Log of the Emily B

More Fun and Games

It's been a busy week here in Canada and the Northwest of US. We met our friends Di and Roger in Sidney on Monday and spent a great day and night with them on Iron Lady, their 65-ft steel motorsailer. We went to Sidney Spit, where we hiked about 5 miles, then a nice dinner aboard and sleep. The next day we caught the Coho ferry from Victoria, BC to Port Angeles, WA and spent a fun 2 days in the Olympic Natl. Park driving up to Hurricane Ridge for a strenuous hike, then camping halfway down the mountain.

We're now in Port Townsend, WA, where we just had a fabulous 3 days at the Pt. Townsend JAZZ Festival. We parked at the home of an Alamos friend, Louise McP, who has a summer place here, and feasted on various types of jazz at Fort Worden Park until late every night. What fun! Heading out this morning for more National Park camping for a few days, than back to the Seattle area for some serious boat parts shopping. Some views from the past week:

Sidney Spit:              Hurricane Ridge:       Point Wilson Lighthouse:

A Week on the Water

We had a very nice week on the water in Canada thanks to Dorothy and Larry on Big Brivet. We met up with them in Sidney, BC and spent a couple of nights at anchor in Tod Inlet (near Buchart Gardens) before heading across to Ganges on Saltspring Island. We stayed at a dock there and thoroughly enjoyed the town, including a fabulous Saturday Farmer's Market, where we ran into a woman who lives there who is an old student of ours from the 90's. Small world!

The sad news is that it appears we have lost Luna. When we returned to the RV and were loading up, she must have slipped away. We didn't realize she was missing until that evening when we arrived at a cottage we had reserved for the night. We spent all day yesterday back in Sidney at the parking lot searching and calling and hoping she would return to no avail. We're sad but hopefully someone will find her and give her a good home.

Seattle Sailing Fun

We were invited to ride along with our friends Patti and Frosty in a sailboat race in Elliot Bay on  Thursday night. About 60 boats participated and the weather was perfect with sunny skies and about 15 knots of wind. What a treat to get out on the water in Seattle. We've been at P and F's house since Tuesday and have enjoyed their hospitality. Yesterday we went on a hike neare Tiger Mountain in Issaquah. Today we are going to a "logjam" where musicians get together for several hours to play together on Camano Island.

Tomorrow we will take the ferry across to Sidney, British Columbia to meet Larry and Dorothy Dubia for a week on their boat Big Brivet in the Gulf Islands. (www.bigbrivet.com.) We're excited! 

July 4th in Cannon Beach, Oregon

We had a wonderful 4th of July weekend with Dean's daughter Stacy and her family in Cannon Beach. We camped within walking distance of the town and beach and got lots of exercise going back and forth. Here is Stacy with Jordan, 17, and Presley, 14, all of whom are several inches taller than Grandma Jennifer. It seems only yesterday that they were babes in arms (Sigh).

It was really hard to get a decent photo of Tyson, 11, since he made funny faces anytime I was shooting at him. We spent the evenings by the campfire with delicious bar-be-qued meals by Stacy's boyfriend Jerimy. On the 4th there was a parade in town and an outdoor band concert in the local park. Dean and I rode there on our bicycles while the others headed for Seaside to ride on go-carts.  Now we are in Covington, WA at Dean's brother Randy and sister-in-law Virginia's house. Next stop- Seattle!

Road Trip Photos

Here is a view of O'Haver Lake in the Rocky Mountains, where we hiked during our weekend with Nick and Tess. But, backing up a little, we can't forget the beaver dam we saw on our Enchanted Circle trip around Taos. Dean loves dams, so this natural one was a real treat for him. We even saw a beaver swimming too:

On that same trip, we visited a Vietnam War Memorial that was built by the father of a fallen soldier 9,000 feet high in a beautiful valley.  More a monument to peace than to war, we both felt fortunate to have escaped losing anyone close in that unfortunate debacle. 

Our camping trip in the Rockies was rugged but fun. We hiked and ate and chatted up a storm with Nick and Tess who drove from Denver to meet us. The scenery was imposing up there in the stratosphere.