It didn’t take long to arrive in Lewes and this was the first welcome sign I noticed
Once again, I had to marvel at the homes along the way.
Yes, that house is purple! Gorgeous, isn’t it?
And I would call this next one green. Could I be wrong? Naw, it’s definitely GREEN!
The historic section of Lewes is oh so quaint and beautiful!
Yes, that’s our truck on the left. It took DeWayne a little maneuvering to get into that parking space, but he made it. The brick wall to the right surrounds St Peter’s Episcopal Church, Established 1681. It’s the FIRST church in the FIRST state (Delaware),
and this is a picture of the oldest grave in the churchyard:
The inscription on the stone reads: HERE LYETH YE BODY OF MARGARET YE WIDOW OF JAMES HULING WHO DESERT FEBRY YE 16TH IN YE 76TH YEARE OF HER AGE 1707, BORN 1631
Here is a sad one:
It is the “Tomb of Henrietta Stotesbury”. It is believed that the child died June 23rd, 1840 on the sailing vessel which was taking the family from Philadelphia to Europe and was interred after the ship reached the Breakwater.
The next picture isn’t very good, but I wanted to get it in the blog:
It is the grave of Captain Henry F. McCracken, pilot of the Delaware Bay and River. He requested that his anchor be buried with him in 1868 and the fluke (on the left) is protruding from the ground.
This appeared to me to be the tallest marker in the churchyard and caught my eye as soon as we parked the truck.
Other graves in the churchyard included:
Ryves Holt, first Chief Justice of Delaware
Samuel Paynter, 26th Governor of Delaware
Caleb Rodney, 23rd Governor of Delaware
Caleb S. Layton, Associate Justice of the Superior Court of Delaware
Dr. Joseph Maull, 34the Governor of Delaware
Daniel Rodney, 19th Governor of Delaware
Jacob Kollock, Speaker of the House
After looking around outside, we decided to go into the church. By the way, the present building is the third built since the church was established and was built in 1854
This is what we saw as we went in the door
The stained glass windows were breathtaking!
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Looking up into the choir loft at the back of the church:
Right around the corner from the church, we found this:
And here is the actual cannonball:
Up the street a ways was the historical society that wanted $5 to go in and look or $10 to look inside and out back in the garden. We didn’t opt for either choice, but I did get a picture of this over the fence:
Not the liberty bell, but a “big ole bell” nonetheless.And I’m assuming this is an anchor chain on the ground, plus a picture of DeWayne standing next to one of the anchors out front:
Across the street was the canal that leads to the Delaware Harbor. These are the cannons that defended the canal:
And the canal as it is today:
Across the street were more quaint little shops and specialty stores:
What a gorgeous building!
I bought some chocolate chip cookies in one of the shops. They were baked crisp and had maple syrup drizzled on top of them. Talk about “eye rollin” good! A good cup of coffee to go with them and we were ready to take in the local beach. This beach is in Delaware Bay, so the waves are never very high and reminded me more of a lake than the ocean. So it is a great beach to swim. I didn’t take a lot of pictures that would only look like all the other beach pictures I’ve posted, but did get a pic of the ferry that runs from Lewes to Cape May, New Jersey.
We lounged on the beach til almost 5:00, and the topic of the day seemed to be movies and actors that we liked and a lot of general chit chat, then we decided we should get back to our respective RV’s and shower so we could get an early start on the dinner crowd. That Blue Crab was calling our names, I’ll tell ya!
All showered and dressed, we met Snookie and Bob at Mickey’s Crab House here in Bethany Beach and were seated at a big picnic style table with really thick brown paper over the top. The blue crab was pretty expensive and we weren’t sure we were even going to like it, so Bob ordered an “All you can eat” blue crab and we ordered fresh crab cakes, served with corn on the cob that was oh so sweet and green beans that were cooked just enough to still be slightly crunchy and seasoned to perfection. I had never had a fresh crab cake, but it certainly looked delicious and the first bite sent me into one of those “Paula Deen eye rolling” fits. OMG, it was so good, I could hardly stand it. Snookie ordered steamed shrimp and Bob set about devouring his crab:
Since there’s a trick to eating blue crab and certain parts that aren’t edible, we watched as Bob gave a step by step demonstration on just how to eat blue crab. The idea was for us to help him eat the crab and we did sample the crab meat and both loved it. But we were so full from our crab cakes (that also included blue crab meat), there was just no way we could eat any more. In fact, I had to get a to-go box for half my food because I simply couldn’t shove in one more bite!
We were all done with our dinners and Bob was still diligently working on one crab after another and then we looked up and the second tray had arrived and dumped on the table. Eating blue crab is a lot of work for not that much meat, so I can see how folks can sit for hours just cracking and eating blue crab. We visited for quite a while after our plates were long gone and Bob was still working on those crab. He finally gave it up before he could put much of a dent in the second batch. We enjoyed the meal and the good company immensely! Not only did we get lessons on eating crab, but lots of good advise about the RV full-timing lifestyle. They’ve been at it for three and a half years now, so they are a world of helpful information and inspiration.
Maneuvering those two diesel trucks out of the parking lot was a challenge, but the guys had it done in no time, so while Bob and Snookie turned left to find beer, we turned right to get back to the RV and put the coffee on. We all sat around the picnic table until 11:30 and just had a blast! DeWayne with his diet Mountain Dew, Snookie with her Pepsi, Bob with his beer and me with my coffee. We talked about where they’ve been and where we all want to go, politics, jobs in the military settings, and life in general. Before the night was over, we decided that we will team up for a trip to Alaska next summer or the year after and made plans for us to go to Quail Run in Arizona in January where they will have already been for three months. Other things we learned throughout the evening:
1. Don’t waste our money on RV toilet paper. The regular stuff will do.
2. A regular water pressure regulator works much better than what we’ve been buying at the RV supply, another money saver.
3. The chemical pellets we’ve been buying for the sewage tank are also useless and a waste of money.
I’d say the evening was pretty profitable even if the food was expensive (and worth it). See how much money we’ve been throwing away? Thank goodness for the old pros, Snookie and Bob!
But we ended the day in good company and having a wonderful time, just laughing and enjoying ourselves. We’re both a little melancholy about leaving here so soon because we love it here and will miss Snookie and Bob, but we’re also experiencing what Snookie says is “hitch itch”, ready to get on down the road and see what’s around the next corner. And we look forward to making friends everywhere we go. What a life!
We haven’t done much of anything today. DeWayne has been working on our itinerary for the trip back home off and on today as well as trying to find the US Open on TV. Other than doing the dishes and scrubbing the shower, I’ve done nothing but work on this post.
The VFW has a chicken stand just outside the gate to this facility and Snookie had told us that they cook half chickens every Saturday that are really good, but they sell out pretty quick. We forgot about it last Saturday until much too late, so DeWayne made sure to get over there this morning to get our share for the day. And boy oh boy, that’s the best grilled chicken I’ve ever had the pleasure of eating. Wow, it was “falling off the bone” tender and seasoned just right. Another “eye rolling” experience, for sure! It was so good that I still haven’t touched my leftover crab cake……but never fear, I’ll devour it before bedtime. Yummmmm!
So it’s been a long post, but it brings us up to the present. We plan to play putt putt golf tomorrow with Snookie and Bob, then we will be pulling up stakes and heading out of here on Monday. We’re taking a different route on the way home for the reunion than we took coming up here, so there will be new places and things to see and talk about as we “Breeze” on down the road.
Here is a picture I took of Junior when he was younger and darker and one of Prissy’s pups. I call it “The Standoff”
Junior always loved the puppies and they always loved him.
Well, that’s all for now and I have things to do, so I’ll sign off. Tune in tomorrow for more adventures and until then…..HAPPY TRAILS!!!
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