On May 28-30, 2016, Norma and I spent the weekend in Chestertown, Kent County, Maryland where we attended the Chestertown Tea Party. This is a huge festival that draws thousands of people to this eastern shore town.

The two of us were up bright and early, crossing the Bay Bridge around 0715, before the holiday weekend traffic.

We drove through the 'C' towns: Centreville, Church Hill, and then finally Chestertown.

Norma and I dropped my car off at Simply Bed and Bread, a very nice bed and breakfast where we stayed that I would highly recommend. There we met Cheryl and Dave. A lot of people came out for the festival so parking was tight but we had a reserved spot at the B&B.

I have mentioned in previous blogs that Chestertown is my first choice for places to retire. I list several reasons on my September 21, 2014 blog so I won't repeat them here.

The last time we were in Chestertown was November 1-2, 2014 for the tall ships festival, more commonly known as their Downrigging Festival.

After chatting with Cheryl, Norma and I walked a short distance into town and then stopped at the weekly farmers market on High Street. There were a good number of folks selling food grown locally.
We also did some shopping at the various vendor stands. If everyone spent as much money at the festival as Norma, then they really made a good profit.

As more and more people gathered, we found a good place to stand in the shade and watch the parade. Since the festival has a historic theme, many people were dressed in colonial attire.

At Cheryl's recommendation, we made time to hear the Chester River Chorale at the Garfield Center for the Arts. I was surprised how many members the chorale has. I was also pleased to see just how active the performing arts community is at the Garfield.

Around midday, Norma and I were pretty tired so we walked back to the B&B and took a nap, missing the re-enactment of the dumping of tea into the harbor. I assume there were plenty of folks from my kayak club there to witness this event.
In response to British Parliament's closing of the port of Boston, the citizens of Chestertown, Maryland met in May of 1774 and set forth "Resolves" forbidding importing, selling, or consuming tea in Chestertown. According to local legend, residents then gathered at the town center, marched down High Street to the brigantine Geddes, which was anchored in the Chester River, and tossed her cargo of tea overboard. The annual reenactment of that event is the centerpiece of the Chestertown Tea Party Festival.
- from "Chesa Del Grier - Chestertown Tea Party Festival Marks 40th Year in 2016" (link broken as of 2018)

If you said it is misleading that I name this blog "Chestertown Tea Party" when we didn't even see the actual tea dumping, you would be right.

Norma and I walked back into town where we viewed the historic buildings and the Schooner Sultana (shown below). Then we ate a nice dinner at the Lemon Leaf Cafe.
We made our way to Washington College where we attended a bluegrass concert. They were playing for a Baltimore Bicycling Club event and we just happened to sneak in.

We awoke to a fine breakfast at the B&B. Cheryl told us everything we wanted to know about the town. Both her and Dave grew up there.

With our bellies full, Norma and I biked a 25 mile loop between the B&B and Chesterville (a town to the east), where we crossed over the Chester River into Queen Anne's County. We saw lots of birds and farms, including a pesticide-free organic farm. Not much traffic on our route.
Next, we biked into town to attend the Wilmer Park Main Stage Concert and eat lunch.

Norma and I watched a race of rafts made of non-nautical materials. It seems the whole town showed up for this. I was impressed at how much enthusiasm the residents showed for such a silly and fun activity. I tried to think of something similar we could do in Savage but I drew a blank.

This was my favorite raft, called "We're Gonna Need a Bigger Boat" (a quote from the movie "Jaws").
Contestants lined up at the start. The stand-up raft at the left sank shortly after I took this pic.
"We're Gonna Need a Bigger Boat" has a tail that moves from side to side as the shark swims. How clever! I also liked how at least one of their paddles has a bite taken out of it.
This raft is called Optimus Prime. It is named after a Transformer.
Upon crossing the finish line, Optimus Prime showed its true colors at the semi sprung up and became a giant robot Transformer.
In the end, I don't think folks really cared about who won. It was more about the creativity and hard work people put into designing their rafts.

Taking our hosts' suggestion, we ate dinner at Luisa's Cucina Italiana. We were hoping to catch a bite at the Blue Heron Cafe but they always seem to be closed when we want to go there. Maybe next time.

Norma and I drove out to Morgan Creek, a tributary off the Chester River. We launched at Morgnec. It was near low tide so the launch area was a little muddy but not too bad.

What is nice about this creek is it stays fairly narrow for the whole length of the trip, much to Norma's liking.

After about 2.5 miles of paddling upstream, we took a short break at Rileys Mill, shown below.
We spotted a small tributary that flowed into Morgan Creek from the west side and made a note to explore it on the way back.
Continuing upstream, we saw some bald eagles. We did not find their nest.

We made it pretty far upstream but not far enough to see route 213.

Norma spotted a two-foot long northern water snake. We followed it for awhile. Surprisingly, it never dove under.

A little further downstream, we saw another but this one was a much better swimmer and once we got close, it submerged itself and only came up for air briefly a few times until we left the area.

We stopped at a great blue heron rookery at Google Maps coordinates 39.266741, -76.028274. The trees were lush with foliage so we couldn't see the nests very well from Morgan Creek but their sounds were very distinctive so I knew the rookery was close. I shot a video while standing below one of the nests. Be sure you have your speakers turned up to hear the noises made by the young birds. Click on the image to start the vid.
The nests were hard to see but looking at satellite photos at the time, they were quite visible as grey circles.
To get closer, we paddled up a very small creek that soon got narrower than our boat is long. Then we went ashore and got under the nests. There was a lot to see in that area.

Next, Norma and I explored the small stream that flowed on the west side of Rileys Mill. We had to portage across at least one beaver dam.

Kayaking back downstream, we saw another snake that looked very much like the first but they were nowhere near each other so it must have been different.
A couple of deer were seen by the water along with a groundhog. We also saw a muskrat.
By the time we finished, we had paddled about 10.5 miles.

Just north of the main part of town, we picked strawberries at Lockbriar Farms. We also ate some of their berry ice cream made from their own fruit. It was the best I've ever had.

Norma and I drove back to the B&B and changed into dry clothes. We thanked our hosts then made our way home in heavy traffic.