Saturday May 12, 2018 - Layover in Portsmouth

I think today has been one of the most fun days of my entire trip. I was tied up to the free (south) dock at the High Street Landing in Portsmouth.  It is a really nice park type setting.  I did some boat work early and then went to the really nice Visitor's center about 2 blocks to the north (at the north free docking area).  Then I walked over to the only place to get basic groceries in a 2 mile radius - Dollar General.  It's about 3 blocks up High Street from the boat.  I got most of what I needed (lots of snacks and milk).  I took that back to the boat and then set out to the Skipjack nautical store.  It's is about 8 blocks west on High Street.  As I told the husband and wife owners, it was 10 times better than the next best store of it's kind - and I've been looking for many years.  I'm usually lucky if I can find a good size antique store with one brass lamp.  They must have had 200 to 300.  I was like a kid in a candy store.  I'll have to return.

Then I paid the senior rate of $2.25 to take the ferry from Portsmouth to Norfolk.  The ferry landing is about 200' from where I had True Blue tied up.  For some reason, I never thought I'd like Norfolk - but I really liked it.  They have a real nice waterfront with lots of open parks.  Then I walked north to the huge facility where they have the battleship USS Wisconsin on display.  It is a pretty big deal but I passed on touring the battleship - I just have to go back here. One of the dosents suggested that I go to a little hole in the wall a couple blocks away for Pizza (Benny's).  It was fantastic and inexpensive.  Then I rode the "light rail" for about an hour - over the entire route.  I got to see the town and was getting free wifi to boot.  Did I mention that the train was included in my $2.25 (all day) fare.  I walked to the huge indoor shopping mall they have right in the center of the downtown district.  It was ALL very cool.

As a side note, it's now 8pm and the Navy (somewhere around here) plays some song like Taps (on a bugle or trumpet) every night at 8pm.  And they also play a recording of the Star Spangle Banner every morning at 8am.  I felt compelled to stand at attention this morning (but didn't).

So, I walked back to the waterfront, and caught the ferry just as it was leaving (it runs every half hour).  I left the dock and stopped at Tidewater Marina for my last refueling of the trip. It is only about 1/4 mile north.  I had planned on anchoring in Hampton tonight but decided to anchor next to Tidewater instead and it was a good choice.