Valley Harbor Clam Bake

Valley Harbor is the name of the marina where Ron has his boat docked.  The marina itself has sort of a family kind of atmosphere.  You know everyone who has slips by you, as you work on your boats together, you talk, you share tools, you party, you watch out for each other.  Everyone knows everyone else.

The marina itself throws a couple of parties a year for everyone at the marina.  There is a small bar on the property (SMALL is an understatement!) and the parties are held in a huge tent they put up outside of the bar.  The marina even provides music for the events, compete with dancing.  It's so worth the price of admission! 

In the fall is their annual clam bake.  Ron wanted to go and since the other choice for dinner was 1/2 of a roasted chicken, I was in. 

The weather did NOT cooperate last night for this clam bake.  It was raining cats and dogs most of the day and it continued as we were on our way to the marina.  The rain did stop right after we got the marina, but by then, the marina was nothing but mud.  Oh well, at least I wore my old sneakers.

The bar is on the other side of the channel from where Ron has his boat docked.  You can walk allllllll the way to the end of the channel, and around and back to the bar.  Or, you can walk down the other way a little bit and cross a small man bridge that goes over the channel.  I've been UNDER this man bridge many times and it didn't look too bad.  The joke is always that you just don't want to be the first one over the bridge because just like I blogged earlier about the spiders by the house, being by the water there, the spiders are plentiful!  The first one over the bridge has to knock down the spider webs! 

A few months ago Ron and I were at the marina and a bunch of us decided to go across the channel to the bar for a beer.  I don't want to be the stick in the mud and I feel I can DO it.  Besides, Donna and her husband Bill, who are docked right next to Ron, are my cheering section.  It was Donna's MISSION to get me over that bridge!  I almost crapped my pants, but I made it over and back again.  Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera on me that night!  So, knowing we're heading back to the bar for this party, the first thing I got ready to go was my camera!

Again, Donna and Bill are my cheering section and it is their mission to get me over there in one piece.  I warned everyone I had to take pictures for the blog on the way.

What you don't realize when you go under the bridge is just now steep the ramps are to GET to the bridge.  The ramps are freakin' steep and so that you can gain traction, they have 1" x 1" pieces of wood nailed across the ramp at intervals of about a foot apart.  Here is the ramp going up.

Please note that this bridge is not that wide.  The last time we were over this bridge, it was on our way back to the boat that some moron decided he couldn't wait for me to walk the last 10 feet off of the bridge and he had to come across while I was ON the bridge!  I may be down 75 pounds, but that bridge is NOT wide enough for two!  I about crapped my pants that first time and this second time wasn't much better.  But, I had Donna in front of me yelling encouragement and Ron and Bill behind me telling me I could DO this.

I am just ready to go from the ramp to the actual bridge.  There is Donna ahead of me, making sure those spider webs are knocked down.  Do you see that there are no SIDES to this bridge?  Just a flimsy freakin' cable?  If I'm going over, this is NOT going to hold me up!  It didn't look high until I got up on it.

That little cable hand hold kills me.  That is not keeping anyone up there.   Can you imagine MY big ass and a moron's big ass passing in the middle of this bridge?  For real, someone should have had a camera that day.  But, I digress.

Here is looking to the left while I'm on the bridge.

And, here is looking to the right.

The only thought in my head is that I just did not want to take a header off of this bridge and into that nasty cold water.  Luckily, I stayed on the bridge.  Here we are, almost to the end.  Donna is just finished on the bridge itself and is ready to tackle the ramp to get off.  If you thought the ramp up was bad, the ramp down is worse.  Gravity is working overtime and it's hard to keep your feet under you.  It's even worse on the way back after you've tipped a few brews, let me tell you!

Here is the ramp heading back to solid ground.

Turning around, I got the rest of our motley crew who were chanting encouragement for me to get through this walk over the bridge!

And my Ron, the last one to safely make it over the bridge!

We were talking to some other boaters on the other side of the channel when I happened to look up at the sky.  It was an amazing sight.  The sun had started to come back out and you can see the bright sunshine on the trees while right behind that is a black stormy sky.  It was beautiful!

Finally, we got in line for the food and were able to sit, chow down and enjoy the band.

As you can see, everyone is in jackets.  It was COLD last night!  But the food was good and the company was even better.  Since there were a lot of people there at the clam bake and with it being so cold, we decided to leave the tent when we were done eating.  Back over the bridge we went in the quest of a big roaring fire!

As soon as we got back to our side of the channel, I looked back at the sky.  Where the sky was black before with the sun shining on the trees, the sky had cleared and the colors were amazing.

It was cold as all get out, especially for September, but at least the storm had blown past.  We all sat around the fire pit, opened a few bottles of wine and told stories.

Once the fire got blazing, I really wanted to try to get pictures of this.  I remember what Mark told me recently about the ISO settings, so I started playing with the ISO settings while taking pictures.  I will close with my pictures of the fire.  They are taken at different settings and I am understanding what he was telling me.  I just need to take more time outside at night and play around with it more.  But I think I'll get there.

Ron and I had a great date night Saturday. The weather could have been better, but we made the best of it.  And that fire was a perfect way to close out the night.