I am so just not a techie person and have tried for three days to send this blog. One more time and if it doesn't go through, I'll find another blog site! We are home as of midnight last evening................happy to be here and have a bed that is the size of our cabin on our sailing ship, with bunk over.
It's interesting how fast one becomes new best friends with 30 people that you knew nothing of, one week ago. The first day I went up on deck dressed to go to the shower and the last day went up in my robe! We had two showers and they were both topside.
The food was amazing and did I mention we had home made bread every day...yum!
We did win the schooner race...............remember we were the only three masted ship in our class and winning was a given!............got a trophy etc.! The race ended in Camden Maine with lots of festivities and a steel drum band.
One slight mishap, no injuries, when one ship thought he could sail between two others in the final leg and hit both of them.......exciting times. Every one finished and of course blamed the other ship.
Weather was good, either hot or cold. We were prepared. Much of it depended on which side of the sail you were on!
Working was not mandatory........you could if you wanted. John raised sails a few times as well as furled sails at the end of the day.
And now to pictures..................of the ghost ship I mentioned. These pictures were worth missing the fireworks the night before. One or two of race day and one or two of lighthouses.
I think all of the light houses are in Maine. The state of Maine claims 3,500 miles of shore line and NOAA claims they only have 228.
Thanks for checking in on us and we'll hope to continue doing this in September when we are on the road once more.

Yea!!.....I'm finally able to get online and blog. I bought really spiffy equipment before we left with hopes of being able to post on a fairly regular basis.........but.........we've been in the middle of nowhere most of the time!!! Seagulls, lobsters, other tall ships and fabulous scenery.
And I promise not to criticize John about his lack of a direction gene, at least not too much, because we were in New Hampshire not Vermont!!!!

We have spent the last four days sailing in Penobscot Bay dropping anchor in various ports. Last night we were in Castine and were fogged in. No fireworks as we wouldn't have been able to see them. Today we are back in Rockland preparing for the The Great American Schooner Race. We are guaranteed winners as there are no other three masted schooners racing........winning our division is a slam dunk.

The name of our sailing vessel is The Victory Chimes and is 100 years old. It is the ship used on the Maine quarter. There are thirty passengers and we carry a crew of 10. All in all it's been a great trip [not finished yet] but the accommodations are really small. About the size of my closet on Old Creek minus a few feet! I've got the top bunk and have yet to be organized with our stuff. Each move is planned in advance. Showers are on deck, enclosed of course. There is nothing like a shower at 7:00 AM when the temp is probably about 50. The food is outstanding to include home made bread at every meal. Lobster being one of the most often served.
Neither John or I have been to Maine and we find it to be exactly as expected. Almost untouched by anyone. I think sailing has been a great way to see this beautiful state.
There is a professional photographer on board who has had mini workshops in the evening. I've learned quite a bit including I want/need a new camera!!

As you can see I got a cat fix yesterday. It was at the home of "Woodboat" magazine and woodboat school. Race pictures tomorrow as well as images from this AM pre shower when the boats all looked like ghost ships in the fog.

Good Morning from Vermont!!
We're on the road again, this time on a schooner cruise off the coast of Maine. We've had a 2 day stop with our soon to be Florida neighbors, the Stivilas. Soon we will leave here for the 3 hour trip to Rockland Maine where will meet up with other friends Sandy and Tom. Boarding is at 6:00PM this evening.

Yesterday took us to the top of Mt Washington VT and the Mt. Washington observatory, which touts itself as "The home of the worlds worst weather". Coldest ever
 -47 and fastest wind speeds of 231MPH. The winds we experienced were around 60 MPH and it was a bit nippy at 40 degrees.

Josey, Ken and John made it to the summit but I wasn't comfortable with my footing so stayed back to take pictures of the fools almost being blown off the rocks! Not for the faint of heart.
The country side is beautiful, very Ohioish, except, of course, the mountains.
There is a small cog railway available but we chose the not wide enough road to the top. This trip must be done in 1st gear and even at that we had to stop because the breaks started to smell and needed to cool

Lobster roll for dinner last evening..............life is good!