My mom had generously lent us her minivan so that when we sold our house we had two minivans to transport some of our belongings down to the boat. Both of the vans were left at the Annapolis marina when we set sail at the end of October. My parents drove a rental car from NJ to Annapolis, picked up their van and drove down here to visit (the plan was they would then drive us back up to Annapolis so we could get our van and then go to Baltimore for Thanksgiving with Matt’s sister). We had a great visit with them – some meals on the boat and a short visit to the beach.

While they were here, I was also trying to find a rental. The places on the beach are exorbitant – even in the off-season. I shifted gears thinking “How about a cute cabin with a fireplace and lots of outdoor space?” I found something listed as a “spiritual retreat” with beautiful photos. I contacted the owner through the site and explained our situation. He said he would work with us on the price (50% off) and offered to pick Matt up Saturday morning to show him the place (he had a small truck and could only fit one of us). He even invited us to have Thanksgiving with him and his family! Matt got back from the tour, was iffy about it and said I should see it for myself (this was not a good sign since what he considers ‘ok’ is usually rated ‘no way’ by me). We all went out to see it Sunday afternoon. It was out in the middle of nowhere, which I loved, but also seemed to have a lot of poverty in the surrounding areas. The smell of the place could best be described as ‘funky.’ It was one of those instances where the photos don’t match the reality. It didn’t exactly have ‘Deliverance’ written all over it but I would not have been comfortable out there alone. The owner also mentioned hunters in the area so our #1 criterion of safety wasn’t really met. It was also quite a ways from the marina so it would be a lot more travel time to oversee work on the boat every day. However, the real reason we declined the house is because we knew everyone would want to come visit us once they saw the ‘guest house’ on the property.