October 31, 2014

A great visit with our daughter Beth in Radford, VA

On Monday Dale and Brandy let us barrow their car and we drove to Radford, VA. to see our daughter Beth, who is attending college in Radford.

We were so excited to see her and have the opportunity to spend a few days with her.

We arrived Monday at about 3:30 PM and had a great time visiting with her that night.

Beth and her cat Nikita

Tuesday she took us out for a drive in the morning. Radford is located in the Blue Ridge Mountains and it was just beautiful there.

The trees in the mountains are changing to the fall colors. It is truly a wonder to see them colors painted on those mountains. We went to Gent Park for lunch and some nice views.

Some children were at the park on a class outing.

At the park they a brook that went past it

They also had a pond that they have weddings around.

A nice reflection in the water.

A couple of family pictures.

Beth & Tam

Tam & me

Then on Wed morning, before we left we went up the Blur Ridge Parkway. It was raining and the clouds were hanging on the mountains. Truly natures heaven.

These hills are where Dirty Dancing was filmed. We went to the “Lodge” that the movie was filmed at and you could sense the Movies heartbeat.

The Lodge

The Lodge from the mountain

The Pavilion that a lot of the dancing took place in

As we were going back down the mountain we stopped and grabbed a few more family photo’s.

Beth & Tam

Beth

Tam & me in a couple of shots with the mountains in the background.

We also went by this covered bridge.

When I see some of the rock formations I think of our friend Bruce back in Mankato. He collects stones and would show us the beauty in them. These are bigger and not as pretty but it is awesome when you see what God has created even in the beauty of the stones in the earth.

It’s difficult to see in the picture but the lines running through the stone is a kaleidoscope of color

Unfortunately the time was to short and we had to head back Wed afternoon.

We are now back in Laurel, MD with Brandy and Dale and getting ready to continue the Adventure on Saturday or Sunday based on the “tides: again. We will go to the boat shortly and work on “Adventure” to get ready to go.

Our inspirational quote of the week... "Dream higher than the sky and deeper than the ocean" #quote #landnsand www.landnsand.co.za

“Living The Dream”

Tammy & Steve

October 27, 2014

A different view Flying with Dale & Brandy

Yesterday we had a different experience. Dale has a pilot license and is a member of a flying club. He and Brandy invited us to go flying with them Sunday morning. We said yes, and off we went.

It was a 4 passenger Piper and here are a few pictures of everyone at the airplane and the airplane.

Tammy getting ready to go

Brandy getting in the airplane

Tammy and I getting ready

Below is Dale doing his preflight and a picture of the airplane we flew in.

This was an exciting opportunity for us. We have to add a special thank you to Dale and Brandy for an exciting and fun day!

We got to see the Chesapeake Bay from a different angle. What a beautiful sight. It is the route we will use in a few days when we head south out of the Chesapeake and down the Inter coastal Waterway.

There were some beautiful views of the bay and the Kent bridge.

Sailboats on the Chesapeake

Looking out over the Kent bridge.

A few landing pictures

They actually took out for lunch at the Cambridge Airport in Cambridge Maryland. How neat that was WOW!

Not a great picture but this is the marina where Adventure is in a slip right now.

So we had another great day of Living the dream.

Today we are headed to Radford VA to see Beth. We are very excited and anxious to get there so I will post the blog and we will be there in about 5 hours.

Latest hand lettering endeavor & to-do for the weekend. Inspired by the famous @MINIMALE ANIMALE stop sign pic :) - @goldfish_kiss- #webstagram

“Living The Dream”

Tammy & Steve

October 25, 2014

Our visit with Dale & Brandy and Oktoberfest “A Special Post to our Dear Friends at Centenary United Methodist Church”

We have been visiting Dale & Brandy since the 19th of October.

They had Oktoberfest at Brandy’s church today and she invited us to go with her. Well they asked us to help serve the breakfast and dinner at the church. So Deja Vu strikes.

Tammy, Steve & Brandy in the serving line serving pulled pork, Cole slaw and potato chips.

The local Chik Fi let cow with Tammy & Steve

My brother Dale pitched in and helped as well

Dale & Tammy at the Bazaar

Brandy and the “Kitchen Manager” Theresa

and a few pics of the Bazaar

OK so we are back to working in a church kitchen!

We loved it and more wonderful new friends.

Besides that it has been stocking up Adventure and getting the new anchor installed.

We will be heading over to Beth’s in Radford, VA on Monday. We are anxious to see her.

Boating....NOTHING BETTER!!

“Living The Dream”

Tammy & Steve

October 22, 2014

Staying on the Magothy River

We have a slip at the Atlantic Resort Marina on the Magothy River.

Everyone here is getting their boats ready for winter.

I don’t understand why they are pulling there boats out and shrink wrapping them. They could continue using them just a little cold. Here the water doesn’t even get hard, so they could use them year round.

Shortly after we arrived we had a knock on the boat and there was Brandy my brother Dale’s wife, there to pick us up.

Brandy Swanson, what a wonderful sight to welcome us to Washington.

They have provided a place for us to stop until we are ready to continue the journey to Florida.

Brandy and Dale

Tammy & Brandy

Dale

They started out grilling steaks for us on the first night. Cooked to perfection and the best company we could ask for. They also gave us some of their homemade Kahlua and we now have a passion for it. Brandy is going to show us how to make it tonight.

They are letting us use their car while they are at work.

We went to the boat and picked up the Genoa. We have started putting a UV edging on it to extend it’s life now that it is out in the sun all the time.

We have to do it in a large area in order to move it around while we are sewing it up. Tammy has to help with the sewing it is so large it takes up 1/2 of Dale & Brandy’s back yard. The blue edging is what we are putting on.

We will spend the next couple of days here and while they are at work we will have projects to work on for Adventure.

Traveling manifesto. Take the plunge.

“Living The Dream”

Tammy & Steve

October 18, 2014

We have a temporary home

We have made an agreement with the Atlantic Marina Resort to stay for 2 weeks and can come and go as we need.

I will give the address for those that might want to google it. But don’t send anything here as we won’t be here that long.

Atlantic Marina Resort

487 New York Ave

Pasadena, MD 21122

We have a slip and have settled into our temporary home. They were very reasonable and it will work out well. It is located on the Magothey River in Maryland about half way between Baltimore and Annapolis.

10-inspirational-travel-quotes-photo

“Living The Dream”

Tammy & Steve

October 18, 2014

We took some time and repaired our damaged Genoa

We left Delaware City and headed down the C&D (Chesapeake & Delaware) canal. It is the shortcut from Delaware River to Maryland.
We are trying to travel shorter jumps so we only traveled from Delaware City to Chesapeake City on the C&D canal. It was nice so we decided to stay an extra day and get a few things done on Adventure. The second day we took the Genoa (big sail on the front of the boat) down and hauled it into the cabin and repaired it. After we arrived at Point Judith the sail was not useable and had pieces streaming from it.

Pulling and pushing it around to get the repairs in line with the sewing machine became a bit of a problem however we persisted and got it sewed back up. Glad we have the sewing machine. That would have been an expensive repair.

As you can see in the photo’s we had the sail pretty much crammed into the cabin with Tam and I twisting it around as needed to complete the repairs. But we did get them done and now have a working sail.

Now we have the finished product up and sailing

Which we used to get here to Magothy River.
We were happy to get back to a little wind power. We had traveled from Chesapeake City to Sassafras River then on Friday we traveled to the Magothy River just south of Baltimore, MD. While we were traveling we were trying to locate a marina to park Adventure while we spend time with Dale and Brandy in Washington DC and then go visit Beth at Radford in Virginia.

We think we located a reasonable one and we are going to try moving over there in a bit. The problem is we have to go in at high tide or the water may be right on the borderline for our 6′ draft.

We can stay for 2 weeks for less than the diesel we use in 2 weeks.

We are anxious to see Dale and Brandy then see Beth for a while. It should be a great two weeks.

We will have an address of

Atlantic Marina Resort

487 New York Ave

Pasadena, MD 21122

When we get back in 2 weeks we will be able to head down the ICW (Inter-coastal Waterway to Florida.

We will try to post the blog when we have time over the next couple of weeks. We will be off Living The Dream.

inspiring travel quotes

“Living The Dream”

Tammy & Steve

October 14, 2014

Cape May NJ

Leaving Cape May we came up the Delaware River. Unfortunately when we got to our anchor location we did not have internet service so the blog is a little behind.

We wanted to show you a few of the light houses that are actually in the middle of the bay. They mark shoals (shallow water or gravel that may run a few miles.

The Lighthouse at the Miah Maull Shoal it is about 5 miles long and is as shallow as 3 feet. Kinda hard on the keel and in the middle of the Delaware Bay.

Elbow Cross Ledge Marker

Ship John Shoal Lighthouse

All three of these lighthouses are in the middle of the River/Bay and failure to heed will get you in trouble as they mark shoal as shallow as 3 feet.

We traveled through the Cape May canal which was smooth and comfortable. However when we reached the other side we ran into 4 to 5 foot waves, as we headed upriver. Fortunately we caught the tide correctly and then the wind and waves went down. So we were doing as much as 8 knots coming upriver and averaged 6.4 knots. Very good average speed.

I put the line out the line out and caught another Bluefish. Bigger than the other ones from 2 days before. So it was fish supper again. It is one of the best fish I’ve tasted, very close to Walleye.

We anchored out just a little north of a nuclear power plant.

It was interesting how the steam was reflected off the water.

Unfortunately we had trouble bring the anchor up yesterday and lost it. We came to Delaware City to get the other anchor spliced on to the anchor line. But it gave us a chance to get laundry done so we took advantage of it.

We are looking for somewhere to park Adventure while we go to Dale & Brandy’s the spend time with Beth. It looks like everywhere is going to expensive to leave Adventure while we visit. I’m not sure what we will do. They want $70 to $105 to out her in a slip per day. Wow we could stay in a nice hotel for that. Anchoring out is free but if we could get a reasonable price for a mooring ball that would work as well. We will continue to search for a location.

We try to leave this afternoon for the C&D canal and take it with the tide.

Bruce I saw this and thought of you. We’ve been exploring but have found no beautiful stones, just beautiful memories.

“Living The Dream”

Tammy & Steve

October 11, 2014

Barnegat Bay NJ to Cape May NJ.

We were very concerned about our travels down the New Jersey shore. It was the first open ocean cruising we have really done. The New Jersey shore is about 100 miles long from Sandy Hook NJ to Cape May New Jersey. Everyone had warned us to be careful when we made that transit.

The ICW (Inter coastal Waterway) is to shallow along New Jersey so it all must be done offshore. We also learned that most of the ports that we could use were very shallow and poorly marked. So we had to be cautious even to go into any bays along the coast. We went aground in Barnegat Bay but thanks to some help we got off and anchored out.

We got up early Friday morning in an attempt to get all the rest of the way to Cape May in one day. It was a long way about 65 NM and we were concerned about daylight running out. One of the difficult things about this late in the season is we have gone from 15 hours of daylight down to about 12. At 6 knots 3 hours of daylight translates into a lot less miles per day.

Those were our notes and thoughts about this transit.

The good news. The weather was perfect both days of our ocean exposure. The second day we traveled down the coast from Barnegat Bay to Cape May in perfect conditions. We motored averaging 6.1 knots with calm seas and light winds of 5 knots.

About half way to Cape May we passed Atlantic City.

Taj Mahol Donald Trumps Casino

Trump Tower

The rest were the Atlantic City towers.

I realized that we were passing the Monopoly Yellow Group. Along the shore in New Jersey is “Atlantic City”, Ventnor , and Marvin Gardens. Well an interesting fact anyway.

This also presented a couple of new experiences for us as well.

I caught my first fish from Adventure at least that was not just bait. They are Bluefish and are about 12 inches long. They have to be quick as I was trolling behind Adventure at 6 knots.

We had to catch 2 for supper last night. We only caught what we felt we could eat.

When it came time to filleting them we realized that we only had a small cutting board. Tam was thinking quick though. She went below and took the bottom out of her Aldi’s bag and it worked perfectly. So Emmett your real has now caught fish.

Our galley is a little small so Tam has to do everything. But what a feast.

We only have a 2 burner stove so it was a bit challenging.

So we had Bluefish, Asparagus, and Rice Pilaf. Wow fit for a King and Queen. You can be assured that the rod and reel will be coming out again.

While we were traveling I saw our first Dolphins surface about 150 feet from the boat. What a thrill. Tam didn’t catch site of them as they only surfaced once and very quickly went back down. That’s okay as there will be many more opportunities.

So quite a list of accomplishments for open Ocean water.

“Living The Dream”

Tammy & Steve

October 10, 2014

To Michael Swanson

Nothing has been more difficult in our lives than loosing our youngest son Michael one year ago today. We love him and miss him so much. I will not let this be a day of grief but a celebration of his life. To all the joy and love he brought to us.

Michael was a truly unique individual. He saw life as a humble honorable gift. He loved his friends and family and shared with them all he had. I believe Mike loved simplicity. He was not after riches of the pocket but riches of friendships. He loved Taekwondo, learning, teaching, and sharing with everyone.

I will keep this simple, we love and miss you Mike. I will not cry today but rather celebrate the life you shared with us.

To our children. We love all of you dearly and now is a time when we share Mike’s loss with you. It is the most difficult time for us to be away from you. We want to reach across this space and be with you.

How do you put these thoughts into words that describe our love. It isn’t possible for us.

We want to tell all of our children, their spouses, and grandchildren how much we love and miss them. Tom, Mellisa, Brandon, Kaitlyn, Dawn, Emmett, William, Rob, Paige, Quinn, Cooper, and Beth how much we love all of you. We love all of you and wish we were there with you now. We hope you are sharing our adventure with us. Please come along with us and share our dreams.

To our dear family & friends that supported us through the tragedy we thank you. You helped hold us up through that difficult time. Without our family and friends I do not know how we would have managed.

I’m sorry I am not a great writer please understand the meaning from our hearts.

Love to All,

Tammy & Steve

October 10, 2014

The weather cleared and we traveled 50 miles to Barnegat Bay NJ

We took this picture in Sandy Hook the night before the Eclipse. Unfortunately it was overcast the next morning so we didn’t get to see it.

We were up before the sun was today. We left Sandy hook at 6:20 AM. We sure miss those long days we had when we started in Duluth. We had a lot more day to travel in. We prefer to leave after sunrise and get before sunset. On arrivals we get a chance to see our surroundings and get familiar with it.

When we departed Sandy hook we saw these people out surf casting on the point of Sandy hook.

We took a picture of this boat because we want to install solar panels later and we saw they are supported by only 2 polls. They also had an external LP tank that would make it possible to install LP stove and grill. Which we are looking at the possibility of doing.

Sorry folks, I misidentified the oldest light house in the US. This is the one that was built in 1764 and shined it’s beam continuously except for a brief spell during the Revolutionary War as the oldest light tower in the United States.

This boat is the “Dragon Do”, it is Canadian and left Sandy hook at the same time we did on Thursday morning. They also stopped her in Barnegat Bay and are parked next to us in the Bay.

These 2 pictures of New Jersey shore in the good old US of A.

This one is a bit more difficult to see, but!! This is the Atlantic Ocean and ffffaaaarrrrr of in the distance (if you had very good eyesight you would be able to see Portugal due East of us. Sorry but it was hard to resist how far we have come and how much we have seen.

Steve was driving the boat and I was looking towards shore. We were about a 1 1/4 miles off shore. Then I saw it!! A whale’s tail!! I only saw it for a second and it did not resurface so I do not know what kind of whale it was. I was surprised to see a whale that close to shore.

This is a couple of pictures of the Barnegat Bay light house.

We had trouble with running aground again in the Barnegat Bay. Poorly marked anchorages created a problem. Fortunately another boat saw us go aground. He brought his dinghy over and actually tipped us enough to get us off the reef. Thank you Ed.

We hope to make Cape May tomorrow and get to the Delaware River. It was a beautiful sail today with pleasant seas and good cruising.

	S.p. Jones on The “Anne” an Oyst…
	Ron on Merry Christmas
	stswan2014 on Conclusion of Paul Baliker…
	Chip on Conclusion of Paul Baliker…
	stswan2014 on The “Anne” an Oyst…

Sailing an "Adventure"

From there to here with Tammy & Steve

Month: October 2014

A great visit with our daughter Beth in Radford, VA

“Living The Dream”

Tammy & Steve

A different view Flying with Dale & Brandy

“Living The Dream”

Tammy & Steve

Our visit with Dale & Brandy and Oktoberfest “A Special Post to our Dear Friends at Centenary United Methodist Church”

“Living The Dream”

Tammy & Steve

Staying on the Magothy River

“Living The Dream”

Tammy & Steve

We have a temporary home

“Living The Dream”

Tammy & Steve

We took some time and repaired our damaged Genoa

“Living The Dream”

Tammy & Steve

Cape May NJ

“Living The Dream”

Tammy & Steve

Barnegat Bay NJ to Cape May NJ.

“Living The Dream”

Tammy & Steve

To Michael Swanson

The weather cleared and we traveled 50 miles to Barnegat Bay NJ

“Living The Dream”

Steve & Tammy