A Day in Marietta

Day 9:  Sunday, August 21, 2016

You can monitor our trip at the link: Second Winds Progress Live

Today was a day on non-travel.  We spent the entire day in Marietta.  We began with a hardy breakfast of scrambled cheesy eggs, bacon and toast. 

Marietta Harbor Office

After the usual morning boat tasks, we headed out for a trek around the town, ending up first in an auto parts store to buy spare fuses.  From there we walked along one of the main streets in an historic district of Marietta.  This street is lined with interesting little specialty shops.  We stopped at a quaint little coffee shop where a number of the local had gathered for breakfast.  I enjoyed a cinnamon roll and Janine had a pecan roll, both of which were reported to have been made by local Amish.

Pedestrian walkway on th Harmar Bridge

And Second Wind  from the bridge

From there, we crossed the Muskingum River on the 1873 B&O Harmar Railroad Bridge.  The bridge was abandoned years ago and made into a walking bridge in 1962. Someone or some organization in the city of Marietta has hung large hanging baskets filled with flowers at intervals along the bridge.  Also, someone started placing padlocks along

Flowers and padlocks

the bridge.  There must be thousands.  Most have some inscription on them.  The inscription usually foretells of a romantic bond between to people, sort of like carving hearts and initials in a tree back in the days of my youth.  We saw one couple who seemed to be romantically associated and I asked them if they had their lock on the bridge and the young man said that his engraved lock was on order.

The Busy Bee Restaurant

On the opposite bank of the river is the original settlement of the area known as Harmar.  It is also filled with interesting little shops.  There are old train cars that have been preserved; one two car coupling houses an antique/junk store through which we wandered. 

Our path took us past the Busy Bee Restaurant.  The harbor master had advised that this was a good place to eat.  We entered into a packed house.  While standing, waiting for a table, an elderly (probably 90’s) lady offered that there was an empty table just on the other side of a divider from her.  We sat there and began a joking discussion with this lady.  Her meal was buttered toast and after she had finished 3 of the 4 halves, she handed the plate over the divider to me.  I took it, took a bite and complained that it was good but needed jelly where upon a lady at the table on the other side of me handed me a pack of strawberry jelly. 

After lunch, we spent probably an hour wandering round the town of Harmar

Our group of friends at the Boat House Bar-BQ

reading the historic markers and enjoying the restored old homes.

At around 4:30, we cast off the mooring lines of Second Wind and motored out into the main river to the dock of the Boat House Bar-BQ.  There we joined up with a group of our Power Squadron friends.  The early arrivals, Barb and Bob Fish and Jim Philpott joined us on Second Wind for a cold beer and mixed nuts.  When the remaining group arrived, we climbed the bank and enjoyed a raucous meal.  This is a fun group who enjoys boating. Janine had a pulled pork sandwich and I enjoyed a half rack of baby back ribs.  The food was really good.

Whit's

After dinner, we motored back to the Marietta Harbor Marina where we were picked up by Karen and Ray Foss for a trip to Whit’s Frozen Custard shop which is a well patronized local favorite.  I don’t remember the name of my specialty but it had chocolate caramel praline almond with hot fudge sauce poured over it. We spent probably an hour telling tales and laughing as we got to know our friends, the Foss’s. 

Back at the boat, we crawled into bed.  It was to be a cool night.