Tranquilo II on the Loop: Memorial Day Weekend in Maryland

Last week we spent some time in little Deltaville, Virginia. The marina had a courtesy car and bikes, so we got to see it all!

The hardware store, a shop owner called it "Mecca".

Not many boats at the marina (Doziers Regatta Marina) at first, but there is a boating club from Yorktown on the way here for the weekend, and were expecting to be full. Couldn't have been a nicer marina.

Saturday, May 28, 2016, we left Deltaville and headed back into the Chesapeake Bay. The predictions were for one foot waves, but they were more like two feet. It takes a lot of energy for Robbie to drive the boat over rough water, we were both exhausted when we arrived in Solomons, Maryland.

Saturday afternoon, one of my former students, Crystina Liddington, drove three hours to see us! I was her teacher when she was in 6th grade, then I moved on the the high school, so I got to be her teacher again when she was a freshman and sophomore. She was so special to me, it is amazing to see her as a grown up. She is a wife, a mother, and has a Bachelors and a Masters Degree in education. She took classes I wouldn't have attempted! Very proud of this young lady! So sweet to see her!

Robbie dropped his prescription glasses off the back of the swim platform, so we hired a diver to find them, and he did!

Success!

Monday, Memorial Day, May 30, 2016, we went to Calvert Cliffs State Park to look for shark's teeth and fossils. We found some fossils, and we met two girls who found a shark's tooth. But that's not all we found.

One of the girls spotted a snapping turtle stuck in a tree root, right beside the area where we were standing. I never would have seen him. She called the park rangers, and one came in a four wheeler, but the ranger said they were not going to intervene. The turtle was injured, the tide was coming in, and he was going to drown. So, after the ranger left, Robbie and the two girls cut branches, pushed, pulled, risked being snapped at, and got him free. Then Robbie had to lift him off the beach and onto the ground above because there were cliffs he would not have been able to climb. Now he has a chance. We wish him the best and hope he can recover. We are disappointed that the park chose not to help him, he needed to be taken to a wildlife sanctuary.

He is caught in that tangle of roots.

See his little face?

This was the only safe side for fingers.

Free at last.

We walked two miles back to the front of the park, and had a picnic on the way. It was raining, very lightly, but we brought our rain gear.

The trails had this on one side, woods on the other.

Someone made a chair!

After our park adventure, we took an Uber cab to Solomon's Island, where we had some lattes and Key Lime Pie, and then I found the art work I have been searching for in every town we have visited, for four months! The kids gave us a gift card for Christmas, and I have been saving it just for this. These photos were taken by a local artist named Terry Quinn, who owns Solomons Gallery. He made this special for me, because I needed vertical, and I wanted these particular photos. He has many others, they are all wonderful. These are blue crab.