38:57.5N 76:28.4W

Photos from top left clockwise: The Lincoln Memorial. – The Washington Memorial. – The Blue Angels. – Our uncle, Eduard (with Max), Robyn and our aunt, Shigeko (with Emily), at the Phipps Conservatory.

Hello! Right now Silhouette is docked in Annapolis, a major sailing city. During our stay we visited both Washington and Pittsburgh with a hired car but before all of that we visited the small town of Oxford (which is the opposite in size to the one in England).

After leaving Mill Creek, we arrived in Brewer Marina, Oxford. We only spent three days there but it was long enough to explore the town. One of our best discoveries was the Highland Creamery, an ice cream store that was very popular with the locals. The town’s bookstore was another good find as Robyn and I were able to stock up on Agatha Christie’s from the store’s enormous collection. While in Oxford we also decided to buy a website maker to create a website to keep all our blog entries on so that we have our own permanent record and so can other people!

Our next stop was Annapolis and, in our second day there, we hired a car and drove to Washington, D.C. The city is filled with tourists, from French and German to Oriental and Indian. While there we visited lots of museums, like the National History Museum where we saw mummies, diamonds and t-rex skulls. We also went to the Air and Space, which had enough replica aeroplanes to fill an airport, the Smithsonian and the American History Museum. But my favourite place to visit was definitely the Lincoln memorial. The giant statue of Lincoln was really impressive and you had a great view of the Washington memorial from there. We also saw the White House (but, sadly, no president) and the Capitol Building.

We were planning to spend the three days in Washington, but we changed our plan and only stayed two there because of the Blue Angels. The Blue Angels is the American version of the Red Arrows (the British airforce’s aerobatic display team) and were going to perform at the Annapolis Naval School on the 21^st May. Everyone in Annapolis was talking about it in an excited way, we decided to watch it. The performance was really cool, especially when they did barrel rolls and flew upside down.

The next day we set out again in our hired car, but this time it was for Pittsburgh! Our uncle, Eduard, and our Japanese aunt, Shigeko, live there with their three month old twins, Max and Emily. I had heard their house was big but I never realised how big until we arrived at their home. They have 32 rooms, including a basement and a library! But the best bit of visiting them was meeting our new cousins! I was really excited to meet Max and Emily. Although they’re twins, Max is a lot bigger than Emily but they both cry as much as each other! Robyn and I got to help feed them and change their nappies, despite the fact I wasn’t so fond of the latter job. While in Pittsburgh our uncle and aunt took us to see lots of things, like a large conservatory garden filled with model railways and a funicular that offered a great view of the city. We had lots of fun there and I wish could have stayed longer!

So that’s all for now, but soon our friend Alan will be joining us on the boat so he can help us cross the Atlantic back to the Azores!