Roche Harbor to Friday Harbor

We left Roche Harbor around 8am and got to Friday Harbor around 10. We took a walk to the ferry dock to get some coffee and some cranberry loaf for breakfast. Then we wandered around town. Reminds me a lot of Juneau or Ketchikan. Small but full of restaurants and little shops and galleries. Surprisingly I didn’t buy anything, although will probably head back tomorrow for a magnet and costume jewelry ring I liked. Fred had headed back to the boat already to do some projects, so my Mom and I stopped at Haley's Bait Shop & Grill for lunch. We wandered town a bit more as we contemplated what to do tomorrow. We had already decided to stay here 2 nights, but there isn’t that much in town to keep us occupied. We debated taking the shuttle back over to Roche, just to see the inside of the island, which we were told is all farmland and such and very pretty. Instead we ended up checking out some whale watching companies down on the docks. We found one that goes out on a 46’ boat, or a 27’ Zodiac style boat that seats half the people and is more high speed and you wear full length anti-exposure suits. We decided to book that one for the 3 of us for tomorrow morning. That’ll be fun. We just had leftovers on the boat for dinner, watched some shows and chilled.

Roche Harbor

Happy Father’s Day! And Happy Bday to my Aunt Janet! So I got up today around 10 and took a shower. We wanted to get going and head to the Island. So we hopped in the dinghy and got over there around 11. We first walked though “town”, past the little airport and to the Mausoleum in the forest. Really pretty place. It is a circle of columns with a marble table and chairs in the center. The family who once lived here is interred in the base of the chairs. Afterwards we headed back to wander the Sculpture Park. It is a very large grassy park, with grass paths and high brush that leads you on the meandering way past over 100 unique sculptures by different artists. There is a large pond right in the center. Very picturesque. We spent some time there before heading back to the Marina to have lunch on the dock. I had a wonderful BLAT (bacon, lettuce, avocado and tomato) sandwich. My Mom and I then wandered by the Hotel De Haro, wandered the shops, though the flower garden and picked up some snacks at the little grocery. At this time the sun started to come out and we headed back to the boat to relax for a few hours. This is a pretty cool port of call so far, I really enjoyed wandering here. The place has a lot of character and charm. I ended up making my frittata on the boat, which turned out pretty good. After dinner we headed to shore this time to watch the Colors Ceremony. It was a little cheesy, as the ceremony was performed by 3 17ish year olds in resort logo sweats. But it was still cool. Before heading back to the boat, we walked down to this one beach with a Pi, whale tail, and another sculpture that we missed during the day. It was getting pretty dark at this point so we headed back to watch a little DVD shows and head to bed.

Sucia to Roche Harbor, San Juan Island

Slept in today and woke up to have breakfast for lunch. We then right away got the kayaks down and my Mom and I went for a nice paddle for an hour and 15 mins or so. At one point we spotted a seal, so we stopped to see where he would pop up next. He poked his head out of the water about 15 feet from me and looked right at me, but I couldn’t get my camera in time before he went under again. The winds picked up and it became harder to paddle, so we headed in. My Mom thought for a min, and said, why don’t we just head on to Roche Harbor. The tides are with us, and we already stayed here last night, so we might as well move on. So we pulled the kayaks from the water and prepped the boat to get underway. About 2 or so hours later we were in Roche Harbor. Cute harbor with some really nice houses on the shore. Kinda reminds me of the Hamptons of Washington, the way the adults and kids whiz around on their boats and such. We just spent the afternoon/evening on the boat and watched sea planes and boats come and go. We had dinner, some freshly made brownies, and watched some more Beauty and the Beast (my Mom and Fred are way sucked in). Tomorrow we will explore shore. I am exhausted, and it’s only 8:15pm, it’ll be an early night. The sun doesn’t even set for another hour. Every night at sunset (9:08pm tonight) here, they do a colors ceremony. I borrowed this description I found on someone’s blog online… “Every night at sunset, Roche Harbor's Color Guard performs the flag lowering ceremony. They play the national anthems for England, Canada, and The United States before taking down each of those flags. At the end, there is a cannon fire and then a bugle plays taps. It is really neat because the whole harbor goes quiet for the ceremony and when the bugle plays taps, the sound just glides all over the water. But when Taps is done, tons of boaters honk their boat horns, and it gets a little crazy.” And that’s what it was like for us too. We didn’t go ashore for it, but we could see the flags in the distance and they played the music over a loud speaker which carried over the water. There was a wedding reception taking place in a tent on shore, and we could here all the music from the band and D.J. playing everything from Black Eyed Peas to Bell Biv Devoe to Elton John to John Cougar Mellencamp. But when the colors ceremony commenced, their music stopped and all the guests lined the outside of the tent to watch the ceremony. Pretty cool. And all the while this was going on, there was a magnificent sunset.

Rosario to Sucia Island

Woke up as we were almost to Sucia. Beautiful sunny day today luckily. We had a little lunch as my Mom made a batch of brownies. Fred got the dinghy down so we could go explore the shore. We went for a walk over to this beach where a bunch of kayakers were camping. Then up a short hike to Fox Point which had some awesome 180 degree views. We then wandered this beach where we saw some cool sandstone formations. As we were walking towards it, an otter came out of the brush and started sand bathing about 20 yards in front of us. We took a bunch of pictures then started slowly walking towards it to see if he would flee in to the water so we could get by, but he didn’t. Must be used to humans. We decided to leave him be and turned around. So we went up another path and I walked the trail over to a second dock to take a look at Mud Bay from a different angle. Very pretty island. Heading back to the boat on the dinghy, the wind had picked up, so we got a bit wet. Decided to head back to the boat instead of exploring more and wait for the wind to die down to take the dinghy or kayaks back out. So I just downloaded more pics and updated my journal again. Also watching as this bay (Fossil Bay) has now filled up with about 22 boats between the docks and mooring buoys. And I had to pop on my phone to read the sports news, and just read that our Sharks captain officially retired today. I knew it was going to happen, but wanted to read the words to know for sure. Congrats to him on a great career. So Fred decided to take a nap, and while he did so, I commented to my mom that I was sad my trip was already half over. Then she said that it was a bummer that she suggested I only come for a week. So the wheels started turning, and after talking with my Dad to make sure he was still cool watching Nala, I called the airline and turned my 7 night trip into an 11 night trip. WooHoo! So now I have a whole week left. Nothing like being spontaneous. And since the winds didn’t die down too much today, we didn’t get the kayaks down. So we decided to stay in this cove another night and go kayaking earlier in the day tomorrow. We made BBQ salmon for dinner, watched some Canadian turn of the century cop show that we got on tv, an episode of Star Trek Voyager, then an episode of Beauty and the Beast to wrap up the evening.

Blind Bay to Rosario, Orcas Island

I woke up at 6:30am to Merlin barking like crazy. No one else got up, so I did to see if he needed to go out. Once out, he just stared at me. So back to bed I went, actually surprised I could fall back asleep. Next thing I know it was 11:30am and we were at out next destination, Rosario. I took a shower and ate a little something so we could head to shore. We wandered up to the mansion, which is now the resort hotel. Very beautiful building with a lot of character. It has a spa on the bottom floor, common areas and restaurant on the main floor and a museum and music room on the 3rd. We wandered down to the beach and let Merlin run around. Then there is this great pond above the marina with water lilies, fountains, a bridge and little islands. Really cute. We walked further back up toward the hotel and spotted a deer just off the side of the road. It was staring at Merlin while I got a few good pics of it. There was an pipe organ concert back in the music room of the hotel at 4pm, so we went back to the boat to kill an hour. Back up to the hotel we went, and spotted another deer on the way. It was across the lawn and just kept walking straight toward us. Got some more good pics. We wandered the museum a little full of old photos, a replica model of the USS Nebraska that the Moran family built, and other interesting items. The music room what really great. It had 2 walls of organ pipes, which were apparently just decorative and hid the working ones. Between the two walls was a 1900 Steinway Grand Piano. Christopher Peacock is the entertainer who has worked at this hotel for 30 years. He played the piano, organ, played a slideshow of Robert Moran’s early 1900’s photos and told stories about the family. It was a very enjoyable hour, very glad I went. We stopped at the restaurant in the resort after and decided to eat there instead of on the boat. The restaurant is brand new, only open for 4 weeks, called The Quilted Pig (http://www.quiltedpigrestaurant.com/). All the tables are right at the window overlooking the cove. Everything, except for one small side dish at the menu, is made from scratch right at the restaurant or locally grown. So everything I had from the fresh foccacia, mixed green salad, pork chop with kale and spaetzle and coconut puff pastry with caramelized bananas and cashews was amazing. Wow, what a meal. After dinner we headed back to the dock and spotted our waiter there. Guess Fred left his credit card at the restaurant and waiter knew we were on a boat, so came down to return it. Very nice of him. We watched an episode of Beauty and the Beast as I caught up on my journal and downloaded some pictures. And change of plans for tomorrow… we’re going to try for Sucia again instead of Reid Harbor.

Anacortes to Blind Bay

I woke up around 8:15am when I heard my Mom and Fred up and about. Laid there for a few, but just got up. We wanted to get on the fuel dock before 9am so we could fill up and get on our way. So we did and waited for the guy to come down and fill us up. Between the 4 gas tanks we topped them off with 155 gallons. Is that all? Not 15 mins outside the marina did I spot a couple of dall porpoises playing in the water. That was a cool way to start the day. We’re on a few hour cruise today headed to Sucia Island. They have never been and it’s supposed to be nice, and also pretty popular, so we’ll see if we can get on a buoy or anchor. Well after a little time of going against the tide and only going 1.5 knots, it was going to take several hours to get there. So change of plans. We hung a left and cruised another 90 mins to Blind Bay on Shaw Island. We anchored with no problem, then made sandwiches for lunch. After getting the dinghy down from topside, we took a short trip over to Orcas Landing on Orcas Island. They have a cute hotel, several gift shops, and espresso place and a great grocery. I needed to run into the grocery to buy some stuff for a frittata I’m going to make one of these nights. They had a great deli with awesome cheeses, specialty candy, and specialty food like herring, greek feta, blue cheese in olive oil, crème fraiche , etc. Pretty great little place. We hopped in the dinghy and headed back to the boat. On the way back there was a small island we passed with about 10 seals sunbathing on it and one swimming around. We slowed down from a distance to take some pictures. Once we got back to the boat and unloaded everything, I asked my Mom for her purse so I could get my glasses out. Well what do you know, the purse is no where to be found. So I stay on the boat with Merlin while and my Mom and Fred head back over top Orcas Island in search oh her purse. They hit the gift shop, hotel, grocery, etc with no luck. They were about to give up and get back in the dinghy when they spotted her purse at the far end of the dock, which is where we got back into the dinghy last time. Boy did she luck out. And I was thankful because I would have had to go home and order another $400 pair of glasses and go without any for the next several weeks. Phew!! So once they returned we started planning our next 4 nights out, as my final night (Monday) will be back in Anacortes in the marina. As of now, we are looking at Rosario on Orcas Island, Reed Harbor on Stuart Island, Roche Harbor then Friday Harbor on San Juan Island. After dinner we decided to watch a movie they borrow from me, Laagan. It’s a Bollywood movie and wasn’t sure how they’d like it. First of all, it was subtitled, which didn’t bother them. And it was also 3 ½ hours long, which I had forgotten. And besides fast forwarding through a few song and dance scenes, they both got sucked in and watched until the end. I was very surprised.

Travel day to Anacortes

I arrived at the airport a little before 11am to find out that my 12:20pm flight was delayed until 1pm. Not a huge deal except that I was catching a 3pm shuttle in Seattle that I was now going to miss, and was going to have to wait until 5pm for the next. I called my parents to let them know I’d be in Anacortes at 8pm now instead of 6pm. UGH! But they decided just to pick me up at the airport instead. That was nice of them. The flight was uneventful and I arrived around 3pm. They picked me up and we drove through Seattle as we headed north. This was my first time in WA outside the airport. Pretty place. We arrived in Anacortes around 5pm or so. We were all hungry, so we stopped in town at the Brown Lantern and all had fish and chips with sweet potato fries and slaw. It was delicious and I finished it all. We drove through town a little and saw a bunch of the murals painted on the sides of buildings and even some downspouts on buildings shaped like watering cans. Really cute. Afterwards we finally headed to the marina to go to the boat. The boat was at the end of a very long marina, which we later learned was about a quarter mile long. Quite a walk with a rolling suitcase. I just settled in and we just hung out. We watched an episode of the old show Beauty and the Beast while having some popcorn. They went to bed and I did my In Touch crossword puzzle before laying down and watching an episode of The Amazing Race on my iPod (I downloaded a few seasons before leaving), Think I crashed around 1am.

What a day...

I was out running errands with my Aunt, when I got a call from my Mom.

They have been up in Washington for about a week now. In that time they came to realize that their passports, boat customs docs, their satellite phone, etc were no where to be found. So to be legal on the water, and to be able to move across the border, they kind of need these things. When they packed up their house to be sold, their stuff went off to several storage units. And they thought these items were maybe put into a box taken off by the movers. So my Step-Brother was set to go to that storage facility today to have them get the crates down so he could go through them. Apparently he spent several hours there with no luck.

So the call I got, was to tell me this, and see if I could go to their other storage units and see what I could find. So my Aunt agreed to go with me and off we went. The unit probably has 100ish boxes all numbered, but not in numeric order. My Mom has a list of what each numbered box contains, but of course these items aren't supposed to be in one of these boxes. So a lot of good that does. An hour and a half after ripping tape off a ton of boxes, no luck. We moved on to the next storage unit, within 10-15 mins, guess what we found? Everything but the satellite phone which they'll have to live without. So we then sent the following picture to my Mom...


After which we received a very happy call from her. It's been a long day for all. But at least they know they can cross the border as they do every year. They were worried they would be stuck in WA for the whole summer and were bummed out. But since their house is on the market right now, they are stuck in the States until a sale closes. They already have an offer for the full asking price, so this may be a done deal soon. The listing site for anyone curious is HERE. So while they are this side of the border, I'm going to head up there for a week. I'm not sure when exactly, as they haven't figured out their plans yet. Within the next 2 weeks likely. But probably going RT to Seattle this time, spend a day or 2 in the city (I've actually never left the airport in WA before), then the rest of the time in the San Juan Islands. The last 5 years I have traveled up to the boat, 3 times were to Alaska and 2 times to Canada. So I have never done this trip in the States. Gotta change things up :-) Anyway, I'm exhausted and sore from all the heavy lifting today, Night!

My dream last night... snow, boats, old classmates

And the weird dreams keep coming.

I was in a very large room, like a hangar, which had water in it like a frozen over pond. There were boats tied up all around the edges of the room, kind of dinghy to speed boat sized. There were moments I was on top of the water with snow. Then there were other moments I remember being in the water with the dinghy upside down on top of me using it like a flotation device, and just hanging out out talking to people. There seemed to be lot's of random people coming in on their boats and hanging out. They were asking me random question like I was in the education field, etc, just making small talk.

I remember seeing a couple out groups of people walking on the ice towards an area where I know the ice is broken. At the last minute a few of us call out to warn them, but they fall in the water. LOL. 2 guys were in full suits too.

As time went on, the room started having more of a nightclub vibe to it. And some random guy grabbed me to give me a hug. It was dark in there, but I recognized some people and asked if they were Piedmonters. And they were. Turned out to be a bunch of people I went to high school with. Random encounter. And that's all I remember.

My dream last night... plane crash, killer snowballs, Phil Keoghan...

My friend and I were in a small plane and she was flying. I remember asking her how we were going to find the airport, so she flew the plane within a few feet of the ground right over the treetops. We ended up crashing, but were ok.

We started walking and shortly saw some cars and civilization in the form of a small rural town. We found this one restaurant/bar and went it. Then the next thing I know, I’m a server in the bar area. Some of the customers were giving me crap for not getting the new customers water quickly enough. I explained that I hadn’t even been shown how yet. So I went to one of the cute male worker bees and asked him where everything was. He took me to the back behind the bar and showed me a shelf with clear white and clear brown plastic cups. He explained that the brown were for the water and the other for regular drinks, then showed me the water dispenser and the ice machine. I started to get the hang of things after that and seemed to fit in.

I then somehow was hanging out with a few girls, guys and Phil Keoghan (cutie pie). And I was flirting with Phil big time and trying to get him to hang out with us. He was flirting back with a few of us, and teasing us by making up grab coins out of his front jeans pockets. (OK, guess my mind was in the gutter in my dream last night :-))

After we were hanging out with him, the weather turned bad. We were in the mountains and it was snowing, but then small avalanches started. Then what looked like meteors flying through the sky, but were really massive snow balls flying by us and crashing into the ground. Everyone started running like mad. I was flying down snowy and rocky mountain sides until I got to a safe place. I found this half broken tunnel and say 3 cars trapped in the snow in there. I looked closely and saw people alive inside. When they saw me, they came out and said they were staying in the cars to try to keep warmer.

And that’s the last thing I remember.