Rock Hall

My family didn’t take a vacation this summer because of COVID-19 and they’ve been dying to get out and do something, so the Sharp’s graciously offered their house in Rock Hall for the weekend for a little getaway. Dave and I and the kids met them down there for a three day weekend and it was lovely. All three kids are still in virtual school, so they all did their own remote learning on Friday, and then we had the rest of the weekend to just chill.

Although the weather was only so-so all weekend, we were still able to get in some good beach time, including Penny’s first time ever on sand (she loved it!), and some biking around town, a little shopping (our first time shopping in a store other than a grocery store in six months!), and a visit to the boat (no actual sailing).

The beach was never that crowded so the girls had the run of the place. One evening we took Penny down with us – even though no dogs are allowed. No one cared and she was in heaven in the sand!
We never took the boat out for a sail – just had some cocktails sitting in the marina. Penny came along and we can confirm, she’s not a good boat dog.
These two! They were inseparable most of the weekend.
  • Outside of Evergrain
  • Down on the dock
  • Sophie in her current favorite sweatshirt
On Saturday we went to Chestertown where we hit the farmer’s market and then walked around town to do some shopping.

And of course, there was a lot of ice cream consumed!

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Dave, Don and I did the Waterman’s fall triathlon in Rock Hall again this year. Last year’s was my first tri ever, and I won the novice category. This time I raced with my age group – 40-44 and got third!

Here are our overall results:

Jess – place: 65th overall; 3rd in age group/ Total time: 1:26:34/swim: 14:13/bike: 46:17/run: 22:45

Dave – place: 68th overall; 11th in age group/ Total time: 1:27:18/swim: 14:59/bike: 43:00/run: 25:10

Don – place: 74th overall; 12th in age group/Total time: 1:29:15/swim: 15:02/bike: 45:29/run: 25:22

Here’s what we looked like a year ago.

  • water was cool enough for a wetsuit
  • Dave jumping in
  • the men’s start
The podium for women 40-44. Our “prize” was a cheese board. One of the more useful prizes I guess.

After the race the day was beautiful so we took the boat out for a sail and swim. The kids had a great time jumping off the side. It was the first time Liam and Oliver were on the boat and they had a blast!

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Dave and I decided to do another triathalon in Rock Hall. We did one at the end of September (my first) and it was a lot of fun. We stuck with the sprint distance, which is a 1/2 mile swim, 16 mile bike ride, and a 5K run. This was Dave’s first race since injuring his foot back in January. He did great, beating his time from September. I trained a lot for it and also beat my time from September by 10 minutes! That also put me in 3rd place for my age group, which was 40-44 (they made us compete as the age we will be at the end of the year), so I got to stand on the podium!

  • Pre-race photo op
  • transition from the swim to the bike
  • 3rd place in the 40-44 age group

A few months ago the Sharp’s bought a new sailboat and after the race the new name was put on: Kind of Blue. It’s a Catalina 42, which is a good bit bigger than their previous boat, Stolen Moments.

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