowed, it has remained very pristine.

After returning to the park from the beach we traveled down the gravel trails and finally made it to False Cape State Park. 

After riding for a while we decided to take a break and take some pictures. Here is  the First Mate cheesing for the camera.

Trying upload her pics to Facebook.....no success....the place has no cell phone reception. Too bad! It does however, have several marsh pools that are full of wildlife. We saw turtles and snakes swimming, and an egret stalking prey.

Another shot of pristine beaches looking south toward North Carolina, which is only a few miles from this point on the beach.

As you can see from this photo it was a near perfect day for an adventure in the park. It turns out that there was quite a nice breeze blowing off the Atlantic all day. It would have made for a nice sail on Salacia but we had an equally fun time here in the park. 

Looking out over Back Bay

This was one of the nicest days we have spent outside in a long time. After the winter we've endured, it was even more magnificent. The weather was perfect and we thoroughly enjoyed the beach, park and each other's company.

Thinking of warmer times

No trailer progress to report, the cold has settled back in this week. Snow flurries yesterday and a few more today have halted all outside projects. Tomorrow's high temperatures are only supposed to reach high 20's. The thought of that gives me chills. To combat this frigid weather I am looking at pictures of our previous Adventures aboard Salacia. 

Schooner Virginia passing us as we sail out of Little Creek on Chesapeake Bay

First mate headed down the docks as we return from a nice sail

A steady course with a 10kt breeze, very refreshing!

Ok, back to today....it is cold. It's going to continue to be cold for at least the next 3 or 4 days. I hope to get back to work on the trailer this weekend.

Stay Warm!

10th Anniversary: Part 1

        I would like to start out by telling you all how lucky I am to find the woman of my dreams. For the last 16 years she has been my best friend and not a day goes by that she does not  make me smile and enjoy her company. 

For months we had been talking about how we wanted to spend our 10th wedding anniversary. I really wanted to spend it sailing the Chesapeake on our Sal. For those that don't know, my First Mate and I met on a boat, got married on a boat, and both love being on a boat. It seemed fitting to me that our 10th anniversary be spent on a boat; this time it would be our own boat, our Sal. Unfortunately, Sal was really not quite ready to go. Her v-berth has been in a construction state for...well...way too long. I am sad to report it is still that way today (updates on this later). After much debate and a few direct commands from the First Mate we decided on a road trip to Cape Cod. We had talked about going there earlier in the year to visit the newest additions to my family but just couldn't iron out any solid plans. If you love boats and the ocean but are forced to be land-bound, there's no better place than Cape Cod. Now we had a destination that was meaningful to us.

We headed off on our trip on the actual day of our anniversary. First we were going to spend a few days at Yogaville, a special yoga community and ashram, for Crystal to take part in her teacher training. We drove out west to the ashram in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, on the James River. It is beautiful there. When we arrived we set up our tent and had a nice relaxing evening. The next morning we woke up before the sun and headed to the top of Mt. Kailash to look out over the river valley and hills.

 Premium sunrise viewing spot for sure. A misty pale morning.

"I think Cape Cod is that way....yea...I'm sure of it."

Looking down at the Lotus Temple

On the James River during our hike

After our trek to the top of the mountain we went hiking for a good 2 hours along the James River, then went for a late breakfast of coffee and freshly baked goodies at Mandala, the small cafe there. It was just about then that Crystal's yoga classmates showed up. They were here as a group to further study some of the spiritual points of yoga. When they all headed off to practice I went down to the campsite to set up my portable amateur radio station and spent some time listening to the airwaves and trying to make radio contacts. After a few hours Crystal and her friends returned and we enjoyed the rest of our day together. The next morning we woke up early and broke down the tent. We were both very eager to hit the road and get to Massachusetts for the rest of our anniversary adventure.

There she is! This Alberg 30 will be our new home and take us on a journey to true freedom.