Monday, Dec 7th, Santiago to Talca

     We are on our way south.  We waited until after a leisurely breakfast at the hotel to leave on our journey.  The traffic proved to be very light as tomorrow is a big holiday, so, many people had Monday off too.  Nuvi did an admirable job of getting us out of the city and we started off down Ruta 5, for the town of Talca. We stopped at a service station once we were out of the city for diesel and were amazed how much like a WaWa or a Sheetz it was.  All sorts of foods and services.  Jay took over the driving from Dan and we headed off with the Andes to our left (looking much clearer away from the smog of Santiago) and the coastal range on the right.  All seemed fine until we were signaled by a carbinero (the police) to pull over!  Jay handed over his international license and his passport and had the carbineros quite confused as to how to handle his paperwork. The rest of us all had great fun teasing Jay about how we would be bailing him out.  It seems it was just a routine traffic check so we were on our way after about 10 minutes.

     We decided to try Nuvi's talent at finding a restaurant with very little success.  I don't think it was Nuvi's fault, there just weren't that many places to eat, so Dan checked the FODOR's we had brought along and we decided to try the Miguel Torres Winery and Restaurant after reading a very good write-up.  Up till now we had been very unhappy with Fodor's, but decided it paid for itself for finding Micguel Torres for us.  We thought the food in Santiago was good - - -GUAU this place was terrific.  The setting, in the middle of a vineyard was great and the food plus presentation amazing!  We ended the meal with coffee on the veranda surrounded by thousands of grape vines.

     We arrived in Talca at 4:00 and found the Villa del Tillicana easily.  It's VERY different from the Holiday Inn Express.  The boys call it "a bit of the viejo (old) Chile."  - - -but here I am using their Wifi, so who's to complain.  Dan warned me not to take a shower unless I didn't mind the water turning cold before I was done.  We did have a lovely time out behind the Inn sipping wine sitting in their gardens by the not yet ready swimming pool.  We drove back into town for dinner at the Casino Hotel which proved to be just as fancy as lunch!  Amazing presentations of all the dishes and very reasonable.  We resisted the casino and headed back to our rustic rooms.  Buenos noches, D,M,J,P,B & Grandma Peddie

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~~~_/)~~~D&M

As we were packing this morning we realized we were looking out our window at the American Embassy (upper right-Barb says the moat is to ward off terrorists-ha ha). Our other window looked at the tallest building in Chile (left). The lower right shows the building that will be the tallest in all of S.A. when it is finished.

Some caballeros riding along a service road, we thought they might be on a pilgramage to a special church for tomorrow's Dia del Concepcion Immaculata.

We crossed the River Claro on our way by Curico. Most of the rivers we have crossed look like this - - very wide with very little water and certainly not navigable.

Luckily Jay's charm and great command of Spanish kept him safe from the carbineros. This was just a routine traffic check, and he (we) passed!

Pegg kept talking about the "Mauricio ten" referring to the 10 lbs. we put on eating all the great food while in his care, but we can't blame it on him anymore! Our lunch stop today proved to be most elegant. Each entree was "partnered" with one of the wines produced at the vineyard and all were excellent. Dan's seafood platter, including oyster shooters (in the small goblets) was the most dramatic and he says the best.

Very pleasant cocktail hour (or was it two?) enjoyed out by the pool (not yet operational) at our stop in Talca, just a mile off Route 5 on San Miguel Av. in Talca.

Barb joins us for Day 3 in Santiago.

     Dan and Jay were up and out by 6 AM to meet sister Barb at the airport.  Her flight from LAX included a stopover in Lima, Peru, so she was ready for a nap when they got back to the hotel at 7:45.  We  had a relaxing morning in the hotel and picked up Mauricio at 11 AM for a quick trip to "the MALL".  As Mauricio  says, "GUAU" - - translation WOW!  It was the biggest mall we'd ever seen.  Three levels and every standard mall store we know, like GAP, Esprit, Timberland etc, and thousands more.  We were in search of a SIM card for our "unlocked" Bahamian cell phone to use while we are here.  It took visits to several different kiosks before we succeeded, but succeed we did, we are now "connected"   We also wanted a small step to help get Grandma up in the van.   We solved that problem with a small cooler, that can serve dual functions!  Dan, Mauricio and I were together and were running late to make the rendezvous with the others, so I decided to head back ahead of Dan and Mauricio to meet up with the rest.  Well, long story short I got lost!  Ah but now I had a cell phone,  BUT Mauricio was in a dead zone.  Small panic, but eventually we connected.
     We dropped Mauricio at home after the mall and drove up Cerro San Cristobal, a famous mountain park in the middle of the city.  We enjoyed a light lunch on the veranda of a very nice restaurant with a wonderful view of the whole city, with the Andes as a backdrop.  All but Grandma hiked to the top observation spot for an even better view.  We then headed back to the hotel to regroup and get ready for supper with Mauricio's family.  It's hard not to keep using superlatives to describe the enjoyment of  getting to know his whole family.  A great evening!   Buenos noches, D,M,J,P,B and Grandma P
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~~~_/)~~~D&M

We revisited The Grange School here in Santiago where Jay attended boarding school in the 1950's.

After lunch near the top of San Cristobal, all but Grandma Peddie climbed to the spot of their last visit there in 1955.

Another great meal to end another great day. Mauricio took us to a restaurant at the base of San Cristobal that specializes in Chilean food. Hard to tell which was better, the food or the company. Mauricio and Carolina's three children are amazingly well behaved and didn't quale at the two and a half hour dinner! They did play outside the restaurant some of the time.

Saturday, Day 2 in Santiago.

Hola! We were too tired last night to prepare a post, so it is all coming today. Our flight from Miami was really great (for an eight hour flight!) two meals, all sorts of electronic entertainment available, and some sleep. Mauricio Rojas (who was our exchange student in 1991-1992) met us at the airport helped get our van rented and took us to his mother's house for breakfast and lunch and the chance to shower and relax until we could check in at three. His parents, Isabell and Gorge, have a beautiful apartment with a wonderful view and Isabell had prepared two feasts for us! We got checked in and had only an hour to rest before driving to Mauricio's house for dinner.
We (with the help of Sam) had loaded maps of Chile on our Garmin Nuvi and were amazed how well they worked as we drove to the hotel. When we left for Mauricio's house we headed off blithely expecting to have no trouble, but the tall building in Santiago made it very hard for the Nuvi to find satellites! All of a sudden we were lost in Santiago without even knowing the actual address of his house! We muddled along for a while with Dan assuring us that he thought he knew the way. Finally we emerged onto a wide avenue and found signal - - - and Dan had been on the right track, we were only a few blocks away! Mauricio, his wife Carolina, their three children, Catalina, Tomas and Diego, Mauricio's parents and his brother and wife were there to share another wonderful meal and friendship with us. We all slept well when we got back to our Holiday Inn Express at 10pm.

Today Mauricio and family took us to Valparaiso to see the "most important port on the Pacific coast." What a city, streets (many cobble stone) that rival San Francisco for their inclination! Most of them were also very narrow, making it a challenge with our big van. We drove through the city and saw the open market, Congress building and many other magnificent buildings, then headed to the waterfront for a wonderful lunch. Mauricio had arranged a special table for all of us and ordered samples of all the seafood specialties of Chile, including abalone, clams, octopus and scallops for appetizers. All were delicious. We shopped the open air markets after lunch and then drove to Quintay, further south down the coast where Carolina's parents have a condo in a golf community right on the ocean. Again we were welcomed with open arms and given refreshments before our return to Santiago. We got back to the hotel at 8:30 pm and grabbed a pizza at a local shop to eat in our room.

Before we left home, we had a few worries about taking Grandma Peddie (aged 91) on such a possibly arduous adventure, but we had not thought about the emotional toll it would take. Physially she is holding up beautifully and her Spanish is coming back rapidly, but the tears!!! She is so full of joy and memories of, as she says "the best years of my life." - - - and we haven't even gotten to Concepcion where the Bliss family lived for seven years back in 1948-1955 yet! Buenos noches, D,M,J,P&Grandma P

~~~_/)~~~D&M
Jay and Pegg had to jog the length of MIA to make the plane, but they made it in time for the overnight flight to Santiago.

Grandma started the fight playing Free Cell, but ended up dozing, as did we all.

We're a little wrinkled and tired but very happy to see Mauricio, our exchange student from 1992 who met us at the airport.

Mauricio's mom Isabell served us a sumptuous breakfast and let us relax until our hotel would let us check in at 3 PM.

Saturday morning we all piled into our 14 passenger Hyundai diesel van for a trip to Valpariso.

We sampled some of the famous wine from this vineyard during our lunch in Valparaiso.

We arrived in Valparaiso in time for lunch at a famous restaurant with an astounding view of the whole harbor and an incredibly delicious menu. We had a special table for the 12 of us. The 5 Blisses, Mauricio's parents and Mauricio's 5.

The view of the harbor included the tall ship Esmeralda on the Navy pier. Martha remembers well hosting the crew of Esmeralda in New Jersey during OPSAIL 1976.

Off to Chile

Hola! We are off on a new adventure. Dan, Martha, Jay, Pegg and Dan & Jay's Mom (Grandma Peddie) are off to Chile for a trip down memory lane. We will be joined by Dan and Jay's sister Barb for part of the trip. Wish us luck!!
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~~~_/)~~~D&M

That's rain, not snow coming down. We leave tomorrow morning for Santiago, Chile where the temperature is 78 and sunny!

No, this isn't Brunelle, it's a small sailboat on our deck here at
Lake PaHaGaCo. It is our one bit of holiday decorating this year as we are off to Chile for the next three weeks! If you want to follow along, just check our progress out on our blog. We are lucky to have Sam willing to keep it updated for us. ADIOS AMIGOS! D&M

Mill Creek, to Mill Creek to Lippincott

     C'est tout!  OR  "TH-TH-THat's all folks" as Porky used to say.  We are home!  We pulled into our slip at 6:30 pm this evening after a long but very easy day coming up the bay from the Great Wicomico River, just south of the Potomac.   On Tuesday, we got up early and headed off in spite of the forecast calling for North winds.  The winds were actually mostly from the West so we made good time for the early part of the day.  As the wind moved around to the north we began to lose headway in the chop that was developing and decided to head in early.  We anchored in another Mill Creek, just off the Great Wicomico River around 3:45 pm.  The creek was peaceful and beautiful and we watched a pair of eagles perched and then flying around.  We took several pictures, but none turned out all that well (sorry kids, I know you really wanted to see another eagle picture from Dad.) 
     We hadn't made the prescribed half way mark on our trip up the bay, so we knew we'd have to make an early start to make it home in one day.  That meant a 5:30 am start.  Luckily it was calm and there was enough light to head off that early, and we enjoyed the sunrise as we wound our way out the creek.  The forecasted strong southerly winds did not materialize until mid afternoon, but we were able to make at least 6+ knots consistently all day.   We had the main up all day and it finally paid off when the wind finally strengthened.  
     It has been a wonderful trip and as ready as we are to get home,  we are sorry it is ending.  Hopefully we will be able to do it again in the near future.  We especially hope to get more of our family and friends to join us along the way next time. ~~~_/)~~~D&M
Google Earth track files for 5/12
Google Earth track files for 5/13

Very little to see as we trekked northward on Tuesday, I thought this was one of the prettier tugs I've seen.

Predawn departure from Mill Creek off the Great Wicomico River on Wednesday.

The sun peeping through the trees as we left Mill Creek.

A MUCH quieter morning than yesterday.

I've always wondered how these fish weirs were used.

With all the times we've passed the LNG pier at Cove Point, this is the first time we've seen it in use.

Great Bridge to Mill Creek, Hampton, VA

     I knew I never should have quoted a frog!!  We got up Sunday and Dan asked if he could renege on his offer to take me out to lunch for Mother's Day (I'm not HIS mother) so that we could head off and just keep going until we got back to home base.  I've never been all that fond of the Mother's Day concept, so I was all for it.  We called the Great Bridge bridge to request an opening and were told that the RR bridge 5 miles down the canal was closed all day!  So much for "movin' right along"!  We walked "uptown" and visited the Fresh Grocer (where every second person left with a bunch of flowers for Mom.)  When we returned to the boat, we decided we would go across the canal to the Marina that offered diesel and then make the 12:00 opening of the bridge to try the other side of the bridge.  We tied up and listened to all the boats that we had passed as we put in long days catch up and stop on one side of the bridge or the other!  
     Monday dawned gray and dreary, but we were determined to press on.  We went into the Great Bridge lock at 8:00 am because any earlier would have necessitated waiting at the bridges further on.  We meandered through the maze that is Norfolk and were undecided whether the weather would permit us to keep going.  When we reached the bridge/tunnel that connects Norfolk with Hampton, the rain, wind, wind direction and temperature made the decision easy to pull in behind Fort Monroe and anchor just off Old Comfort Marina in Mill Creek.  Hopefully tomorrow will be better! ~~~_/)~~~D&M
Google Earth track file

Brunelle at the free dock just before the Great Bridge bridge, a RR and 65' footer back down the canal.

The view from the other side of the Great Bridge bridge - - - we moved all of 300 yards in 24 hours!

Our neighbors while we waited for the RR bridge to be repaired were a familiar sight...wonder how many are gracing Lake PaHaGaCo right about now.

Gray, windy, rainy, not the best way to start up the bay. We anchored before getting a chance to get a picture of a 55' sport fisherman that sank less than half a mile from here! The crew got off safely.