The Rock, and a Weekend Birthday Celebration

My wife's birthday came last month,  and she preferred to wait for the weekend to go out to dinner so we could do some sightseeing as well.  This was fine with me...I enjoy sightseeing, even if just in androgynous mode!   She had heard of a nice restaurant in Chesapeake City, and I wanted to check out the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal (its history "museum" is in that city.)  So we decided that Sunday would be the day.

First, a word of caution from an incident we experienced in our car enroute north that day (and it has absolutely nothing to do with gender).   The day was hot, and (fortunately) we had chosen to run our car's air conditioning.  As a dually pickup truck passed us on the highway, its rear tires kicked up a loose rock or chunk of concrete, and sent it our way.  (Visibility was good, and there were no humans on the shoulders, nor any overpasses for kids to drop things from.)   While airborne, this projectile hit the driver's side mirror and cleanly glanced off, then hit the driver's side window with enough force to put two small chips in the glass, before bouncing clear of the car without inflicting further damage.   Had the driver's window been down,  based on the rock's trajectory and 2 points of impact, I'd probably have been hit either in the left eye or on the left forehead.  That's because I noticed something moving in my peripheral vision, and looked left, just in time to see the projectile bounce off the window.

Moral of story: from here on, I'll ALWAYS be operating our AC in weather warm enough to require reducing the interior temperature - yes, even in the antique (its 47-year-old air conditioning still works very well.)  This incident may well have been a one-chance-in-a-million thing, but it could have ruined our day, or much worse.  "Lightning has been known to strike the same place twice", and I'm not planning on taking any chances.  

Chesapeake City is a quaint little burg...with lots of nice shops and restaurants.  If you haven't been there, you might want to consider adding it to your bucket list.  We arrived at about 11:30, parked the car in town, and walked around one of the dock areas.

Then we wandered through town, looking at the fascinating architecture...

Afterward, seeing the constant stream of inbound traffic rapidly filling all available parking,  we chose to head for the closest restaurant we could find, right on the waterfront.  It was a well-furnished older house, with a large, glass-enclosed porch.  For the record, I was wearing my white capris, women's black button-down tunic, pantyhose and black ballet flats, with my black purse and Mom's necklace.  No other jewelry.  No makeup (though my shave was very fresh - no more than 2-1/2 hours old at that point.) The receptionist addressed us as "ladies." and we were given the choice of eating inside, or on the enclosed porch.  We chose the porch, so we were escorted through the inside dining room out to the porch, and assigned a prime corner seat.

Our server, and the other employees, addressed us as "ladies" for our whole visit.  They never missed a beat.  When it came time to leave, I waited on the front porch while my wife used the restroom.  One of the young female employees, who was taking a break, was outside as well.  We chatted a bit (yes, it was quiet enough that I was able to talk in my feminine voice) and she addressed me as "Ma'am."   When my wife reappeared after finishing her "potty break" the employee said "come back and see us again, ladies!"

OK...so this could have been freshly trained servers, being extremely "politically correct"...

We got directions to the canal museum from one of the girls, and though she told us that it was within "walking distance,"  because of the heat we chose to drive.  When we backed out of our parking place, we made an inbound family very happy to find one so "close-in"!

Our decision to drive to the museum was a good one.   While it was indeed within walking distance, it would have been quite a hike, particularly in hot weather.  The museum was right on the canal, and we were immediately treated to the sight of a big barge being towed past, from the Delaware River to the Chesapeake Bay (the man-made canal is what "separates" the Delmarva from the mainland. making it appear to be an island.  But it's not.)

We walked into the museum, which was the old pump-house for the canal when it had locks for moving the ships (from opening in 1829 until they were rendered obsolete and removed in the 1927 improvement project.)  It's now a 14-mile-long, sea-level canal, one of two within the US (the other being the 7-mile Cape Cod Canal, completed in 1916.)  Within the museum was the water wheel and also steam engines which powered it, to supply the mid-section of the canal with water. back in the days of the locks.  Improvement projects of the 1970's increased the depth from 27 ft to 35 ft, and the width from 400 ft to 450 ft.  It's big. 

The attendant addressed us as "ladies,"  several times during our visit.  Perhaps this wasn't political correctness at its extreme, after all?   I certainly didn't notice any other patrons (at either establishment) paying undue attention to me.  And had my wife noticed any strange comments, I'm quite certain that she would have pointed out her "embarrassment factor."  But nothing was said.   Which was definitely a good thing.

So it was another successful sightseeing venture...and my wife enjoyed her birthday celebration. 

Later,

Mandy