Friday Harbor and heading home!

On Saturday morning about 3 AM the power was still not up.  I woke up and noticed the light that I had turned on in the bathroom, to alert us to the power coming back on, was still dark.  I laid there thinking about how if the power didn't come back on we couldn't get back to Friday Harbor because it required power to pay at the terminal, and power out on the islands to buy anything at a store, and power to do pretty much anything you wanted to do.  I figured if the power didn't come back on by 7 AM we would just pack up and go home.  I mean what were we going to do for a whole day and then pay for another night at the motel?  It was just as well I figured, because while the pictures look nice I was in anything but a pleasant mood about the trip so far.  I felt like it had failed at being a vacation and that while it sounded nice to do all those things, doing them all in one trip made it the opposite of relaxing.  About that time the power came back up.

I still didn't feel like sleeping at that point, so I tried to get on the wireless internet at the motel but it was still down.  There was some yarn at Island Wools that I had just loved.  It's Malabrigo Arroyo in the colorway Azules.  And. I. Loved. It.  I want to marry it.  Seriously.  But it's my own caveat that when you buy yarn on vacation there needs to be a pattern you are buying it for.  This keeps me from buying one skein of beautiful yarn that ends up sitting in the stash because there's not enough yarn to knit it into something I would use or want.  It just sits there in it's cubby and I go in and love it occasionally and then do an extensive Ravelry search for the perfect pattern only to put it back, dejected again.  But I had seen a pattern I wanted to knit, I just needed to get online and see what the yardage and weight requirements were.  I ended up getting online at the ferry terminal later that day (paying only $7.50 for some peace of mind).  So the most beautiful yarn in the world will be knit into Lintilla.

We got up around our "wake up call" time only because we were awake and not because any call came.  Whatever.  We watched the news as we ran around and they said that the storm that had caused the blackout on the 13th had a record number of lightning strikes in the Seattle area in one 24 hour period, somewhere around 1000 strikes.  The day was supposed to be free of nasty weather and the high temps were projected to be near 80 out on the islands, which is pretty warm!  We made it to the terminal in plenty of time and got our spot on the 9 AM ferry.  This time we were parked on another outside spot, so we had a good view...of fog.  We spent some time in the car and then went up to get some coffee.  The cleaning people had not refilled our coffee stash the previous day, leaving us only with decaf, which is not acceptable for caffeine deprived people.  Eventually the fog lifted and it was lovely when we reached Friday Harbor.

After some searching we found their farmer's market.  It was a great little market with fresh fruits and vegetables, honey, fresh pasta, bakery items and more available!  We got a couple of pastries and I thought about getting some ravioli, but felt it would probably go bad before we ate it.  We drove out to the San Juan Vineyards tasting room next.  They have a great selection of wines, lots from grapes grown in the Yakima Valley, and we tasted a red and a white that we each got a bottle of.  There was a cute little church on the property and a huge area that would be perfect for a wedding reception, complete with vineyards in the background.

We moved on next to find the San Juan Island Distillery.  They make their own gin, which I LOVE, plus hard ciders and other spirits.  We got there too early for tasting, but I wasn't leaving without a bottle of gin so I got that and another mix of their spirits called Red Sky at Night.  Mom got two different hard ciders, now that she knew how much she likes them.  We headed over towards the lavender farm on the island and saw the turn off to a state park, English Camp.  Deciding the dogs probably needed a walk we drove in a parked.  Just a short walk down was a recreation of the English Camp that was stationed there during the time that Britain and the United States shared the island until the water boundary between the nations could be settled.  They had re-enactors, a couple of buildings and an English garden.  Mom picked up an informational brochure and talked to a park ranger a bit about the history of the place and then we walked around to give the dogs some good time out of the car.

Continuing on to the Pelindaba Lavender farm we got to see lots of the back-country of the island, which was wonderfully rural.  There were acres of lavender around the visitor center of the farm, along with some interesting art and beautiful original buildings.  We, of course, picked up some lotion, bubble bath and something they call Hydrosol, which is a by-product of the distilling of the lavender essential oil process.  It is a really good organic cleaner, especially for jewelry.  Thinking of all the pieces I wear all the time I got some to try it out.  Their lotion was the best lotion I got on the trip!  Not oily and really full of lavender fragrance.

We drove back to Friday Harbor and got in line for our ferry back and then walked into town again.  I made it to Island Wools to pick up the yarn I couldn't live without and then we got ice cream cones again.  We didn't leave too much time to wait for our ferry this time, since we knew how it worked from yesterday.  In all the downtime we had on the trip I did manage to make some headway on the shawl that I was working on back in North Carolina.

We saw so many boats on this trip, sailing back and forth on the ferries, that I think that is something I would love to do.  I could stand to live the life of sailing from place to place, marina to marina, seeing lots of the world from the ocean.  The sailboats especially enthralled me...

On July 15th we mercifully headed home.  The previous year we had thought about how close we were to Monroe on the way home, where Aunt Norma lives.  She is not really my Aunt, but a relative nonetheless, one of my grandmother's cousins.  They were always a part of our extended family and with so few of us left, we felt it was important to keep those connections up.  We've always sent birthday and Christmas presents her way and it was a treat to get to meet her.  She was born the same day and year as my grandmother and celebrated her 90th birthday this year.  I knitted a pair of fingerless mittens for her in lavender, since it was my grammy's favorite color I thought it might be her's too.  We met her at her apartment and she took us out for lunch.  She suffers from essential tremors, which isn't Parkinson's disease, but does cause her hands and head to shake uncontrollably.  She manages very well and it was a great time reminiscing.  And I managed to not take a single picture of the event...

We were happy to get back home.  And happy to not see a single vacation in August on our calendar.  It's not like we didn't stay ridiculously busy as you shall see...

Friday the 13th...

When we got up that morning we were in a good mood.  We had yummy pastries to eat, decent coffee, and a fabric store to visit plus we had slept in later than we had any day so far that trip.  I wanted to make sure we could get to the ferry about an hour before it left, so I double checked the time the Lopez Island ferry left and figured we'd have plenty of time.  We drove into Anacortes to the rumble of thunder and found Fabrics Plus, a quaint fabric store with bolts of every kind of fabric from, literally, floor to ceiling.  Mom got some batik fabrics to make shirts for herself and a cute pink fairy print to use as a border for a new quilt.  I got a large panel piece with orcas, turtles and dolphins on it with matching border fabrics.  We were really optimistic as we drove back up to the ferry terminal to catch our ride.  When it was our turn the lady told us the 12:35 ferry to Lopez was full and the next ferry was sailing at 5 PM!  We were a bit at a loss since we'd wanted to go to the winery and creamery that were on the island and they'd be closed after 5 PM.  It was around 11:30 at this point, so we turned around and went back to the hotel and sat in the parking lot shocked and trying to decide what to do.  I was really very upset and heartbroken really that the day was screwed.  The whole trip had involved so much planning and I just kind of broke down at the same time the plan broke down.  I had felt it wasn't much of a vacation so far, it was more like a marathon.  Mom said she refused to sit around in the hotel all day, so we'd go to whatever island we could.  Friday Harbor was the only option at this point, since it had so many sailings in and out.  We drove back and got in line for the 2 PM sailing which would get us in about 3 PM.  We decided we'd go to the lighthouse and lavender farm but we needed to be back in line for the 6:30 sail because the next one after that was at 10 PM!  Since 1 hour wasn't enough time to get on the ferry that morning we planned to be back into Friday Harbor at 5 PM.  Instead of just running from one thing to the other we nixed the idea of going to the lavender farm that day.  We were planning on going to Friday Harbor on Saturday, since that was the only day the distillery was open, so we'd just wait another day.  I was so tired of running and making decisions that one event felt like enough that day.  When they loaded us on we were right in front, Mom's least favorite place to be.  She has seen too many videos of cars just dumping right off the ends of ferries like these to feel comfortable leaving her car there.  But the put blocks under our tires and I put the break on the car to assuage some of her fears.  We were both a bit paranoid now at all the bad luck we'd been having, but with a great view and two doggies to hold, we just stayed put and enjoyed the ride.

It also ended up that the ferry we sailed on was the Yakima, so that should be a sign of good luck, right?  The day was pretty sunny and warm but there were threatening clouds still hanging around.  We made it to Friday Harbor and found our way out to the lighthouse.  It was another state park so we'd used our Discovery Pass three times!  It had paid for itself!  We'd arrived too late to hear the talk about the lighthouse and too late to see the J pod of orca whales go by.  They'd been pass the lighthouse about 4 times that day but were unlikely to make another appearance.

We sat around for a while and then decided to head back to town.  Mom needed to use the facilities, which had all the glamour of a modern restroom until you lifted the lid and saw that it was a glorified outhouse.  There were 2 deer grazing close by, a doe and a fawn, that were pretty tame and not spooked by all the tourists taking pictures.

The parking for the ferry back to Anacortes is right in downtown Friday Harbor and like everyone else we got our car in line and then walked over to do some shopping.  I had found another yarn shop, Island Wools, that we set off to find.  This was another awesome store.  They had gorgeous yarn and I bought a skein of locally dyed sock yarn and some Malabrigo lace weight to knit another shawl I had seen online.  Mom got two skeins of sock yarn, a blue and a sea green.  We also saw a shop selling Lopez Island Creamery ice cream, and since we'd missed it, we stopped in for a couple of scoops.  Mom was nervous about getting back to the car because she thought we were sailing at 6:00 and it was 5:30.  There was a sign that told us to be back in the car 20 minutes prior to sailing, but when we got back to the car and checked it was really at 6:30.  It was still fairly warm and we didn't want to leave the puppies too long in the car, so we sat and knit a bit to leave the windows down for the dogs.  I was thirsty and caffeine deprived and I could see a coffee stand from where we were sitting, so I left Mom with the dogs and went over to pick up some drip coffees.  I had left my window all the way down, a real no-no with only one person in the car with two dogs.  While I was gone a dog in another car started barking, which sent Toby and Ariel into barking fits themselves and they both headed out opposite windows.  Mom had ahold of Toby in her lap and in his exuberance he ripped half of her knitting off of the needles.  She made a loud explicative, which I heard from the coffee stand.  When I got back she had both windows almost all the way up and was trying to pick up all the stitches that had come off.  I got in and sipped my coffee quietly while she struggled.  Just as she'd gotten most of them on, she was pulling them further onto the needle and the cord came apart from the needle, resulting in all the stitches coming off again.  There was a sharp intake of breath from her.  Grumbling she put the needle back together as best she could and started again to pick up the stitches.  I helped her get a couple that were disappearing and then picked up a couple of dropped stitches while she pulled herself together.  The clouds had been slowly gathering as we sat there and as Mom was knitting along there was a flash, like that of a camera.  It was immediately followed by the most loud and crackly thunder I have ever heard in my life.  It practically stopped Mom's heart.  She just sat there paralyzed and blinking for a few seconds.  The lightning strike must have been a few hundred feet from where we were sitting.  We were loading soon and as we made our way onto the ferry there were plenty more flashes and rumbles.  This time our spot was on the side so we still had a view and we turned around and watched the thunderstorm roll over Friday Harbor.  As we sailed back we went through a couple of downpours that made the water look like it had pimples and the lightning continued.

It was still stormy when we got back to Anacortes and we decided to drive straight back to the Rockfish Grille for dinner.  We knew they'd have live music again but this time it was later than Friday night's band.  We had burgers and beers while they were setting up and there were a couple of huge flashes of lightning and loud thunder that would make everyone cheer.  We worried about the puppies being freaked out and so we didn't dawdle much with dinner.  We paid the bill and just as Mom signed the paper the power went out.  And didn't come back on.  The manager told all the waiters to get to the terminals and charge out what they'd already ordered.  Since we had paid we made our exit, so much for the live music.  Outside the sky was on fire!

The sun was setting under the huge thundercloud that was on top of us turning it orange.  There would be streaks of lightning that I tried to get a picture of, but no luck.  We were going to get gas but without any power we couldn't.  So we headed back to the hotel and found a couple of flashlights in the car that we took in with us.  We got ready for bed and called the front desk for a wakeup call at 5:30.  We wanted to go to the farmer's market in Friday Harbor and we were NOT going to miss the 9 AM sailing.  It took us both a while to get to sleep with the lightning and thunder, but finally we did.  What a Friday the 13th!

Up to Anacortes!

Thursday morning, July 12th, we drove up to our next base for adventures up in Anacortes.  We had reservations on the 11:45 ferry from Port Townsend to Coupeville since we knew from last year you pretty much HAVE to have a reservation to get a spot on those ferries.  When we got into Port Townsend there was a bank of fog laying on the water and a moderate line at the ferry terminal.  When we made it up to get our reservation checked we were told that all of the morning ferries to Coupeville had been cancelled due to the fog and that we could get in line and wait for the fog to lift and get on a ferry or get a refund.  We opted for staying in the line and waiting.  We'd already paid the money and anyone without a reservation was being turned away, so we felt better late than driving all the way around to Anacortes.  It didn't take too long and they started loading for the first ferry they had at berth, and we didn't think we'd make it on, but they packed that ferry real good, so we left around 12:30.

Early morning at the Port Ludlow marina

When we arrived at the Coupeville landing, the weather was clear!  We'd planned on spending some real time in Coupeville and doing some shopping since last year it was a mad dash up to Anacortes.  We ate at the Front Street Grille, a nice waterfront restaurant that had really good fish and chips plus the wonderful view.

Then we did a little shopping, Mom got some Dutch chocolate, and picked up some pastries at the Knead and Feed bakery.  It was getting warm so we got the dogs and and took them for a walk up to where I thought there was a fabric store, at least according to Google.  It looks like it must have been gone for some time because the restaurant that was in it's place looked pretty well established.  At least we could still go to the yarn store we saw on the way in we thought.  After we packed everyone back in we drove up to the yarn store and went in to look around.  They didn't have a wide variety of yarns, and none of the specific ones we were looking for, but the entire time we were there we never saw a single person, clerk or shopper.  I wondered at the thought that people must not steal yarn very often if you feel comfortable leaving your shop open with no one around.  It's probably because any knitter would feel guilty the entire time they were knitting something with stolen yarn.

We continued north through Oak Harbor up to Deception Pass.  I wanted to get the shots of the bridge that had eluded me last year, so Mom pulled off into a state parking lot (use of Discovery Pass #2!) and we hiked a ways down a trail to get a better picture.  Only the trees that were all around made my pictures look like this.

Not terribly spectacular.  Just down the trail a bit though and the view down to the water and beach looked like this!

So pretty!  Maybe I need to think about staying at the campgrounds there sometime.  As we drove over the bridge you could see people all pulled off to the opposite side of the road taking those great pictures I still didn't get.  The traffic was so heavy and the road so narrow that it would have been impossible for us to cross the traffic and then get going the right way again.  Le sigh.

Because of the delay of the ferry earlier in the morning we made it to Anacortes a bit later than I had planned, so we decided to go to Ana-Cross Stitch, the amazing local yarn store, and save the fabric store for the next day.  It was getting close to closing time for all the stores and we didn't want to feel rushed.  I picked up some sock yarn and some lace weight mohair in a delicious cream color.  If you bought a skein you got a free pattern for a triangular shawl, which is what I had seen that made me want the yarn.  When you knit mohair there are pieces that fluff out and make a halo-like cloud of softness around what you made.  Because the yarn isn't heavy they added beads to the last row so that the shawl would drape.  They pointed me to the store that sold beads in town and we went over and picked some up so I had the complete project.  Mom got a skein of blue tweedy yarn and a pattern for a pair of gloves, which she decided would be her Olympic knitting project.

We drove up to the Ship Harbor Inn and got checked in and unloaded.  I looked to see if they had a DVD player in the room, since the last morning we were so sick of Northwest cable news we could have choked.  This time it wasn't a VCR, it was no device whatsoever!  They only had movies you could order on the TV...awesome.  Mom suggested going into town and just buying a cheap DVD player.  I checked to make sure I could find the plug-ins and we looked in the phone book for a Target or a Walmart.  Nothing in Anacortes, but there was a Walmart back in Oak Harbor.  Did she really want to drive all the way back for that, I asked?  Yes, she said, because she was sick of the offerings on TV.  So back into the car we piled.  It was still really clear and pretty out and since we'd be on the right side of the road she stopped at one of the turn outs so I could get those bridge shots I'd been a bit depressed about not getting.

Nice, no?  The Walmart had a nice cheap ($30!) Sony DVD player that came with all the cables we needed.  So why can't the hotels buck up and get some real technology in their rooms?  I don't know either.  We were famished at this point so we headed straight for dinner at the Rockfish Grille.  On our way back to Anacortes we passed by a place selling Lopez Island Creamery ice cream and thought about stopping.  We were going to Lopez Island the next day, so I said it was no big deal to wait one more day for good ice cream.  When we got to the Rockfish Grille they were setting up for some live music.  We had wood fired nachoes, which were freakin amazin, a wood fired pizza and a glass of beer each.  They also had Tieton hard cider on tap, which we'd been hoping to try for a while, so we got one glass to share.  For apple juice lovers this is a great alcoholic drink.  It was light and juicy with just the smallest hint that it contained alcohol, but a bigger hint after you wait a while and were sloshed.  The music was great and when they sang a great cover of a song Mom and I knew we clapped really loud.  They gave a shout out to the ladies in the back of the room who apparently really enjoyed the last song.  As we left I dropped some money in their tip jar and the lead singer waved to us through the window!  We had such a good time!  There were some clouds building in and thunderclouds popping up, which should have been ominous for the following day...