Post #14: On the road again (well, in a way)

Saturday, October 17 (part 1)

Hello again from the sea gypsies! We bade a tearful goodbye to our family after spending three wonderful weeks together in Washington, DC. With so much that we are all missing this year—time with friends, school, work, church, theater, restaurants, museums, weddings, etc.—the silver lining has been sharing more time together with our children and grandchildren.  Since we were staying with Sarah who was working from home, we had a glimpse of her day-to-day activities working for the World Bank.  She’s currently involved in land registration and sustainable housing projects in Colombia, the Philippines, and Afghanistan. With meetings held all over the globe, her Zoom calls occur at all hours of the day and night!

We also saw our son Justin and his family every other day or so. We saw firsthand what an incredible challenge it is for students, teachers, and parents alike to navigate online learning.  From all the news stories, it seems everyone is justifiably frustrated.  But It also seems everyone keeps trying.  I’m happy to report that our 5 and 7-year old grandchildren reside in a world focused on letters, numbers, building, climbing, singing, rhyming, riding scooters, playing baseball, watching Star Wars, etc.  And deciding on a Halloween costume. As it should be. We really are very fortunate but, in turn, we have a responsibility to others to do all we can, both individually and collectively to get this virus under control.

Washington, DC was much quieter than our previous visits over the past 20 years—fewer cars, fewer office workers on the sidewalks or sipping coffee at local cafes, fewer tourists—but more homeless encampments, more steel and concrete barriers, and more graffiti. Lafayette Park is still barricaded (although now locked only at night) and a display of posters and photos of people of color who have been shot line the block-long chain link fence.  It was very sobering:

There’s still something reassuring about the buildings and monuments around DC, though.  Their massive bulk instills a sense of permanence and the homage to Grecian architecture is rooted in the foundation of democratic ideals.  Although we are a country with many faults and divisions, inhabited by ordinary human beings and governed by imperfect individuals, I still believe we are capable of doing better and will do so. I find inspiration in Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King’s reminder that “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”

On a lighter note, we took a couple sailing trips out of Annapolis, including a visit to St. Michael’s on Maryland’s eastern shore. Once one of the centers of the oyster industry, the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum is located here with exhibits on boat building, oyster and crab harvesting, and geology of the area. They maintain a fleet of restored and replica boats you can take a ride on, including a traditional skipjack, specifically designed with a shallow draft that allows for dredging oyster beds:

There is SO much to see and do around the Chesapeake Bay! We hope that when we return in the spring we’ll be able to visit more towns, go to museums and enjoy restaurants again.

Up early on Saturday, here’s our last look at Annapolis, the self-proclaimed sailing capital of the east coast.  I’m guessing our friends in Newport might want to argue that point!