Still in Baltimore....

This was taken in front of the USS Constellation, the last sailing vessel commissioned by the navy and it served as an anti-slaving ship during the Civil War.

We're still at the Inner Harbour Marina in Baltimore due to concerns about the weather forecast. Tropical Storm Nicole is throwing the entire east coast into a bit of disarray. The harbour here has flooded up to several restaurants and it just keeps on raining. It's also calling for increasing winds into tomorrow morning then tapering off. That plus a tornado warning has us chickening out and staying at a marina instead of anchoring. We're up about four feet at our (floating) dock. The city docks across the tiny anchorage are underwater tonight. If it stops raining so hard we'll take photos.

We've got the shamwows working again on this stubborn mast leak. Scott took a tube of silicone all around the mast again yesterday in advance of the storm and that has slowed the leaks but a few still remain. We're stuffing shamwows around the mast to catch a few drips. Aidan's port hole has also suddenly started to leak a wee bit - it was like a hose was trained on the window for about two hours tonight so I guess that's not much of a surprise.

Scott is working through a list of items to fix and we're starting to draw up a shopping list for Annapolis. Top of that list is a new refrigerator unit. The attempt to fix it in Georgetown hasn't held. Last night Scott and I went for a short walk outside the marina by a very high end condo complex and we rounded a dumpster by the parking garage. Scott's eyes lit up. There was pink insulation inside!!!! We very subtley (OK, hard to do on a major highway) positioned ourselves next to the dumpster and Scott dove in picking up fabulous pieces of insulation to put around the fridge. We happened to have our new dolly with us as we had intended to get groceries last night but decided we were too tired. We tied the big pink on to the dolly and nearly skipped back to the boat. The kids of course were horrified but to us, it was like Santa had dropped by. With the new refrigerator unit plus the insulation, we can keep our food nice and cold.

We have decided to anchor tomorrow night if the weather holds as it is supposed to and leave Baltimore Saturday morning.

We have loved this city - there is so much to see and do.

We met up with the Tellups at the wonderful Walters Art Museum in an area of historic Baltimore. (thewalters.org)

The museum was impressive - particularly the ancient Greek and Roman pieces of art and the collection of 19th century statuary and fine art. Of course, Aidan and Mike Tellup enjoyed the armour the most. What set this museum apart was the placement of the various collections in lovely rooms which were in themselves an architectural study (check out Elizabeth's blog for photos).

Today we caught up on schoolwork, visited the pool and gym at the hotel and then Scott and I walked to a nearby Whole Foods to pick up some groceries for dinner and other provisions.

The kids and I will definitely head out to the science centre next door to us here tomorrow for a field trip - we'll likely focus on the life cycle of the Chesapeake Bay blue crab for a biodiversity study for Elizabeth and a data management unit for Aidan for their science curriculums.

Then it will be off to an anchorage and then likely to the Magothy River for a couple of nights of anchoring and then to Annapolis, a sailor's mecca.

I'm hoping to wrap up one freelance piece for The Hamilton Spectator and start in on another. I've also got some books to review and some research I'm trying to do into travelling. I'm interested in discovering why some people feel compelled to travel for long periods, not vacation.

I just finished Gavin Young's Slow Boats to China, a book recommended to me by my colleague Rob Howard at the Spec. It's out of print now and I picked it up for $1 on Amazon. Young, a British journalist, chronicles his experiences trying to travel from Europe to Canton in the twilight days of passenger vessel travel. It is funny and a bit poignant. He does get there, but there are many slow boats and many trials along the way.

Something like this journey.

Next is Blue Highways.

I also plan to start taking notes of our trip in a non-public pen and ink journal - amazing how much simpler these things are then worrying about Internet connections, wireless sticks and keyboards.