Mischief Managed Afloat: Next Generation

I know it's been a while, but we've been busy! Let's get you caught up.... We pulled into Baltimore Harbor Thursday evening. Unfortunately, I woke up on Friday with a cold. Again. Or maybe it was the same cold. Either way, it was super annoying. Anyway, I decided to fight the cold the only way I know how: lots and lots of whining. And I bought a bunch of orange juice and some more sweaters so I could feel cozy while pumping myself full of vitamin C.  Either the orange juice or the shopping worked, because I was feeling considerably better when we met up with our college roommates and current Baltimorians (Baltimorers? Baltimorites?) Michelle and Justin for a delicious dinner, ice cream, and wander around Baltimore. We had a ton of fun catching up and trying not to trip on all of the old-timey cobblestone roads.  As we meandered around, we couldn't help noticing people zipping all over the place on electric scooters with varying degrees of coordination. Appar...

I'm going to apologize in advance that this post doesn't have many pictures. I blame Michael. We left New York City on a clear day and went down to Sandy Hook, New Jersey, which is a large bay with mainland New Jersey on one side and a peninsula state park on the other. Wednesday was our last warm day, and we were determined to use it, so we anchored in a little cove just inside the park. We dinghied ashore and spent a few hours walking along a misty beach, picking up sparkling seashells of deep blues and spirited orange, and dodging fishing lines of old men who have nothing better to do on a Wednesday afternoon than sit on the beach and fish. (In case you couldn't tell, I'm making up for my lack of pictures with unnecessarily flowery language.) We hiked inland as well, exploring little copses of trees dotted with real cacti and empty beer cans, checking out tiny crabs in patches of tall grass, and avoiding park rangers when we discovered the sign at the end of the ...

We made it to New York City! I'm not sure what buildings these are or what significance they have other than they were near us.... There's a great place for sailboats off of 79th street called 79th St Boat Basin. For only $30 a night, you can grab a mooring and then dinghy your way to shore and explore the city. This gave us an excellent opportunity to learn how to tie up to a mooring ball.  A mooring ball looks like a big floating beach ball that's securely attached to something at the bottom of the river. (I like to imagine a mermaid sitting on the bottom of the river holding the mooring ball like a giant balloon.)  As we approached the ball, it was my job to lean over with the boat hook and try and grab the web of ropes on top of the ball, then tie those lines to our boat so we don't float away. It took a couple tries, and my face got a little closer to the Hudson River than I would have liked, but eventually, we got it! The yellow thing i...