Monday, September 20, 2010

Another Murray visit in Rhode Island

Click here to see our progress map.  Our current location is at the top of the list.  The pink stick pin indicates that we have turned around and are now heading south.

Sorry that it has been a while since we’ve blogged…busy I guess!  We left Jamestown, RI on Tuesday morning, 9/14,  and made our way to an anchorage on the south shore of Long Island Sound.  It was pretty windy so we found a great little place to anchor that kept us in the lee of the wind. 

The next morning we left there to try to make it to the west end of Long Island Sound to stage for going through Hell Gate into New York City.  As soon as we turned into the sound, we discovered that the weather guys got it wrong that day.  We slogged through 3-4  foot short period waves and heavy winds for about 3 1/2 hours and decided we would bail out.  We found a great marina on the Connecticut coast in the small town of Clinton. They even had what we consider a reasonable 5 star restaurant on the premises!   We did get some of the storm that NY got but certainly not as bad.  The winds were about 30 knots for only 15 minutes and it rained like crazy but we were tucked onto the face dock and Rickshaw did just fine.

We want to go back a few days to update our time in Jamestown, RI.  You may remember that this is where Lynnie’s family, on her dad’s side, resides.  We arrived in Jamestown last Thursday, 9/9.  We booked down the Massachusetts coast staying in Gloucester and Plymouth for one night each.  We went ashore to have dinner in both places but didn’t really see much of either town.  I think we are getting burned out on touring towns!  We got through the Cape Cod Canal with no problems and made our way to RI.

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                                                                            Gloucester Harbor

DSC05177a                                   Another great Thai restaurant….and definitely purple!

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We met this ship coming out of Gloucester harbor in the morning.  They were taking the passengers off of the ship for a tour.  Gloucester is too shallow for such a big ship. 

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               Plymouth Lighthouse                                   A cool mural on the Cape Cod Canal

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             This is the Kennedy training ship which is used by the MA Maritime Academy  

The weekend with Lynnie’s relatives was lots of fun.  More visiting and eating lobsters.  We are happy to report that Aunt Betty is still hanging in there.  She is so interesting and funny.  Her 104th birthday is the end of October.  We will all be there to help her celebrate.

On a personal note, Lynnie finally got a hair cut and color and had the best pedicure ever….life is good!

After our lobster dinner on Saturday night we all met on Rickshaw for a cruise up Narragansett Bay to Bristol, RI (yes, Lynn, we finally got there!) for lunch on Sunday.  It was so fun.  On our way back we went by the north side of Conanicut Island (where Jamestown is) and along the west of the island, around the south side and back to our mooring ball in Jamestown.  We passed by ‘our reunion’ house on the west side.  The Murray’s have had a reunion there every 3 years for the last 20 years or so.  It is also the house that was featured in the Steve Carell movie called Dan in Real Life.  Pretty cool.  As most of us had never seen the island, where we grew up, from the water it was quite a treat!

Many of the following pictures may only be of interest to the Murray family following our blog but they are fun to see.  Thanks to brother Tom, a photo journalist, for sharing his pictures.

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This is Aunt Betty’s basement (the dungeon)…cleaned out thanks to Dad and cousin Doug.  You may not understand what that means…but the family has been living here for 80+ years and now the basement has been cleaned out????  YEAH, that is what it means.

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   The trip to Bristol.  Nephew Sean, brother Tom, his wife Carolyn, cousin Jane and her husband Doug

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   Tom at the helm, Lynnie and Carolyn                               Doug, Jane, Sean and Tom

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                Some shots of Bristol                                            The gang after a wonderful meal DSC05245 

DSC05246                    Getting ice cream cones…yum                                  A very, very old building

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         Another cool old building (castle)                             The Murray reunion house

  chilly day at the office

                       The stress, the stress!                                            Another day at the office

it's moring in america                                                 Sean and Lynnie picking up the mooring ball

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              Beavertail Light House               DSC05275 View of Rickshaw, on Narragansett Bay,  from Aunt Blanche’s condo.  You can also see the Newport Bridge in the background

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Blanche took us all out to dinner at the Black Pearl in Newport.  What a great evening.  There are Tom, Carolyn, Blanche, Lynnie and Rick.  Thanks, Blanche for a wonderful time.

Today is Sunday evening, 9/19, and we are finally on the NJ side of the Hudson looking at Manhattan.  We were able to leave CT yesterday morning and have had 2 great days of cruising with great weather.  We have tickets for the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island tomorrow. 

Just a funny…we heard on the VHF radio today someone calling to get the number of animal control.  The guy said ‘We have a raccoon on the boat’!!!  We didn’t hear any more details as the phone number was given to him but what an interesting time that must have been.  A bandit on the boat.  Bandits probably don’t enjoy cruising that much and the boat owner probably doesn’t enjoy raccoons that much, especially on his boat.  I hope it worked out OK.  Life is always so interesting!