A quick mention of getting my bike fixed. We took it to Meat
Machine in Friday Harbor. They fixed the flat quickly and just charged me for
the tube ($5.47) – really good service!
We rented a nice 3-bedroom house on Davidson Head, located
on Neil Bay, just around the corner from Roche Harbor. The bay is small, quiet,
and a bright green most times of the day with some kind of algae bloom. We’ve
watched and heard eagles, oyster catchers, otters, seals, nuthatches, crows,
herons, raccoons, king fishers, and deer that lie around in the yards and barely move away when
people are around.
This week was our annual trip to the San Juan Islands with
extended family, which began around 25 years ago when we camped with our young
children. We started out at Moran State Park that first year, moved on to
Spencer Spit on Lopez Island…and didn’t look back. Lopez was our island of
choice until we ventured over to San Juan a few years ago to find the right
house with a dock. Now we tend to alternate each year between those two.
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| Europa at Neil Bay House |
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| Europa & Caleb's boat |
Here is a photo of the group enjoying lunch at the Cask &
Schooner in Friday Harbor. This is our favorite, and according to Yelp, the
best to be had in the immediate area.
The younger generation brought the small Starcraft boat for
crabbing. I think we got a total of 18 crabs, with two runs and 4 pots (two
pots are not performing well and need repair). For the first pick-up, we loaded
everyone on Europa and took a slow cruise through Mosquito Pass, anchored, and
sent Nick and Sierra in the dinghy to fetch pots, dropped at the entrance to Garrison Bay. It was beautiful and calm. They ran out of gas mere yards from
Europa and got a quick tow by a nearby dinghy.
The week was filled with various activities – hikes, bike
rides, the Lavender Festival, boat rides, kayaking, eating, drinking
margaritas, enjoying the sun, wine tasting, beach visits, shopping, bakery
visits…and did I mention eating? One fresh cracked crab meal, one crab roll
meal, and the last meal was crab linguine and crab cakes! Plus, there is a
little fresh crab going home for Caleb and Leslie, who were only able to join
us that very first night. Gratitude to Sierra for taking care of the majority of
meal planning, food shopping, and cooking.
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| Kit & Nick in the Kayak |
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| Janine's walk to Grandma's Beach (American Camp) |
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| Sierra at Lavender Festival |
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| San Juan Island Vineyard |
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| Nick's Famous Crab Rolls! |
One evening we took a short walk to the McMillan Mausoleum
at Roche. We were surprised to see a little fox, and even more surprised when
it walked right up to us, and then jumped up on one of the mausoleum chairs! This
photo was taken by Melissa.
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| Fox at McMillan Mausoleum |
We are mostly packed up and ready to go. This is always a
special trip for us each summer. We’re glad to see Nick’s sisters and spend
time in the islands with our family. There have been quite a few conversations
about how different next year will be – we will need a bigger house to accommodate
a 10-month old!
We plan to head back to Lopez Island today and will spend
the next several days there visiting our favorite spots.
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