Ships Ahoy! Part 2

In my last post I mentioned that I took two trips on the water. Here is my account of my 2nd trip – sailing on my co-worker’s boat from near Gibson Island, Maryland out onto the Chesapeake Bay.

It was a long awaited trip from over two years ago. The group of us works closely together in our division to see that things run smoothly, to offer assistance to each other, to help shape our departments and grow them, to help each other solve problems and face challenges great and small. We arrived at the Potapskut Sailing Association (PSA) at 1:30pm where Marcea &Ken’s boat Sophie is moored. PSA has an interesting past that goes back to 1938.

The interesting history of the PSA from their website:
“Five Chesapeake sailors sat on a porch drinking in the calm and color of the fading day and sipping their favorite elixir of Rye and Water. Their sailboats swung listlessly on moorings in Wall Cove.

It makes little difference now which one of the five first voiced the suggestion, for it had been in the mind of each for some time...the idea of a True Sailing Association, for skippers only, was spontaneously accepted. They walked to their cars in the deepening twilight with the mutual agreement that each would discuss the formation of a "Sailing Association" with the owners of the other sailboats then moored in Wall Cove, and with a call to all those interested in a meeting as soon as possible.

On October 10, 1938, thirteen men signed the Articles of Association. Our Sailing Association was born...The name of the new Association proceeded along the usual course, with many suggestions, until we became aware that the root or derivation of the name of the river that splashed against the pile of rocks at the mouth of Rock Creek, came from an Indian word "Potapskut", meaning "at the jutting out of the white rocks".

We walked our way down the dock to the lovely sailboat. I made sure to have my seasickness patch on and an additional anti-motion sickness pill swallowed before our drive down past Baltimore towards the water. The sky was so momentously blue. It was 86 degrees – which is a minor miracle in Maryland in August – with a light wind. It just couldn’t get any better a day in August for such an adventure.

We boarded the boat and off we went sailing away to the Chesapeake Bay. The water had some minor movement, but it was more than easy to deal with. I never got sea sick once on that boat. There is a special seat at the very front (bow)of the boat sitting almost all the way over the water. It was really nice to sit there. A Titanic “king of the world” spot. Saw all of the action so to speak. It was very relaxing. We took turns riding on the seat at the bow. Then when we picked up some wind in those sails the fun really started.

When the boat leans to one side it is called listing. This occurs often if you have some wind in your sails. I set myself down on the listing side and put my legs over the edge of the boat. That’s when I started getting a little wet. It was very refreshing. Soon my co-workers were joining me. The captain of our boat decided to play a little trick on one of my co-workers. He waited until this co-worker got down and put his feet over the edge to let the boat list over even more – the implication that this had caused the boat to list more by adding his weight to that side. We laughed and laughed as the water grabbed our feet them let go in splashing waves.

I will recall it always – the water sparkling like diamonds, the white sails flying against a deep blue sky, the wind taking the edge off of the heat from the bright sun, and the cooling waves splashing me while sitting with good people who aren’t afraid to laugh like children in delight. It was a day of good fortune.

I can only be grateful for a generous co-worker and her family to share something so wonderful with us. Thanks Marcea & Ken

Ships Ahoy! Part 1

In the last two weeks I have had the opportunity to go on two fun trips. The first trip was a chartered fishing trip from Tilghman Island, Maryland on the Chesapeake Bay. The second a sailing trip on a co-workers sail boat from near Gibson Island, Maryland on the Chesapeake Bay. The two trips could not have been more different if someone had planned it that way!

Our first trip started on Friday evening at Harrison’s Chesapeake House. It is an “inn” for fishermen awaiting their early morning push offs at the dock for their chartered fishing boat trips. Apparently fishermen do not require the most lavish overnight accommodations. However, this fisherwoman does and it was a challenge. I knew that the “inn” had rough accommodations, and we prepared ourselves for this, but our last trip was in October when the air conditioning was not required.

My room was hotter than the seventh level of hell. I thought that by turning the air conditioning on at the start of dinner time – 6p- on at full blast that by the time we were done eating, laughing, talking, drinking, and doing karaoke-around11p - we would have nice cool rooms. Apparently five hours was not nearly enough time to cool down my room. It was now only as hot as the third level of hell. Sweat was just pouring off of me. I tried a variation of locations on the bed in an attempt to get the most air conditioning near my skin as was possible. It was just never enough. I was concerned about possibly becoming sea sick (although I had no problems the last time) so I got a medicine patch for behind my ear but I was so sweaty it wouldn’t stick. I had to use band-aids to keep it in place. I had no original intention to shower becausethe water smells like rotten eggs, but sweating all night did not give me a choice. My shower gel did counter act the rotten egg smell, so that was good. I brushed my teeth with bottled water. I couldn’t stand the thought of that taste in my mouth.

On a real positive note - one really great thing about Harrisons is their food – their buffets. Friday evening we had a seafood buffet with snow crab, shrimp, calamari,oysters, and it included other food items like macaroni & cheese,vegetables, and prime rib. Always delicious! Their horseradish was divine on the prime rib. I also got anon-alcoholic pina colada and man was that good!! I loved it. Dessert was a tropical bread pudding. It sounds bizarre but it was additively delicious.

We woke up at 5:30 am. Anyone who really knows me understands how challenging this is for me. I cannot truly function that earl yin the morning at all. Plus add in the sweating and lack of sleep it was a miracle that I dragged myself to the restaurant for a light breakfast; just in case I was to get nauseated and (fill in the blanks)… We boarded the biggest boat at the dock. Captain Buddy is a well-known local personality and he was taking us out personally. His boat is 60 feet long and 20 feet wide. We boarded around 6:30a. Immediately we could see that this trip was going to be a bit different from the last one. On the boat was a barrel of fish. Never thought I’d see a barrel of fish- ever, anywhere. I kept thinking of the saying, “Like shooting fish in a barrel.” These were real live swimming around in the water fish. They were going to be bait. Oh man. Apparently Rock fish in August in Maryland are downing spot fish. They are on the hunt for them. So, that it what we had to use for bait. Sigh. As we made our way to our first fishing location all was well with me and any possible sea sickness. It didn’t last long. My thanks to God above and all other heavenly bodies that I had that medicine patch on, other wise I would have been chucking my guts all day long.

We got to our first fishing location. They baited our rods, we cast our lines, and the second I looked down into the churning water, my stomach almost fully rebelled. I handed off my rod immediately and sat down on one of the outside couches. I basically stayed there, unless I was braving moving around for a shot on my camera. The Chesapeake Bay was so choppy there were white capped waves – all of the men handling our trip agreed that it is rare for a day with the water so dramatic. The waves were tossing our big boat to and fro. There were much smaller boats out there and I wondered how they didn’t capsize.

We were out from 6:30a to 12:30p. In six hours combined our boat of eight people caught 17 fish. A great haul! There were other unfortunate boats with upwards of 15 people on them who only caught 4 fish. I reeled in one fish between my bouts of nausea. A couple of times I was offered a snack to help settle my stomach. I declined the food with the philosophy that I would rather be empty than emptying.

U2 360 Tour North American Tour II Great - Another Lesson Learned

On November 17, 2009 I went on Ticketmaster.com and purchased my 4 allotted presale tickets due me as a paid member of U2.com. At the time, the closest U2 was going to come to Taneytown was Philadelphia, PA - a 2.5 hour drive. The planned wonderful night was July 12, 2010. I immediately purchased a night at a hotel and alerted my best friend Jamie that we were going to have another chance to enjoy the U2 360 Tour - our first time was September 30, 2009 down in Charlottesville, VA.

We got the second best seats in the stadium. U2 sells many levels of tickets. The three levels of tickets remotely in my realm of affording are Premium at about $200, Good at about $100 and nose bleed or general admission (standing on the field) at about $60. Jamie and I had the good tickets for our 2009 concert. We were surprised and saddened by the concert attendees in our section who didn't seem to enjoy the concert the way we were. We were thinking that we were in the "old people" section. We were the only people yelling, singing, jumping up and down, dancing, and generally losing ourselves in U2 and throwing ourselves into the music with abandon. At one point we saw the crowd in front of the stage just enthralled by U2 and enjoying them the way we were off in the stand in our seats. We promised that we would never miss the opportunity to be in that crowd should another opportunity present itself.

So, the opportunity presents itself and I buy 4 general admission tickets and wait for the 8 months to go by to my next chance to enjoy U2. Less than a month before the concert Bono got hurt pretty bad preparing for the Salt Lake City concert. The news was sad, Bono had severe pain with partial paralysis from a severe compression of the sciatic nerve caused by a serious tear in a ligament and a herniated disk. He had to have emergency surgery in Germany. The entire North American tour was postponed to 2011.

The postponed date was July 14, 2011. I immediately purchased new hotel reservations and dealt with the disappointment. The friends coming from out of town to enjoy the concert still came for their 2010 visit as many of our other tickets and reservations were not refundable like the hotel, the tickets to see an exhibit on Cleopatra, tour bus tickets etc...

I have been counting down the days since January 1, 2011 for the concert. I actually had a hard time finding people to attend the concert with me. Luckily some co-workers were happy to attend with me about 3 months before the concert.

We drove up to Philadelphia and enjoyed an authentic cheese steak sandwich at Jim's (an hour wait), then checked into the new hotel chain called Aloft. Very modern decor and we loved it. We relaxed for about two hours before heading off to the concert at 4:45 PM. I was seriously excited. After waiting in the long line we got into the stadium and were like 5 people/rows from the front of the outer stage. This is where the happiness of my experience fell apart.

I thought I was young enough for this situation. I thought I was a U2 super fan. I was TOTALLY WRONG. Standing from 5 PM to 12 Midnight was very painful. Being pinned in that throng of people was challenging in a feeling crushed, claustrophobic kinda of way. People were drinking beer like it was the last night that beer was available on Earth. People were smoking both legal things and illegal things (this was not a Grateful Dead Concert). People were arguing, pushing and eking their way into fights right in front of me. One guy was talking to hear himself talk about how many of the U2 360 tour concerts he's seen and it sounded kinda impossible unless he was wealthy and this was his whole life. The group to my right kept having friends come and join them as they showed up much later than the rest of us. I survived being there through the opening act - Interpol - who we could not understand and every song sounded the same. The count down to U2 started and I couldn't see the stage because the guy in front of me was over six feet tall and the guy in front of him was over six foot four.

I lost it. I turned around and started pushing my way out of there. I almost knocked one person down. I was completely freaked out and the more people I had to push my way through the more panicked I got. It was bad. I kept thinking about something going wrong and having no way to escape. I also thought about what if I have to go to bathroom?!!!? When U2 came on stage this crowd of people was going to press on each other and go crazy. I am very glad we got out of there. From the back of the crowd I could see better, dance, sing, yell, clap and just generally have room to breathe. So, I really belong in the old people section, but I act like I am on the field.

So, once in the back of the field all was well. U2 came on and I was in nirvana. They played songs that I never thought to hear in concert. I felt the music. I moved with the music. I sang the words and yelled my happiness to the world.

Here is the link to my concert...www.u2.com/tour/index/date/44/97

Of course I am looking forward to the next album and the next concert tour so that I can buy those expensive Premium tickets and enjoy the concert from beginning to end.