DC at Night (before the shutdown)

This is Abe Lincoln, eyes open even at night. He’s the father of the Republican party. When most of the evening visitors were gone, he leaned over and whispered in my ear “WTF are these guys doing – they have a country to run!”. Not much I could say back.
The Washington Monument with the Capitol dome sneaking out from behind. Obviously completely embarrassed about what is going on within its bowels.

The photos above are from the Korean War monument taken at night. Its a moving and somewhat eerie tribute to the Koreans and Americans who perished in the war. It doesn’t give you any of the John Wayne glory, but focuses on the individuals who sacrificed for for their governments plans.

We got lost on our way back from the Mall. Luckily we ran into this crew from California who had maps in hand and were really quick to tell us where to go. (Actually, Carrie in the middle, isn’t from CA anymore. She’s a furloughed gov work in Oregon)

After DC we headed south. Did a quick 1 hour haul in the slings in Deltaville so I could repack the leaking stuffing box on the boat. Then we headed down to Hampton, Virginia. This is at the bottom of the Chesapeake, near Norfolk and in front of the Hampton Roads naval yards. We’ll be here working on the boat till early November. Additional solar panels, new storage in the man-cave, re-stitching the bimini and dodge canvas………Then we’ll take off with a bunch of other boats in the Salty Dawg Rally. This goes from Hampton to Virgin Gorda in the British Virgin Islands.
Paul

You Voted for Them…

“Don’t blame us, You voted for them.”

The Capitol Steps

After a 3 day motor up the Potomac River we anchored in front of the Capital Yacht Club in DC. In the morning we had an appointment in the Hart Senate office building, courtesy of our friends on Kokomo. They setup a Capitol tour through their extensive DC connections with Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski’s office. ALL VIP, all day!!

(above is good old Abe just getting ready to roll his eyes after the last vote in the house)

  For me, this was best part of the tour. We got to ride in the senate underground railway from the Hart Building to the Capital.

We had to rush right by the This elevator is reserved for SENATORS ONLY at all times sign. We were VIP, but not that VIP.

We got to hang just outside the House Gallery while the boys and girls inside were voting on funding the government for fiscal 2014 and de-funding ObamaCare. It’s an embarrassment to see these guys ignore their responsibility to govern the country while focusing solely on their petty party needs. As far as I can tell the secret Republican strategy that they are pushing is to guarantee that Obama does not get voted into a third term as President. Beyond that there doesn’t seem to be any substance.

Our Senate and House Gallery passes

Here’s the crew in the Capitol lobby – photo courtesy of our Senator Murkowski’s aide, Nick, who took us on the tour. He had only been with the Senator’s office for a month, but did a great job.

The Capitol rotunda

Part of the frieze in the rotunda

This is a close up of the palms in the the frieze in the picture above. If you look close you can see where the final painter decided to paint his own image sneaking out from behind the palm.

Or maybe this this is where he snuck his image in at the bottom of the tree. Either way, it makes a good story.

The old House of Representatives meeting room.

The original Supreme Court chambers

And where the Justices hung their coats

Here I am trying to get a refill of my mug from the Sam Adams beer distributor.

We stopped into Senator Murkowski’s conference room. Here’s the 60+lbs salmon, Walter, that she caught up in Kenai in Alaska. You can see her struggling to hold it in the photo below Walter.

The Senator (center, in orange) came out and spent some time with us. That’s Denny’s sister-in-law to the Senators left. She works in the office and setup the tour for us.
Paul

Good Passage to Cape Henlopen

We had a fast passage running down the Atlantic on the front edge of the cold front. It took us 31 hours to cover 226 miles through the water. The winds got a little feisty about 45 miles off the entrance to New York  harbor – solid 25 kts gusting to 30kts. A reef in the main sail and the smaller headsail made for a smooth ride. In the morning things calmed a bit and we ended up sailing all the way to Cape Henlopen, the anchorage and harbor of refuge at the south side of the entrance to the Delaware Bay. We anchored at 11pm, got some deserved sleep and were on the road again by 7am to catch the tide heading up the Delaware Bay toward the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal.
The photo above is sunrise on the C & D Canal.

A heron looking for an early breakfast on the C & D

We’re off for a quick trip to Annapolis and then the plan is to head up the Potomac River to Washington DC to meet up with the Southern California March for Freedom, aka ours friends the Matusmotos and Philips.

Paul