Red Pearl

While we were settled in Norfolk, we decided to take a day trip to Jefferson’s Monticello. Monticello centers around Thomas Jefferson’s architecturally stunning plantation home, where a guided tour shows his personal library, global artifacts, and iconic inventions. Beyond the main house, we strolled through the restored vegetable gardens and flower plateaus, all while taking in sweeping views of the Virginia countryside.

On our drive back to Norfolk we took the scenic route through the Shenandoah Mountains. It was overcast, but still beautiful.

The following weekend our dear friends Chris and Amy came and stayed with us. Four people on Red Pearl is cozy! But we did just fine. We had a great time with our friends, a highlight being the Battleship USS Wisconsin. This is a retired ship that served in WWII, the Korean War and the Gulf War. We were delighted when one of the docents (a retired Navy man!) took an interest in us and took us around on a private tour of the ship.

One of the big guns was named Larry!!!

We did go for a day cruise out on the bay near Norfolk. We had the excitement of seeing a submarine being transported across the bay!

After their visit we made a quick trip back home to Kansas, and last weekend headed north to Annapolis. We had perfect waves and weather on the Chesapeake Bay. We will be here for a couple more weeks and then start heading north again. We hope to be in NYC by September 1st and then we plan to pull the boat out of the water for winter storage near Syracuse and head back to Kansas for the winter by September 14th.