And now back to the things that are really important...

So, as many of you already saw I passed my SM exam.  Thanks for all the congrats!  It was THE hardest test I have ever taken in my life and I'm pretty sure you could consider that test a form of capitol punishment.  But *phew* it's done.  And now back to real life!!

My garden is growing...

Mom and I put up some picket fence corners at the end of the long beds that are growing zucchini, pumpkins, corn, squash, cucumbers, melons, etc!  We had this gang of magpies hanging around the garden and before the veggies started ripening I wanted to discourage them from tagging it by eating them all.  When we were buying the supplies the guy at the checkout said that it would probably be cheaper to make a scarecrow.  This is true, but not as pretty!  I also have had bad luck with scarecrows...wasps making nests in them and in general not working.  But a coworker said why didn't I take home his dirty disposable lab coat and use that.  I took a clean one...and it's been working pretty good!  I still like all the picket fencing though.  It really makes the place look snazzy.

I also have started knitting again with a passion!  There are lots of Christmas presents that are falling behind and I may or may not have bought more yarn in the meantime.  I also have gotten to look more and more like my couch in the 8 months that I studied for that test and am excited to get back on that elliptical and shed some pounds!  And there's the baby stuff.  I have continued trekking on my path to parent-dom and finally did ovulate, so now it's all about hitting the target.  I'm working on it....

Hope this will work...

I've never posted videos, but hopefully this turns out!

Trying Something Different Trip - Part 2

Apparently no one got what I THOUGHT was funny on the post in between the trip posts.  Those are the guys (Jawas) on Star Wars that say "Wootini!"  I thought it was similar enough to "Zucchini!" it would be funny....so anyways.


On Sunday morning we got up a little early because we had a reservation for the Port Townsend to Coupeville ferry.  The drive into Port Townsend was gorgeous and the architecture in town was beautiful! 

 I'm thinking a return trip is in order to stay there!  We waited in the line at the ferry and I had to take a few pics of the Cascades across the sound.  They were more impressive in person, but the pictures don't do them too much injustice.

It was another great ferry ride and I got to do my favorite trick.  You walk in the direction the ferry is going and look out the window to the side of you.  It makes you feel like you are moving at vampire speeds.  We also had fun eavesdropping on a cell phone conversation to a person who obviously didn't know anything about the Pacific Northwest or Seattle.  Snippets included:


"Yeah, I'm on a ferry.  It's a boat that you drive your car on.  No, it's taking me across to an island.  No, it's not the ocean, it's like a bay or something. "


"Yeah there are these big mountains in the distance.  I think they're the Cascades?  No I don't see any volcanoes..."  Cue volcano in the distance in front of the ferry.  It WAS covered with snow, so maybe I should give him the benefit of the doubt?


When Mom and I saw the dock come into view I said we should probably go back to the car.  I got up and walked over to the stairs down to the cars and I could tell no one was behind me.  I looked back and she wasn't there.  I walked back to look at the seats we just vacated...still not there.  Finally I spotted her across the way looking for me.  We both started cracking up!  We must have done a cartoon move and both gotten up and split, going in opposite directions so assured that the other was behind us.


We drove to Coupeville and found the waterfront shops.  We took a picture of the shop they used as Sally's store in Practical Magic.  We had gotten there earlier than the shops opened, but there was a nice bakery open where we got a couple of pastries.  They also had a tavern named "Toby's Tavern."

We decided if Toby would be something it probably would be a tavern.  He is always so happy and ready to have a good time!


We continued on to Anacortes and decided we should scope out where the ships would be departing from.  We drove to the location they put on the tickets to find....nothing.  It was a dead end with a dirt parking lot....  We had just passed the marina so we headed back there and after a little searching Mom found some people who directed us to where the ships would be taking off from.  We walked down and got to go on both ships and decided we wanted to sail on the Lady Washington.  She is a wooden ship based on the original ship that Captain Gray sailed to the Pacific Northwest.

While we were walking down the docks we found a ship named Ariel.  It was pretty funny because it was a crabbing ship.  If Toby's a tavern, then Ariel would definitely be a crab ship.

 We went back to the car and ate a lunch of crackers with the cheddar cheese from the Dungeness Valley Creamery.  As we waited for the ships to depart the weather was drizzly but that kept it cool enough that the dogs wouldn't swelter while we were gone.  


We got our spots on the Lady Washington and listened as the crew told us what would happen and how to stay safe, you know the drill.  They used a motor to get us out of the marina and when we got out into open water the crew went to work opening out the sails.  

Wow.  They would climb up rope ladders to the masts and stand on a single rope untying the knots to let the sails out.  Then they would pull, with all their body weight on ropes to get the sails taught and move them in whatever direction the captain ordered to try and catch the wind. 

 When both ships were in full sail they got back closer together and the battle began!  There was a munitions guy who would load the cannon, aim the cannon at the other ship and yell "Prepare to Fire!".  You were supposed to yell the same thing back and put your fingers in your ears.  He'd fire the cannon and you were supposed to cheer like we'd made a hit.  

We sailed around and fired cannons at each other and just generally tired to get wind in the sails.  It wasn't a very windy day so the last part was a bit hard and it didn't feel like we were moving much sometimes.  It was still the most fun thing I have done in a while! 

 The other funny thing was watching the other "pleasure" boats come around.  Some would circle and circle snapping pictures.  The best was this pair of guys in a little motorboat and the one in the front was busying himself with something not looking around.  The guy in the back must have said something to the one in front because he looked up and just stared, mouth agape.  The guy in back was taking pictures with his cell phone, but the guy in front never stopped gaping.  It was like they'd sailed themselves through a time hole and ended up in the 1800's. I almost didn't take my camera!  Good thing I went back for it!


The trip lasted 3 hours and we were exhausted when we got back.  It was dinner time and we ate at the Rockfish Grill and Anacortes Brewery.  They are a little microbrew place with great wood-fired pizzas.  We had Hefeweizens, a pepperoni pizza with fresh basil on top and a chicken Caesar salad.  YUM!  We then drove out to the Anacortes Ship Harbor Inn.  The rooms look out on the ferry terminal to the San Juan Islands and Victoria B.C.  It was really nice to have some grass right out our glass sliding door so we could take the puppies to the potty easily.  The view was pretty but kind of dreary with the weather.  I did enjoy watching the ferries come and go and we even heard one blow it's horn as it left.  The next morning the sun was out and the view was fantastic!  

We packed up and I had looked in the yellow pages for a yarn store since we had some time to kill.  We stopped at Ana-Cross Stitch and they had all sorts of beautiful yarns.  Mom looked for some patterns for Cowichan and cabled fisherman's sweaters.  I found some beautiful blue-green yarn and some 9 inch circular needles for using to make mittens, fingerless gloves and other such small diameter projects without having to use double-pointed needles.  I was ready to move to Anacortes.  They had gorgeous views of the ocean, moderate yearly rainfall amounts, a microbrew, a yarn store and they weren't too far from an IMAX theater.  Pretty much perfect, right?  We got out of town on time and drove on to the IMAX theater which was close to the Alderwood Mall.  The poster outside the theater said it all.

Harry Potter was pretty amazing on a huge 3D screen, and it was a great way to end the movies.


After that we headed home with great memories, thoroughly relaxed and ready to go back!