In a frenzy, we packed up, said some tearful farewells, and headed off for our next adventure – boat life!
I kept a journal with a few notes-
July 31 – After my dentist appointment we headed out of town. We stopped in Spokane to drop off some railroad memorabilia for Uncle John. Had a nice visit with Kirk. Stopped for the night in Rizville. It was blazing hot.
August 1 – Headed out early and arrived in Anacortes, 70 degrees and breezy. It was even a bit chilly in the breeze. Refreshing! We are staying in the boatyard tonight. Unloaded the U-Haul. Now we need to find a spot to put everything! Returned the U-Haul.
August 2 – LAUNCH DATE! This was nerve-wracking. Our boat broker, trainer, and friend, John Friedrichsen offered to meet us at the boat and help us launch as the last time we were on the boat was April for our two-week training session. We may regret not taking him up on his offer at this point. They show up at the dry dock with a forklift and drive us over to the water. Jim is upstairs on the flybridge, I am downstairs starting the boat. Wait. The boat won’t start. The guy on the forklift is looking impatient. Jim and I are wearing headsets, thankfully. Jim comes down to diagnose the problem. The guy on the forklift pulls out his phone, resignedly. Haha. You actually have to turn on the breaker. Oh boy. The engine starts right up, we signal the guy on the forklift, and we’re off. We wanted to tip him, no chance. Wishing for a re-do. Hearts beating wildly, we now have to get out of the marina, which has a pretty strong current at the gate, which is a zig-zag. We’re glad John took us on a practice run in April. Once we are clear, we decide to take a little spin before the next hurdle – docking at our reserved slip at Cap Sante Marina next door. We both laugh, our palms are SO sweaty from nerves. We enjoy our spin around Huckleberry Island, and we decide to head in. Jim docked like a boss!
August 3 – We didn’t leave the dock today. Jim took the name off the boat. I worked on putting stuff away. Thursdays in the summer are total mayhem in a marina! We later discover there was a rendezvous and lots of boats were arriving for that.
August 4 – Put the name on the boat today. Miss Marlie is official. We are really glad we did not pay someone to do that. Oh, as a reminder our boat is named after our grandmas – Mary and Marlys. We chose our font based solely on the font name (and we were frozen with option anxiety anyways) The font name is Helen – which is one of our other Grandmas name! win/win. My sandals are marking the heck out of the boat, so went shopping for some non-marking soles. Ate at District Brewing in Mount Vernon for dinner. Yum.
August 5 – We have hardly had a moment to miss a soul, but our kids are in the area on vacation so we beg (mom-guilt) them into coming for a few days. We took a little cruise around Allen Island and back. Made mac and cheese on board, underway. Porpoises are jumping OUT of the water. That is the first and only time we saw that all summer. The grandkids are 3 and 5 – their fun meter was pegged about 1/4 way into the cruise. They colored and we all visited inside, it was a chilly day.
August 6 – Showed the kids around Anacortes. Took the loop drive at Washington Park, had lunch at Bastion Brewing. Then off to Rosario beach. The kids had a blast. Ended the day at Mad Hatter’s ice cream. Sunset was epic from the flybridge.
Our first week is in the books. Please comment below if this post is too long and made your eyes glaze over. It’s my goal to keep this brief but interesting.
Talk Soon.