I've Got Writes: Out and About

You know what's great about having friends come visit from out of town? You go check out all the cool things in town you don't bother with day to day. So today Heidi & Laura came down to the boat and we talked boat stuff for an hour or so (when you talk boat, time is suspended. We have no idea how long this session actually was.) My favorite part of the day was talking navigation programs with Heidi my "Where do you think you're going" mentor. I showed her my pick and later in the day she showed me the iPad app she had downloaded. We both will always rely on paper charts, but being able to forecast tides and currents using these apps is HUGE. It's so much nicer than having to get out those tide/current tables with the tiny numbers and then do the math to adjust them to your actual position.

Then it was time for lunch! We decided we'd try one of the cool places none of us had been to. We got there, Heidi made me go in and ask for a menu. We looked at it and it looked way too hip for us. We're Brown Lantern folks, thru and thru. And it was only two doors down. We weren't disappointed

This was the Bleu Cheese Burger. Yes, those are onion rings.

And the Bleu Cheese sauce is infused with jalapeno.

Then there were the fish tacos...

These come pan seared or beer-battered. Today was the beer-battered.

Both got rave reviews.

After lunch we went for a drive, this is the part where it's cool to have people come visit and take you for "drives". Because they aren't thinking about potty hoses or the light fixture in the head that works and then doesn't work (actually they do worry about those things...).

But we drove around the water line of the island. And a beautiful drive that is. A little ways out of downtown we came upon this marina

Early model RV.

But the cool thing in this marina is this shipwreck

This ship was a four masted schooner built in 1917. It was scuttled in 1966 (means it was sunk intentionally) and filled with soil. Now a forest grows out of it. It's very cool.

But there was more coast to explore. Most of which was in Washington Park. Sorry Art & MaryJo, we told you we hadn't been there, but we have. We just didn't know that it was named Washington Park. Lots of cool spots to pull over and look out over the sound. We got out at one because Laura can't leave a tidepool unobserved.

Dave was mis-identifying islands.

We drove across the island and then headed to Deception Pass. This pass is infamous with boaters because the current runs like a river at times. In fact kayakers run it! We got there just in time to watch a cool gaff-rigged ketch go through beautifully.

It's a pretty piece of water, but very threatening to unsuspecting boaters.

But the pros plan ahead.

Like this tug who was hauling a raft of logs through.

Their timing was just right.

No we didn't stick around for the painfully slow progress of this passage.

Back to Anacortes for happy hour at Anthony's. Then it was back to the boat where Laura tied a Turks Head on our wheel.

A lovely gift. Thanks Laura!

So, for the non-sailors out there - a Turks Head is a classy marker on your "steering wheel" to mark when the rudder is centered. That means you are pointed straight ahead! This is very cool!

So it was kinda gray and rainy and cool today.