Cheryl's Notes:

We spent a rainy, lazy weekend in St. Leonard's Creek. The rain finally stopped Monday just before noon. We made a short trip back to Solomons. We needed to renew our Boat US towing coverage and mail some things at the post office. (Rebate on John's phone.) The evening at anchor was much more pleasant than our last visit.

We crossed the bay on Tuesday to reach the eastern shore. Our friends on Liberty wanted to travel with us to St. Michael. We decided to go in the much less crowded "back door" anchorages. St. Michael is located on the Miles River, the entrance of which is considerably north of here. We sailed up the Choptank River, veered off into Broad Creek and then crept up San Domingo Creek. The water getting into here is a little skinny at low water, just like the Bahamas. I got a little too close to a couple of channel markers, and the depth dropped to seven feet. We anchored in 8 feet, but at low water. Of course, that still gives an extra three and a half feet before we are on the bottom. This is the shallowest water we have been in since the trip started.

Yesterday was a laundry and grocery day. We hauled everything back to the boat, had some lunch and then went back to explore the town. We managed to go in most of the shops, but some are only open Thursday through Sunday. I suppose that this is also a sign of the times. They are only open when there is enough business to warrant paying staff. Luckily, we found a great store with ice cream. They had mango flavored that was the best I have ever had. Next, we had a great happy hour and met some of the locals. One couple lives three doors down from both Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld. They said that their new neighbors caused quite the commotion when they first moved in. The local emergency response teams would stage trial runs in case Cheney had another heart attack.


John's Notes:

St. Michael's! It's like Bayfield on steroids. I kept hearing how great the Eastern Shore is and my expectations were very high. About the only thing that is high are the prices of everything. The first night we were here we missed happy hour by three minutes at one of the local spots. Not to worry, there was another place across the street whose happy hour didn't end until 19:00. The four of us had 2 drinks each, mine was beer even. At the conclusion of our brief stay the four of us were light $50.00 from when we entered. I can't imagine what the price would be have been if it wasn't HAPPY HOUR! They did have mini pizzas for appetizers. Last night Cheryl and I went to the place we were headed the night before, had two huge burgers, potato skins, I had 3 beers, Cheryl 2 drinks. Total bill with tax $23.00. I think we will go back tonight. It's almost like the Bayfield Inn.

If some of the notables from Bayfield lived here they would just be very ordinary citizens. This place is the summer retreat of some very big hitters from D.C. and the entire east coast. Like I said, I'm not sure what I expected from the Eastern Shore but I'm not all that impressed. The anchorages are absolutely fantastic. I just feel like I am out of my element here. Like Bayfield, these are tourist towns. I just spent so much time in Bayfield that I didn't feel like a tourist every time I went downtown. Maybe the time is near to feel "comfortable" again.