The second lock on our route opened at 8 :30 AM today. We followed two boats down the canal, which made it nice for us in that we didn’t have to worry about debris in the water because their wakes pushed it aside as they went through the water ahead of us. SWEET. We also followed their lead as we went into the lock. Much easier than the first time. Life’s experiences are the best teacher; and boating is just like everything else in life, in that the more you do something, the easier it becomes.
We had five miles of the Canal to navigate before reaching the Pasquotank River. This was a fun river to navigate, with lots of bends and turns. The GPS, as well as the boat in front of us, made it a very easy trip. It wasn’t until we reached the Pasquotank River, that I really felt like I was in a swamp. At the edges, green flotsam could be seen, and to me that’s what made it look like a swamp.
Right before entering Elizabeth City, we had to call the bridge-tender on the VHS radio to let him know of our need to go through the bascule bridge; and, he responded immediately with the opening. Up to this point in the day’s journey, the wind was calm. As we entered the harbor at Elizabeth City, and prepared to get a slip at the Mariner’s Wharf, the wind picked up because of the vast openness of the river and the direction of the wind. Fortunately, the town pays to have a man at the wharf to help people get into the slips. I’m not even going to discuss the difficulty we had, but we finally secured the boat, with much relief to us and the wharf-tender. It’s an ADVENTURE! The wind became really fierce accompanied by a torrential downpour. The good news is we were already secure in our slip by the time it hit. Goes back to Gary’s belief “God protects children and idiots.”
Since it was such a yucky time to be on the boat, we attired ourselves in rain gear and toured the historical waterfront part of town. This town was first visited by the English in 1585 and settled in 1793. It’s original name was Reding and later renamed Elizabeth Town, and then it‘s current name of Elizabeth City. “Third time is a charm.” I guess.
The largest Coast Guard command center in our nation is in this city; however, we did not see it. We visited the Museum of the Albemarle, which is not far from the wharf. It’s hard to explain how nicely done the exhibits in this museum are. The exhibits take the visitors on a journey from the days of the Native American Indians to present day. There also was a wonderful exhibit of waterfowl decoys. If you’ve ever been in our home, you know of our interest in decoys. Needless to say, we enjoyed this part of the museum tremendously. They had a duck shoot game set up in this part of the museum, and I have to admit, for the first time in my life I picked up a gun and tried shooting the inanimate flying ducks. I didn’t do well, so most of the inanimate little duckies lived. Most of Gary’s died.
We went to the Colonial Restaurant and had a southern home cooked dinner. Then we went to the Carolina Theatre & Grill, which was much like the Commodore Theatre in Portsmouth. The movie“Old Dogs” with Robin Williams and John Travolta gets thumbs up from the Glenns.
