To celebrate our seven year "civil" wedding anniversary, Rich and I spent three glorious day sailing in the south Puget Sound. Early Friday morning, we headed to Olympia and stopped at I-Hop for a yummy breakfast – eggs benedict for me and a veggie omelet for Rich. We then zipped to a Goodwill to buy a "bag of rags" for $4.99 in anticipation of having to dry off the boat.

For the past thirty days, Seattle didn’t have a drop of rain (it’s true). On Thursday night and Friday morning, however, the rain came down in sprinkles then buckets.

We arrived at Island Sailing around 9:00, somewhat eager to get on the boat, considering the drippy weather. After receiving an orientation of the areas and how to navigate out of the tricky marina, we headed down to the boat, a 30-foot Catalina. It took two trips to the car to gather up our two sleeping bags, a large duffle bag of clothes and foul weather gear (known as foulies), another duffle bag of sailing gear (vest, radio, GPS, binoculars, etc), an ice chest of food and ice (the boat had an insulated ice chest), and two plastic bins of non-perishable food, coffee, books, maps, plates, paper towels… and a luscious chocolate mocha cake with chocolate coffee beans. The latter is a must for a sailing trip!

Once everything was unpacked and put into its place, it was time to cast-off. And happily, by the time we left, the rain had ceased and the air had become muggy.

By the time, we reached open water, we needed to change into shorts and t-shirts because the gray skies had been cleared by a strong wind that was warmed by the sun. For the next few hours, we sailed at the warp speed of 4-6 knots.

Everything was perfect! Easy boat to sail. Incredible weather. Splendid wind. Little traffic and few crab pots to avoid. And glorious scenery.  

Around 5 o’clock, we picked up a mooring ball by Stretch Island. After a quick dinner (ham, instant potatoes, and salad with lettuce from our garden), we took the dinghy ashore to gather seashells and rocks.

Across from where we moored was a upscale camp site owned by the Olympia Yacht Club (below). It has a large club house along with numerous tiki huts, one of which was an outdoor kitchen. 

After a delightful night’s rest in the cozy v-berth, made more cozy with two huge flannel sleeping bags, we slipped on our lightweight clothing, thinking we were going to have another warm and windy day.

Nope. The gray skies had no intention of going away. In fact, they decided to spew water, forcing us to layer on the clothing and pull out our foulies. Here I am dressed from head-to-two in ghastly yellow, trying to be cheerful while my teeth chattered.

In spite of the weather, I managed to doze off while reading a magazine in the drizzle. When the rain increased, Rich suggested that I go below deck, where I could stay dry while he braved the elements and motored on to our next destination. It was impossible to sail with the rain and intermittent wind.

Happily, the rain eased as we approached McMicken Island, a state park that can only be reached by boat or walking across a sandbar that connects to Hartstene Island during low tide. Personally, I would never cross a sandbar in the Puget Sound where the water is a deadly 60 degrees and tides are 14 feet from high to low.

Oh, here’s a picture of the brave captain in his snazzy foul weather gear, including grizzly beard and furrowed brow.

After gobbling some lunch, we jumped in our dinghy and rowed ashore. McMicken is 11.5 acres in size with several hiking trails and a very rocky shore that is evidentially teaming with shellfish from clams to oysters. You can explore the entire island except for a small fenced off area that used to belong to the original inhabitant who wanted to claim the island for the King of Sweden (at least that’s one of the stories about the island).

In the fenced off area, you can see several run down buildings along with a house that seems to be in pretty good shape with bookshelves still full of books. I was aching with curiosity to climb over the fence and peak in the house. Captain Rich, however, kept telling me it was PRIVATE PROPERTY. Drats!

After returning to our boat, we nibbled on crackers, cheese and smoked salmon the both conked out while reading. As it grew cold, Rich went below deck and I climbed into the v-berth to continue my late-day nap.

Dinner was next on the agenda, followed by more sleep. One of the best parts of being on the boat is being rocked to sleep and hearing the halyard rhythmically tapping against the mast!

The next morning brought sunshine with little wind, but many seals on a Sunday stroll (swim). The seals were a hoot to watch. Just as we were about ready to give up on the wind, it picked up, providing Rich with an opportunity to hang onto the wheel while I trimmed the sails as we tacked back-and-forth numerous times.

As we neared Olympia, we had a slight docking challenge when we went to top off diesel. Rich cut into the dock too late, leaving me with a foot or two of dock that I had to jump onto and quickly tie up the boat. If I had waited another moment to jump, I would have landed in the water!

At the pump-out (sewage) dock,  a couple from another boat helped us dock. The wind was blowing us away from the dock, making it hard to get close enough to the dock for me to jump.

The opposite occurred when we pulled into the boat slip… the wind gently blew the boat towards the dock so I simply waited until the boat glide near the dock then jumped, tied off the stern then caught the line from Rich and tied off the bow. In non-sailing terms: Our third attempt to dock was perfectly executed!

Above is Rich making coffee in the boat’s galley. He’s more awake in the morning than I and much better at making coffee.

We talked to two couples on McMicken Island who live on their boats. One man, a pilot with two young children, waxed poetic about the virtues of living on a sailboat. For Rich and I, we had a splendid three days sailing, but were thrilled to get home to our full-size kitchen, bedrooms, living, dining and family rooms… along with toilets that aren’t a hassle to flush!

Last week, I took the train to Portland, Oregon… a pleasant 3.5 hour trip through scenic Washington. Amtrak is very enjoyable because you can purchase a ticket online, waltz to the train station half an hour before the train leaves, get a boarding pass then leisurely get on the train without being searched or x-rayed. Plus, the seat are like Barcaloungers, made out of leather with a platform that lifts up so your legs are elevated.

On the ride up, I sat next to a woman who graduated from Reed College in the 60’s. She was bring a large box of books and notes from her calligraphy studies to donated to the university’s library. She had created a font called Gutter, which she "wrote" in my diary using a calligraphy pen.

The time passed quickly, talking to her about the influence of music on typography and how punk has influenced her recent work. She recommended that I start a journal that is composed of bits of writing and snippets of things that catch my attention. I took her advice and the first pages of this free-form journal has my Amtrak and Tri-Met (bus) ticket from my Portland trip!

After I arrived in Portland, I hustled downtown where I caught a bus to downtown Sherwood, which is a short walk to my mother’s house.

The weather was perfect… 70-degrees with clear skies, which reaffirmed my desire to drive to the coast the next day. With a picnic lunch packed and Cyrano (rat terrier) and Gigi (Sheltie) in the car, we headed to Cannon Beach. Half of Portland must of had the same idea because it took us a while to find a parking spot!

Cannon Beach is a classy town with many art galleries and boutiques, restaurants, and landscaped plazas with benches where you can watch the hordes of people walk by, many with dogs on leashes or tucked under their arm. The beach is equally wonderful. You can walk for miles on the smooth sand, picking up rocks and driftwood or wandering around the tidal pools. The picture above is Haystack Rock, which is opposite Cannon Beach. 

Cyrano and Gigi were thrilled to be at the beach. They ran around, barking at the waves and greeting other dogs (and humans) on the beach.

After eating our picnic lunch (turkey wraps, grapes, carrots, wheat crackers) at Cannon Beach, we headed south to Tillamook(below) and the Tillamook cheese factory. While you can’t tour the factory any more, you can walk through the exhibits, sample cheese… and of course, purchase tourist items, along with cheese and other diary products, jams, jellies, canned fruits and vegetables, seafood, and other Oregon gourmet foods.

After stocking up on cheese — I got Rich a white cheese with whole black peppers — we indulged in a cup of Tillamook ice cream. I had espresso mocha!

We then headed home through the Tillamook State Forest and lush farm lands. It was a very pleasant day for my mother, myself and the two dogs.

Meanwhile, Rich was in Mount Vernon, fixing the air conditioner in our motor home and doing other household projects.

Late Sunday afternoon, I took the train back to Seattle… sleeping and reading most of the way.

Late Friday afternoon, Rich and I picked up our motor home in Mount Vernon, loaded it with food, clothing, and a newly purchased inflatable canoe, then set out for Deception Pass State Park. Rich had made a reservation weeks earlier so we simply needed to drive to our campsite, connect the water and electricity, and enjoy a candle-lit dinner of rotisserie chicken, baked potatoes, salad, and kalamatta olive bread dipped in roasted garlic olive oil. 

With a sliver of sunlight remaining, we quickly cleaned up then walked to the beach to gather rocks – mostly white and cream-colored quartz – and listen to the waves crashing on the shore. The beaches in the Pacific Northwest are rugged with rocks and pebbles instead of sand, and huge piles driftwood from fallen trees and branches.

There were several elaborate lean-tos, built from the driftwood, on the beach. Rich and I crawled into one then realized if it collapsed, no one would hear our cries. We envisioned being featured on a TV show or Website as one of the dumbest ways to die. 

Coming to our sensed, we scurried back to our motor home, using a dirt trail instead of the well-lit road. We had to strain our eyes to see the boulders and roots in the path. We could have easily stumbled and been featured in the dumbest way to break a bone.

The next morning, we hopped on our bikes and rode to another beach. We thought we could ride on the sand, but it was too soft and akin to pedaling in gooey mud… not fun and lots of hard work. Nevertheless, we got to watch several people in sea kayaks practice flipping over and righting themselves up. I now have no desire to ever go sea kayaking. The idea of being upside-down in frigid water, teaming with Orcas whales, and struggling to flip myself over, without slithering out of the kayak, doesn’t appeal to me.

Our walk/ride on the beach ended by the Deception Pass Bridge (below). Built in 1935, the bridge connects Fidalgo and Whidbey Islands and was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1982.  Before the bridge was built, travelers had to hit a mallet against a metal lumberjack saw to summons a ferry boat captain who would take them from one island to the other.

Crossing Deception Pass is a tricky feat even in today’s powerful boats. At peak current of 8 knots (9.5 miles per hour), almost 900 million gallons of water pour through the deep and turbulent channel that connects the Strait of Juan de Fucas with the Saratoga Passage. The only boat that I’ve seen go through the channel is a high-speed tour boat. And supposedly, several gutsy Navy pilots from the nearby base have flown under the bridge.

After dragging our bikes from the beach up to the highway, we decided to ride on a “perimeter” trail. At first, we encountered several large boulders and roots, which forced us to walk our bikes. The trail then evaporated into a narrow foot path that zigzagged along a rocky slope.  In certain places, Rich had to carry my bike because I didn’t have the strength and balance to hold the bike up while clambering up the rocky boulders.

Nevertheless, the view and the surrounding flora were spectacular. On the sun-baked slopes was pale green succulents interspersed with delicate red, yellow, white, and purple wild flowers. In the bay below, the tide was completely out, leaving a dozen or so boats resting on the muddy bottom. Several blue heron took advantage of the receding water, prodding the mud with their long, sharp beaks for morsels of food. Of course, we didn’t have our camera!

Once we got back to our motor home, we ate a quick lunch then laid-out the canoe, which was flat with a multitude of zippers, tubes, and baggy canvas. I was pleasantly surprised as Rich pumped it full of air. As you can see in the picture, it’s fairly large and amazingly comfortable. Once assembled, we were able to easily carry it from our campsite to Cranberry Lake, a 15-minute walk. The lake had once been filled with sea water, but natural springs in the area eventually flushed out the salt water, leaving a calm, trout-filled lake.

We gently placed the canoe in the water and eased into the seats. Rather quickly, we discovered that the canoe was best powered by having me paddle with one half of the kayak paddle and Rich with the other. In this manner, we balanced out each other. Plus, it gave me something to do.

I was amazing at how easy it was to paddle around the lake. I can’t wait to try the canoe in other waterways, such as Lake Sammamish by Microsoft and Lake Union in downtown Seattle… and so many other places that will be fun to see from the water!

Because the weather was so perfect, cool with clear skies, after canoeing, we headed back to the beach to watch the waves and hordes of people also enjoying the evening. With summer solstice two months away, the days are getting long in the Pacific Northwest with dusk arriving around 9 o’clock.

Sunday morning, we awoke with no aches or pains so we jumped back on our bikes and did more sightseeing and rock collecting. Around 1 o’clock, we sadly headed back to Mount Vernon to unpack the motor home, run some errands then head south to Kirkland and our workaday lives.

From canoeing to enjoying time together in the motor home, it was a fabulous weekend!

Several weekends ago, we scurried up to Mount Vernon, jumping in our motor home and drove to Fort Casey on Whidbey Island. After getting situated in a camp site by the water, we watched the last ferry of the night go from Keystone to Port Townsend.

If you weren’t looking, you wouldn’t notice that the ferry had just glided by, only 40-50 feet from the shore. They are very quiet.

The next morning, we biked to the ferry landing for a quick breakfast of bagels, cream cheese with chunks of smoked salmon, and a latte with almond flavor. Yum.

We then took our bikes on the ferry to Port Townsend. The picture above was taken from the ferry. Our motor home is the one to the right.

Stacey met us in Port Townsend to show us the boat – the Adventuress – that she’s been working on for the past few months. Every year, the boat is refurbished, a strenuous job that requires the help of dozens of volunteers and paid staff.

We then rode around the town; Stacey used the Shore Dinghy, a rusty bike that the crew of the Adventuress uses for errands and trips to the on-shore bathrooms.

We went by the paper mill and motel that were featured in the movie, "An Officer and a Gentleman." Stacey also showed us a rope swing that was tied to a giant tree. We each took turns swinging… some of us were more adventurous than others.

Having worked up an appetite, we headed for downtown Port Townsend and had a wonderful lunch at Sirens, which is in a historical building and has a view of the water. Most the building in downtown Port Townsend are from the turn-of-the century with tall, skinny windows, exposed brick, and ornate trim.

After lunch, we zipped into Mad Hatter & Company where I tried on and purchased a wonderful green hand-knit boiled wool hat with an upturned gray brim and a large multi-colored flower. It was much more fashionable than my Columbia Sportswear fleece baseball cap. And happily, it was equally warm.

As the afternoon drew to a close, we said "good-bye" to Stacey and took the ferry back to Keystone. After a quick snack, we biked over to Fort Casey, a decommissioned fort that along with Fort Flagler (on Marrowstone Island) and Fort Worden (in Port Townsend) created a "Triangle of Fire" to protect the Puget Sound from enemy invasions. 

The fort is on 467 acres and was built in the 1890’s. It’s quite large and housed hundreds of men when active. We’ve been to several of these forts, which I find eery with rows of damp concrete batteries, lookout stations, and other accruements of war. Click here to see pictures of the fort and descriptions of the armory.

The next morning, we put on heavy clothes and walked along the beach picking up interesting pebbles and driftwood then wandered around the fort and lighthouse.

We’d taken Pu’Yi with us. Even though the cat follows Rich around the house, he’s not a dog. Rich, however, can’t grasp this fact and thought if he took the cat out of the motor home, he’d walk with him to the bathrooms. Nope. We spent ten minutes or so chasing the cat after he slithered under another motor home. Cats aren’t dogs!

The picture above is of the sunrise on Saturday morning. We had perfect weather… cold, but no rain or snow. Below is a picture of the keystone/Port Townsend ferry. It holds around 45 trucks and cars and takes around 30 minutes to cross the Puget Sound. It’s a very pleasant ride… and a nice respite from the cold. The seats in the lounge area are cushy!

In April, we have another trip planned to Whidbey Island. This time, we’ll stay by Deception Pass, which is the treacherous waterway between Fidalgo and Whidbey Islands.

The Sunday before Christmas, Stacey, Rich’s daughter, was supposed to fly from San Diego to Seattle. Her flight, however, was delayed for three days because of the snow and airline issues compounded by bad weather across the country.

By the time she arrived, it had been snowing on-and-off for over a week; although it was starting to warm up and rain drops were intermixed with sleet and snowflakes. After we picked her up, we drove north to Mount Vernon on plowed freeways and roads… until we got within a few miles of our house. The roads were snow- and ice-covered and at least 18-inches of snow blanketed our house, the driveway, our Honda CRV and Stacey’s Geo (right).

In addition, the road that ran along the side of our house had been plowed; the snow from the road was piled up along our driveway and in front of the mailbox.

Rich spend at least an hour shoveling and flattening the snow so we could back out the Honda the next morning. He also had to create a pathway to the front door, using a variety of tools, including a small hoe and a chute from his riding lawn mower. We’ll look into buying a snow shovel for future storms.

On Christmas morning, we piled into the Honda (below, capped with snow) and ventured north on Interstate 5, which varied from three plowed lanes to barely one snow- and ice-covered lane as we neared the Canadian border. Crossing into Canada, the roads were plowed of all snow. Rich commented that it looked like they’d mopped the freeway because they were free of gravel and debris.

In addition, within minutes of entering Canada, the sun started to shine; although, it was short-lived and throughout the day, the sun played hide-and-go-seek with thick gray clouds. Nevertheless, it didn’t rain or snow the entire day.

Our first stop was at the Vancouver apartment of Stacey’s ex-boyfriend’s parents. They live in a cozy two-bedroom apartment, built in the 50’s with a large mosaic in the lobby in across the front of the apartment building. Because their street was covered with snow, we had to park a few blocks away on a main street (below) and wade through 18-inches of snow to get to the sidewalk.

Jeannie, the mother, pointed out the original pink oven and stove, along with the little phone nook, and other typical 50’s architectural features.

Jeannie’s artwork, paintings on handmade, often textured, paper were hung on every wall and piled on bookcases and other furniture. I was enthralled with several paintings, especially the ones in which she pressed leaves and twigs onto the paper while it was still wet. She’d then paint on top, creating three-dimension paintings. One painting featured a large palm leaf pressed into the paper, which was painted dark red. One half of the leaf had dark shadows with a black paisley design painted on top. The other half of the leaf introduced brighter shapes of red with white stippling. The painting was very yin and yang with the black paisley on the bottom and white stippling on top.

We then headed to downtown Vancouver and a marina where Stacey’s boyfriend’s boat was located. Stacey wanted to remove her “stuff” since they’d recently broken up. The picture on the left was taken from the marina, which was covered with snow and some of the water was frozen.

By the time we left the marina, we were famished and headed to Chinatown, which was packed with people even though it was Christmas day. After finding a parking spot in snowy parking lots, we gobbled dim sum and enjoyed peaking in some of the shops.

With the weather cooperating, we zipped over to Stanley Park to do some sight-seeing. Below are some pictures take from Stanley Park, a 1,000-acre park, featuring the Vancouver Aquarium; walking, hiking, cycling and inline skating trails; numerous monuments; totem poles; and of course, spectacular scenery. Notice the snow and the blue skies on one side of the park and ominous clouds on the others

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As the sun started to set, we headed back to “the states” on now plowed roads. When we got back to Mount Vernon, I concocted a quick spaghetti dinner using cans of stewed tomatoes, tomatoes sauce, olives, and spices. Our Christmas day meals consisted of mini mart coffee and junk food for breakfast, dim sum for lunch, and spaghetti for dinner!

The next day, Friday, we returned to Kirkland, but as we neared Seattle, we were surprised to see so much snow. Evidentially, it started snowing late Christmas Eve and continued through Christmas, leaving many inches of snow. Luckily, we were in Rich’s truck, which was able to slog through the snow. Right is Rich’s truck, taken from our second story window, a few days before Christmas.