Bih '08

[Skip]

We are all here at the Inner Harbor East Marina, at the marina pavillion that Festivus was kind enough to reserve for our use. A group of sailboters are here as well, and attempted a takeover of the pavillion, but they are fewer in number, and weak. The Sirius tunes blasting from Festivus' bridge drove the ragboters away en masse.

Gary is not yet here, and had I not met him in person I would truly believe he is actually a homeless dude who blogs from the public library.

For Gary, wherever you are: come towards the Pavillion at the Marina; the pavillion surrounded by Sea Rays. There you will be among friends.

Skip

 

[Pirate]

For Gary, wherever you are: come towards the Pavillion at the Marina; the pavillion surrounded by Sea Rays. There you will be among friends.

Skip

'Friends'? Hmmm.

 

[First Born]

:huh::huh::huh::huh:no web cam set up yet :huh::huh::huh::huh::huh::huh:

 

[Turtlesboat]

I think the goth party was tonight.

 

[Four Suns]

Well... we made it yesterday afternoon. The traffic getting here was absurd. I'm not sure what people do around here if they have a dinner date at 6 pm... Do they leave the house at noon?

We got a room right at the marina in the Marriotte Waterfront. The advertisement said "spectactular harbor views" so we go a couple of rooms. Here's the great view:

We walked down to the marina and saw people hanging out at the pavilion. We were not able to find a Taco Bell on the way in for our "bring a dish" thing so we didn't have anything. Some nice drunk people off of River Gal were walking by and they had a big ole' box of 50 chicken wings so I asked them where they got them. Oh.. here's a shot of the River Gal crowd (I'll refer back to these trouble makers in a minute).

So... I asked them where they got them and they were nice enough to tell me and they said it was 4 blocks away. They even called them to duplicate the order and Susie and I were going to walk up and get them. However, I asked them to get 51 wings because I didn't want to be the person who brought the least amount of wings to the party.

My wife and I walked not 4 blocks but 9 blocks (uphill both ways, 2 feet of snow) to get these wings. Here's a shot of the place NINE blocks away:

And the nice drunk people inside:

Picked up our wings and inside the bar I met the Trident lady. Wow... not everyday you meet the Trident lady. I went out to her truck and she had it filled with Trident:

She gave me a box of gum to take back to the party (OK... maybe I asked for it first). I really wish I would have met the Trident lady before I paid for them wings.... could have saved a few bucks. Anyway, Susie and I hit up the liquor store and walked NINE blocks back. We get to the marina and I don't have the code to enter into the gate to get in but luckily someone from the party is walking up the dock. It's the captain from River Gal... and he wants me to pass him two of my wings through the fence before he'll open the gate so they'll have 52 wings and I'll have 49.... I put the wings on the back of Tim's boat and forgot about them... oops.

I have a few more shots... not of everyone but a few...

Here's Stan sitting on the back of Glory Daze:

He let me use his restroom after I had a couple of beers. Sorry I peed on your toilet seat.

This dog had diarrhea (so they told me when I walked up to say hi):

Here's a shot of Skip's son throwing a tempter tantrum:

A view down the dock (notice Skip beating his child at the end of the dock).

Jim and his wife showed up a little late to the party. I thought there was going to be a riot but they got there...

His lovely wife brought me a beer before they left...

I think she put something in it...

Here's a shot of Tim (Festivus).. probably a little too close but it's a picture.

I went down and hung out on Skip's boat... He filled us in on his motor home/RV days:

And demonstrated the great trash can technology developed by that industry:

His wife was concerned that he was talking too much so he started yelling "BABY! I know why you married me!"

The night wore on... the dogs were drooling:

and getting friendly (see... I'm not bald):

And skip figured out how to calm his child down... a beer and a Nintendo:

It was nice putting faces to names... We are heading downstairs to eat breakfast and then walk back over to the docks and see who is still here. We are going to spend the day around here and go do some of the touristy things.

 

[First Born]

:smt038:smt038:smt038:smt038:smt038

 

[Four Suns]

I have a few more shots. Here's a picture of some of the guys watching the wet t-shirt contest Jim at BOE provided:

I sure hope he didn't pay a lot for that.Here's Greg and Amy trying to collect on their t-shirts:

And another of the "chicken wing businessman"

 

[chuck1]

Great pics and narrative.

 

[Ryan]

Just got back...

We had a great time, it was really nice to finally meet and put faces to names, and spend some time with some really great people!

Thank you all for your hospitality, and for the fun, it was really nice meeting you all!

AND... I learned some great boating tips tricks and advice! (There was lots of cold beer!)

We look forward to seeing many of you again this season!

Ryan

 

[Skip]

It was a great weekend...thanks to Tim for coordinating the Marina, Jim for the cool BOE coozies, Jim and Frank H for the Impulse III brokerage marketing materials, Ryan for a tour and first hand view of MANs in a 52DB, Stan for the ER tour of the 48DA (and the cool name tags), The Robinsons for the most excellent shirts, Larry and Stephanie for the Dinghy Rides, (and use of River Gal as kid central) and Gary for his photographic and journalistic wit.

When Child Services takes my kids, they are going to go live with "Mr. Gary" at Warren Manor. The boat will then be "Six Suns."

The cause of my youngest son's tantrum was his realization that "Mr. Gary" came to BiH in his Honda (Dodge?) Minivan, not his 48DB with zesty AV upgrades. Maybe next year.

I regret that we did not spend more time with FC3, and do an ER tour of Truly Blessed II--next year!

We ran ~70 miles south this afternoon to Solomons Island, Maryland. Boat is secured and the kids are in the pool with Mom. Drooling dogs are on the boat with me. Bay got a little choppy about 15 miles north of Drum Point/Pax River....spray up to the windshield but not over the radar arch.
Diesel at Solomons Island: $4.11 (their cost) with the post card they sent out to frequent customers.

If Gary ever gets his boat running he can take on a couple hundred gallons at cost, like I did.

If.

regards
Skip

 

[vanburen]

Thanks everyone for an enjoyable weekend - it was a great putting faces along with names and screennames! And thanks to the organizers for herding all of us cats.

 

[Nehalennia]

Looks like a great trip everyone. Gary, glad you made it because the pictures and narrative is the best.

Now go wiggle your alternator wires and get back in business.

 

[RiverGalsMan]

I gotta tell you, Gary, in person, you seem to be just a pretty "regular" guy, but you've got a knack for weaving these pictures and narrative into some pretty interesting reading. For the record, Stephanie was not drunk. She's always that way. And she just left the room laughing, saying "what's the big deal about the nine blocks, he had his car!"

 

[RiverGalsMan]

Skip, glad to hear you made it OK to your next stop. Hope you have an uneventful rest of vacation. It was great meeting you and your family. We'll have to get together, soon.

 

[RiverGalsMan]

Ed, good to talk to you without you having to hover the dinghy. Great meeting your family, too.

CJ, great to finally meet you. There will probably be a trip to Solomon's before the year is over. We'll definitely get together.

Deb and Don, congratulations on the nuptials.

Chessie and crew, great meeting you.

That lovely couple that "hung late" with Deb, Don, and me... nice to meet you, nice chatting, even though I have no idea who you are. Hope we can change that.

Josh, hope you're feeling better. Beautiful boat. Nice meeting you, and your buddy.

Ryan, Rebel Yell, and Stan, see you guys in two weeks. And Ryan, as far as I'm concerned you've got the '08 clean boat title.

Tim, looks like we're in for the Rock Hall fireworks. Thanks for setting this up. We had a great time.

Dragon Anchor, great to meet you. Have a good trip back up the river.

Whoever else I forgot to mention, it was still great to get together. BIH '09 anyone?

 

[RiverGalsMan]

Oops! Almost forgot Greg and Amy. Great job with the T-shirts and, of course, the vodka. That was very generous of you. Great to meet you.

 

[Four Suns]

Come on Larry... people will stop believing what I write with comments like that.

And what's with these spots on the shirt?

I have to get busy here with my post of yesterday's events...

 

[Four Suns]

Yesterday, Sunday, it looked like about four or so boats left. I left the dock early Saturday night (10:30-ish) and stumbled back to the hotel. My family all went downstairs to the restaurant in the hotel and had the breakfast buffet (very good) and it was very expensive. My rational on this trip has turned into "but look what I saved on diesel fuel." We did get a second room and it had a great view of the harbor:

and

Walked over to the docks and I'm not really sure what the heck kind of party these Sea Ray people had after I left, but it apparently involved latex gloves (check out lower end of picture. I did *not* plant this here):

Everyone just was yakking about their boats on the dock for awhile:

Ryan showing us some "butter dance" thing:

Tim's wife on Festivus cleaning her toe nails:

We now know the real reason he put that white canvas there.

The pavilion area:

A shot of Tim's boat "Festivus"

On the dock

River Gal women who can't measure a "block":

Frank C. standing next to his mid-70's Carver that he doesn't want to tell anyone about:

About 4 boats or so left on Sunday after the gab session. Skip and crew were one of those. Check out this great leaving dock technique:

Small child on boat, engines running with mom and dad trying to wrestle boat back to dock.... while Tim is on the back holding the lines:

At least he didn't ram anything on the way out:

Here's Ryan getting wired up with some electronic gizmos before they get under way... something about keeping him inline with shocks once in awhile:

Oh yeah... the "shirt":

After the few "early leavers" left, we headed up to be tourists in town. We went to see the Constellation which is a 19th century Man-of-War ship built down in Portsmouth Virginia (my neck of the woods).

I, of course, gave the ticket guy a hard time about the price:

Did a few other things around town as well.

That evening, and this was the highlight of the trip for us, was going to Fogo De Chao for dinner. The place is a Brazilian steak house. There were a little under 30 people and they were very accomodating and the food was really fantastic. They give you these little cardboard gizmos and you put them green side up if you want more meat and red side up to have them stop:

and

Here's our crowd at the table:

Frank C (FC3) and his wife sat across from us (I think she didn't like what she just put in her mouth though):

Here's another shot of the waiter telling me to get off the chair I was standing on:

And another shot of people ducking so they won't be "in the picture"

Ever noticed that? All you have to do to get a stranger to duck is just point a camera at them. They think they are not supposed to be in whatever picture you are taking and they duck... funny...

Oh.. and here's some "private party" that was in the back room I wondered into:

I think they were famous.... they asked me to leave.

We had a great conversation at our end of the table about the benefits of using "bull lips" for crab bait:

Not just "cow lips" but they have to be "bull lips"...

And here is a nice shot... My son John sitting next to Kendra while the mothers of both kids are on each side of them:

Man... That would really have sucked when I was 17... In fact, I think Kendra's parents appear to be praying there or something...

Oh yeah.. I learned another thing this weekend. Remove "One Angry Wife" from signature line because it might end up on the name tag your wife is wearing.

This is the crew leaving the place:

So that's it... I think everyone is leaving this morning. We are heading back to Williamsburg to finish getting Four Suns ready for New England.

One more picture I forgot to put up... damn...

 

[Turtlesboat]

The pic outside of Fogo's looks like an ad for Hawaiian shirts that are on sale at boaters world this week.

Looks like it was a fun weekend. Great pics. Nasty looking latex glove.

 

[ImpulseIII]

Looks like everyone had a GREAT TIME !!! We are soooooo sorry we had to miss the festivities. Thanks for posting the pictures Gary, they made me feel even worse than I did about missing BIH...What a guy!