Sailing, Sailing, over the ocean blue...

I pulled an Amy again! LOL My husband had Labor Day off and as we were sitting around the breakfast table talking about what we wanted to do as a family for the day... it happened. I got one of those crazy ideas in my head and well, we all know how those end. I told Ben that what I really wanted to do was go sailing in the San Juans for a week. That was at 8:27 am. We called Ben's dad (who lives on a 45 foot sail boat in Poulsbo) and asked if it was alright if we came. That was at 8:35 am. Ben then called the owner of the company he works for at home and asked if he could take the week off. That was at 8:50am. By 9:24 all six of us were packed and in the car driving away. I believe we broke some kind of record by doing this and will gladly except prizes! We drove across state and took the ferry to Bainbridge, drove to Poulsbo and were on the boat by 6pm. We spent the first night in harbor and walked into Poulsbo in the morning for breakfast goodies (they are somewhat famous for their bakery) and some supplies food wise (yes, and wine... LOL) and set sail that afternoon.
Our first stop was Kingston Harbor and we stayed the night and shoved off first thing in the morning for Friday Harbor. We took some time to walk around the town and went again in the morning to have fresh beer bread and stiff coffee for breakfast and headed out to sea again.
Next we sailed out to Jones Island. This was a favorite destination for Ben as a kid and so it was extra special for the kids to get to go. We moored on a buoy and went ashore in the dingy (a few at time) and walked all over the island. The island is inhabited by many deer and they will come right up to you and let you pet them and feed them. It was so cool!

After all that nature it was time for some city... well technically Orcas is a city... LOL! We sailed up to the city of Orcas on Orcas Island and went to the ONLY restaurant in town. We dinned on fish and chips of course, some calamari and a couple cold beers and we were headed back to the boat for the night. This was my favorite night of the trip because I sat out under the stars with the kids and talked for hours.

We decided to head home by making the loop around Orcas Island and back down the other side of the San Juans. We saw dolporpises (close to a dolphin but a little darker), seals galore and even a nuclear sub! Behind Ben you can see the famed Deception Pass and I even got a glimpse of Camp Casey (where I went for sixth grade camp).
As we came into Port Townsend for our last night at sea we were surrounded by huge ships on every side. It was their wooden boat celebration weekend and the harbor looked like a scene from out of a pirate movie! There were about a hundred sail boat with their sails unfurled, some schooners with 6-8 sails each and even a few pirate ships. It was an awesome site. All good things must come to an end however and after a week on the blue, we headed back home.
This was a wonderful trip and the spontaneity of it just made it more fun. As my son BJ put it... "sometimes it is hard to live with someone as crazy as you mom but you sure are great to vacation with!" Ah, from the mouths of babes!