Aug 7 – Kids are still here. Went to the aquarium in Bayview. It was closed – a little note on the door. Kids are super disappointed, so we go to the Marine Center in Bellingham. That actually ended up being better, a little more bite-sized – just right for 3 and 5-year-olds. Lunch at Boundary Bay – delish. Went to Washington Park for the evening.
Aug 8 – The kids left at 10. I did laundry. Pros and cons of not having a washer and dryer. Pro: you can do all your laundry at once, it is 3 loads per week for us. Then it’s done. Con: If you are on the hook, you need to go into town to do laundry. (current Note: 2.23.24 – We recently (hope we) solved that little problem with a portable washing machine that lives in our shower. More details on that later.) Jim scrubbed the decks and did some polishing. We have some friends arriving later today. We met them at the Union for a beer and a snack. Sundowners on the flybridge.
Aug 9 – Took Jim and Nancy on a cruise to Friday Harbor and back. Chilly but fun. We saw a ton of jumping fish. Evidently, this is the largest sockeye salmon run in years. We got back around 6pm. Ate at the Secret Cove. I have not laughed so hard in a long time. We were at Cap Sante Viewpoint trying to take a selfie. I’m sure everyone thought we were drunk or high. Nope, just high on having fun with friends.
Aug 10 – Bucket list! Deception Pass! We took the Swinomish channel and did a loop around Fidalgo Island. It was sunny, tons of crab pots. Windy in Bellingham Bay. We had pizza at the Wheelhouse. Their two days with us went waaay too fast. They are going to stay longer with us in Alaska (we hope)
Aug 11 – Cearley’s headed out. Jim found a cracked ground in the pump room. Bought a replacement. Because it has marine in front of it, the strap with a brush on it was $116!! Yikes. We went shopping and that pretty much gobbled up the day.
Aug 12 – Took a trip to Fisheries Supply in Seattle and bought a Torqeedo electric motor for our baby dinghy. The previous owners left us the tiniest dinghy you can buy and no motor. The streets in Seattle were closed down for a big annual bike race. We found ourselves accidentally on the route and a cop with a severe tone sent us on our way, not on the route. When we got back we went to the Anacortes Farmer’s Market. This market is super chill compared to the mayhem of the Missoula one. We have decided to stay in the marina until Thursday. (it has been 9 days at this point, have to cut the apron strings sometime!)
Aug 13 – We wanted to go test the new electric motor and pump out. It was too windy, so we aborted the attempt. More boat chores.
2nd week of our San Juan Summer in the books.
Talk Soon.
What a fun trip we had. Hope to see you in July.