Way Out West

Virginia V heading out for it's trip at Festival of Sail

 This last weekend we took a normal vacation. Without weapons. Without a tent or the cots. Just a regular old vacation to Seattle. It was wonderful. I'll break down the highlights of the voyage.

Thursday, 15th

 We got out of town relatively early as I wanted to attend the Sierra Silver Mine Tour in Wallace, ID. I went once when I was much younger but wanted to to again so I could more fully experience an appreciate what I was seeing.  Despite our best efforts we arrived an hour early so after a fast food breakfast we attempted the tour. Turns out they had bus tours all morning and the first opening was not until after noon. This would not work for us so we wandered around a rather closed Wallace for a bit. What a great little town.

Kat standing near the Center of the Universe.

Setting up for the Gyro Festival.

The Wallace Depot has an excellent museum inside.

Our docent displaying a trunk with an iron and board.

The Center of the Universe.

 The rest of the day was driving. Oh and I stopped to look at a sailboat I was thinking of purchasing. More on that later. From Wallace we stopped at Ellensburg, crawled over Snoqualmie Pass, and straight away to Everett, where our generous host allowed us some sleep. It was a good day.

Friday, 16th

 With the hour time change we were up quite early. Kat had never been on a train before so we were taking the Sounder south to begin our exploration.

King Street

The restoration of the interior was amazing

Checking out the F59PHI

Chinatown

 The train ride was great. We saw many different shore birds and had a wonderful view of the sound. We arrived at Kings Street and headed to the International District/Chinatown light rail station. Pioneer Square was just a short Link ride away. The ORCA card that Sound Transit uses is really great to have. We kept ours from our last Seattle trip and used it for most of the transit we used. I wondered why we don't have something like this locally then remembered buses around here are free.
I wanted to check a few boxes off so after some absolutely wonderful donuts we stopped at the Seattle Art Museum to see Hammering Man at work, did a whirlwind tour of a mostly closed Pike Place Market, then rode the monorail to the Seattle Center. There we viewed the Space Needle and wished we could see the Terracotta Warriors at the Pacific Science Center.

At least he gets Labor Day off!

The Giant Shoe Museum is fully worth the dollar you spend

The Future of Rapid Transit!

Still there

 By now it was almost time for my lesson at The Center for Wooden Boats. I have always wanted to sail a Beetle Cat and CWB has one. All it took was a brief email exchange, filling out an automated scheduler, and I had my appointment. We arrived early and looked at the docks before checking in. We arrived about a half hour early to check in and I was asked somewhat incredulously "Are you the guy who checked out the Beetle Cat?" I confirmed that it was me and was given the opportunity to start my hour early.  After the necessary paperwork, it was time to get a PFD, and meet my boat. My instructor, Christian Holtz, was a wonder. He was every bit a sailor and his knowledge and congeniality made the whole experience wonderful. I spent the hour getting to know the boat. My previous sailing skills were up to the task and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Kristian took some photos, I did my best to watch out for seaplanes and we spent time on the heel, something I'm not used to. A grand time!

Beetle Cat!

A great day to sail Lake Union

Checking my sail trim

  We had a dinner date with a friend so we hopped the streetcar to Westlake, a very handy option I may add, then Link back to Chinatown. From there we caught the 510 Express Bus back to Everett. We met up with Todo at a wonderful Kizuki Ramen & Izakaya in Northgate. This was our first time having "real" ramen and it was delightful. After dinner we attended Wonder Woman, also awesome, then headed back to our sleep spot for rest. It was a very busy day.

Saturday, 17th

 Kat had a meet up at a horse rescue in Redmond so we were on our own four wheels for most of the day. After an IHOP breakfast we headed into town to hopefully see a nautical only bookstore and the Fremont Troll before her appointment. There was a parade in Fremont and our GPS for the first time had no idea what was happening so both stops ended up being a bust. I decided to salvage the mission since we were already in the area and check out the Hirem M. Chittenden Locks. These are the Ballard Locks and we had seen them the day before from the train. As we turned the corner we were welcomed by the mass of the Bering Titan as made it way to Lake Union. Then we saw some more boats.

Most impressive.

Heading for fresh water

Ballard Bascule Bridge

Chris-Craft locking through

Kat liked this one

 From the locks it was a visit to the horse rescue. I'm not much of a horse person but did get to pet one so that was cool.

Kat making friends

From Redmond it was on to Tacoma and the Festival of Sail. Now I had heard about this event from a customer in my line at work who is involved with the Tacoma Sea Scouts. It was going to be veritable who's who of PNW tall ships. I was needless to say excited. Did I mention The Worlds Largest Rubber Duck was there? And Lucy Bellwood? And the Lady Washington?

 I'm sorry to say it was a great idea on paper. The poor execution of the idea really killed it for us and apparently many others. I can only hope if another Festival of Sail  is held in the future the organizers will learn an listen to the issues that were raised and the event will grow and live up to the promise of such an amazing gathering of ships. I did get some awesome pictures and the Tacoma Maritime Museum is not to be missed.

Lucy Bellwood. I fanboyed hard.

Lady Washington. Smaller then I imagined.

Quite the lineup

Tall ships underway

Adventuress leaves for her daysail

Gig Harbor Melonseed.

Kat and a very big duck

 Sunday, 18th

 Our last full day in Seattle was drizzly. We had a few more things on our list so it was up early and off. We parked the car at the Tukwila Link Station and headed into town on the light rail. This is a great option if you want to see Seattle, don't mind walking and like free parking. Our first stop was Uwajimaya, an asian grocery/bookstore in Chinatown. From there it was off to the Seattle Central Library. Eleven stories of library topped with a glass walled reading room. The two or so hours we spent was amazing.

Reading Room

 With those done it was off for a ferry ride to Bainbridge. I took a lot of boat pictures. I also used a sailing app to see how fast we were going. 17.5kts on the way out, 20kts back. You could feel the difference in the speeds. Was pretty cool. 

Seattle

Seattle Sailing Tours

This one got an "Excuse me?" from the ferry

Our captain. I have a lot to learn about landing boats. 

 We finished our trip at Ivar's, eating the planet's best clam chowder and feeding the seagulls french fries. I also saw one of the yachts from Seattle Sailing Tours back down and parallel park in it's slip. Made it look easy.

Tight Parking

Right from the hand

MV Tacoma departing

 After a quick jaunt around some neighborhoods it was time to rest up four the journey home. We did stop by Fishermen's Terminal briefly. 

Fishing Fleets

Monday, 19th

Up early and headed east. I'll miss BigFoot Java. And Top Pot Donuts. And good sailing water that isn't a half a tank of gas away.  But it was good to make it home. Oh that boat I was buying? Picked it up and The Typesetter and I gave it a maiden voyage at once upon our return. It sails far better then one would give it credit for.

Ghosting

On the water.

 It was a great trip. I saw many things. But now to get back to sailing adventures at the end of the PacNorWest. See you out there!