Classic Boating Family Destinations - Part 2

I think it may be an interesting experiment to see if I could plan a trip that would include as many of my own personal (perhaps selfish) ideas of destinations that include Classic Boating and Maritime Museums. The first step would need to include a direction on the map so lets say New England for now. There's bound to be some great museums in that direction and from magazine articles I know there's a higher percentage of antique and classic wood boats there than other destinations may offer.

The first step may be to locate some museums in the area that specialize in maritime history. That's easy with Google. Using the term "maritime museum" hundreds of possibilities pop up. Besides all of the museums and historic sites that are listed there two other useful websites listed. They are Smith's Master Index to Maritime Museums www.maritimemuseums.net and Council of American Maritime Museums (CAMM), www.councilofamericanmaritimemuseums.org , (quite a keyboard full) that can be helpful.

Next, I Googled the term "classic boating" and found several club websites that could perhaps lead to cool destinations if they have shows planned in a reasonable location and time frame. Among those listed are The Antique & Classic Boat Society (ACBS) and The Chris Craft Antique Boat Club (CCABC) along with several local Chapters of the ACBS.

Now I have some websites to visit that could lead to some order of destinations and events, a lot of homework to do. I started with Museums that I'd love to see, namely, The Mariner's Museum in Newport News, VA, The Mystic Seaport Museum in Mystic, CT and The Antique Boat Museum in Clayton, NY. In searching the Museum websites and some Club websites I found the makings for a great plan that includes all 3 museums and 2 fantastic classic boat shows just one week apart. Amazing!

The Mystic Seaport Museum sponsors their Antique and Classic Boat Rendezvous on the last weekend in July and The Antique Boat Museum has their 44th Annual Antique Boat Show and Auction on the first weekend of August. Maritime Museums and Boat Shows! What more could a classic boat lover ask for?

Well, for one, a traveling companion. preferably my wife. Do I use the approach..."Hey, guess what we're doing this Summer" or is there a way to include her in the planning? There certainly was for our Mt Dora destination last March and it will again be, not only necessary but will add to the adventure. She loves history, she's never been to Washington DC, Williamsburg is very near to Newport News, VA, there are beaches nearby as well. There are tons of interesting places to go and things to do between all three of the above destinations. There's also the remote possibility of some compromise in order to make the trip a successful and memorable vacation for both of us. We'll see what happens.