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!