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...