Where's Waldo? Or rather where are Gail and Keith?

So, just to bring everyone up to date.  Southern Style has been getting some bottom paint and stabilizer work done in Virginia.  During that time I went to visit family while Keith was overseeing the yard work on the boat.  Southern Style finally went back in the water this past Thursday June 6th.  I drove from PA back to VA and got on board Southern Style on Friday.  I had a great visit with family.  In addition to some of the things I have already posted, we also enjoyed fresh local strawberries.

Here are my two nieces and nephew picking away

They picked 30 lbs.  My sister makes jelly with them (the strawberries, not the children).

Emily, Ethan, and Alison

We also enjoyed some adult whoopie pies from a local bakery called the Sweet Spot.

Our samplings

Whoopie pies are a thing in the PA Dutch region.  It also turns out they are popular in New England and Maine where we are headed next (kind of appropriate).  The whoopie pie is actually the official state treat of Maine.  These tasty deserts are made of two soft cookies with fluffy icing in between for filling.  Traditional Amish whoopie pies are made with vegetable shortening, not butter in the batter.  They were originally made from left over cake batter.  Legend has it that when children would find them in their lunch bags, they would shout "whoopie",  hence the name.  Usually, here in Lancaster, they are chocolate with white icing for filling, but as you can see above; I found some that had a bit of a spin on the usual.

My last big adventure before leaving PA was a ride on the Strasburg Railroad.  This is a short line railroad of just 4 1/2 miles.  It is also the oldest continuously operating railroad in the western hemisphere.  It was chartered in 1832 as a means to connect the town of Strasburg to the main line Philadelphia/Columbia Railroad.  First operated as a horse drawn railroad, it purchased a Norris steam locomotive in 1851.  It is now a heritage site with numerous restored vintage train cars and several locomotives from the late 1800s and early 1900s.  These run passengers over the original 4 1/2 mile route through PA Dutch country from Strasburg to Paradise, PA.  Across the street from the railroad is the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania.

Here is the steam locomotive pulling our train.

Engineer uncoupling to move around to the other side of the train.

Here she comes to hook back up.

Passenger/coach seating

View out the back

After getting back on board Southern Style on Friday, I thought we might have a quiet weekend before leaving to continue our adventure.  This was not exactly how things panned out.   Our dinghy had developed some leaks around the seams in two places and was under warranty.  We needed to have it worked on in  Norwalk, CT and planned to stop there while in the area this summer to have it fixed.  But........................since the weather forecast for the next several days was not good, and we were going to wait for good weather before leaving anyway; we hatched a wild hair idea (why sit around waiting for the weather?).  Why not rent a pick-up truck and drive the dinghy to CT.  We could leave it with them to fix and pick it up once we got up there with the big boat.  

So that is what we did.  Here we are driving to CT.  Road trip!!!!!!!

Passing lower Manhattan

Crossing the George Washington Bridge

Having a burrito the size of a football for dinner that night in CT.

And dropping the dinghy at Rex's Marine Center the next morning before driving back to VA.

Come on, you all know we are a little crazy.  So that has been the last several days since I left PA and got back to Southern Style.  We hope to wait for a weather window and run outside/ in the ocean to Atlantic City and then on to New York City during the week.  We just need two good days of weather.  Stay tuned.