June 2019 Around Puget Sound

June 2019 Around Puget Sound

The precursor to PNW summer is always full of expectations, but due to climate change and increasing chance of crazy wildfire seasons it is really impossible to really plan dates for a extended cruise or getaway of any kind. Perhaps it would be best to go visit Texas in August when it is very Hot there, then we get away from the smoke, or perhaps there is a better plan. The fire season was predicted to be not good. However, the lows just continue to flow across Puget Sound and temps are  cool and there is some rain here and there that will at the least delay the fire season perhaps. The commercial fishing fleet are gone to Alaska and replaced with the most active cruise ship season ever.They can not cram any more cruise ships into Seattle during the week so they are building a new mega $$million terminal at the main Port of Seattle docks, I bet Alaska is excited to get hundreds of thousands more tourist in the coming years.

Now the largest cruise ship to ever call at Seattle shows up with a capacity of almost 5,000 passengers.
see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ovation_of_the_Seas

Can you imagine when this shows up in Katchikan and almost 5000 people step off to visit for the day?

Well another very busy place is the Ballard Farmers Market every Saturday in Ballard. We can walk there from our marina and this is the first time we noticed the mushroom booth.

A rainy thursday is a good time to re-visit the Seattle Art Museum

Yeah, this is just like West Texas!

Our grandkids make some pretty fancy art TOO!

Very special (playdough) DESERT CUP

The Indigenous People Festival at Seattle Center has a Spirtual connection running throughout.
hear at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_1PWFkjIFs

see https://www.sihb.org/events/indigenous-people-festival-2019/

A couple of Cirrus clouds flying by

This is the first time I have noticed this sculpture turning with the wind
See: https://youtu.be/3VGAUUHSVGA

Do not know why I have never noticed it turning before since the winds were relatively light

The Princess Cruise ship just left the dock and is passing just off the water front near our condo building, Weird to see such a huge ship slipping by so close.

Tall Ships can be seen just about around Puget Sound,  

So we are always crossing ferry lanes and you have to of course be aware and navigate without getting in their or any other ships way. We hear the 5 horn warning blast often as there is always some recreational boater seemingly completely unaware there is a huge ship  about to run them over if they do not get out of the shipping lanes.

Binky Womack at Festival Sundiata. A great time!
See http://festivalsundiata.org/

Hear: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vC9kJLpWw54

We needed to practice anchoring with our new anchor rode and windlass. So we sailed over to Eagle Harbor to spend a night on the Hook.

It took us twice to set the anchor in the right spot but practice makes for a relaxing evening.

Eagle harbor is pretty protected from the light winds but some rain is in the forecast.

These guys swam by every single boat in the ancorage looking for a handout,

He looked me right in the eye, he left disappointed.

This is what a lot of eagle nest look like, perched in the top of the tallest tree in the neighborhood

The boys at the Queen City Yacht Club outpost at Eagle Harbor love their trawlers!

We just dingied to the city docks in the foreground to explore Winslow for the day.

Low tide give you a chance to explore the rocky beaches.

Mares tales are well known to seafaring sailors and Texas farmers, a weather system is headed your way they say.

So we decided to leave Eagle Harbor the next day but we allowed this ship to go First! She is a RO-RO ship, roll on, roll off vehicle cargo carrier. see: https://www.navysite.de/akr/akr5066.htm All I gotta say is this is the fastest moving ship we have ever seen in this part of Puget Sound.

Way bigger than you tink!

SNOWBALL safe in her slip from a successful night at anchor.

This is the first time we have ever seen these Caribbean like water colors along Golden Gardens Park, we wondered WHY?

And then an Argosy ship showed up in our marina, apparently they are now picking up passengers at Shilshole during the Summer Season.

I did not get to try out the sail kit for our Portland Pudgy dingy in Eagle Harbor so Is tepped the rig and  sailed the fairways at Shilshole.

Different kind of sunsets when the skies are mostly blue, just a few clouds over the Olympics providing some Oorange in the scene

Zooming in on the picture above revealed a sailboat and the Sunset they were experiencing, 

The Pride Parade starts downtown and heads North on 4th Avenue, just three blocks from us. The parade last over 5 hours but we managed to hang out for an hour or so and celebrate with the city.
See: https://youtu.be/YwsgRCyXB18.

Diversity, Tolerance, Acceptance, and Love all intertwined. Pride goes far beyond sexual orientation in this city.

May 2019 Seattle to Texas

May 2019 Seattle to Texas

Wow! its a good thing for pictures, not sure how else I could recall May 2019 as fast a s life moves for us here in Seattle. I used the sailing log to see about our sailing activities and we did manage to get to fun sails in and several small boat projects, but the trip to Texas is the most memorable and then as soon as we returned to Seattle we took the Ferry over to Bainbridge Island for a week with our daughter and grandkids as the dad was traveling around the South Pacific for Google Maps business. 

I am fascinated by all the Alaska fishing fleets who harbor their boats here in Seattle. This dock services the largest of the fleet, the big Fisher/Processing ships that catch, process, and freeze bringing back their catch ready to go straight to market. There are five of these large ships in this picture, they will all be gone to Alaska soon and the dock will be used for all the cruise ships that come into Seattle while they are gone. I am collecting the data to do a future post on these fisher/procesor ships. The bounty of fish that these and all the smaller hundreds of vessels bring in from Alaska waters is pretty incredible.

We took a walk down South Congress in Austin with our son on the way to get some of our favorite enchiladas. He took us into a small boutique hotel on the strip to show us this print of Prince. 

After the enchiladas we went to an Art Store where all the local Artist get ther supplies, our grandaughter Liv had a piece on exhibit at an art show there, it is the piece in the upper right.

Are you size 2?

Austin is always fun on Cinco De Mayo!

Also when we were walking by Allens Boots on Congress I mentioned that the last pair of boots I owned I bought at Allen's. Graeme asked us if we had been in there in a while and since we said no, he thought we should go in and see how it has changed. We had to try some on. Man those $600 boots felt so good, Hers were priced at $350. Don't need em on a sailboat though.

Just like old times!

A walk on the edge of the Texas Hill Country with a fine sunset.

And a Texas bunny.

Our timing was extra special since we got to see our granddaughter's dance recital. I ain't bragging when I say she is the best they got. Unfortunately they disallowed any pictures or videos so I can't present the facts here but  you will just have to take my word.

This is nothing, you need to see her dance for Reals!

The Admirals dad lives in the Lost Creek neighborhood. Can you see how green it is? It had been raining for 18 straight days before we got there.

The sky's cleared just today.

The neighborhood creeks were flooding.

All of them.

This is not even a creek and it was flowing!

We asked the neighbors why it is so green, they all laughed and said they had never seen it so green here in Fort Worth their entire life!

We took some of the Admirals dads collection down to the Archives, they had a historical exhibit of theater in Tarrent County. I never knew Ginger rogers grew up in Ft. Worth.

My mom was an Ambassodor to Casa Manana, we saw lots of plays that year.

A walk in an Ft Worth's Arlington Heights neighborhood, just another Texas city Vulture getting some road kill lunch.

When I saw this house I knew we were on El Campo

This is a completly new Idea for Ft. Worth.

Aledo Skies

Our oldest grandaughter taking her semester finals n New York.

Another final exam

A No Children Mothers Day at Tres Amigos with Sista Ginger and the
Admiral, Two of the finest mothers anywhere!

Back in Seattle Spring brings out the some instereting creatures for our two year old grandaughter.

And finally we get to see the Washington State bird at our kids Seattle home bird feeder, the American Goldfinch

April showers bring May Flowers

She Alaskan fishing fleets are beginning to depart.

I have bathtub duty on Bainbridge...Fun is the reson to take a bath.

In Poulsbo you can be a Pirate and blow a real live foghorn at the museum.

Free Music is everywhere all week in Seattle beginning now.

This is one of my favorite sculptures at the Seattle Art museum sculpture garden, it poins to the history of the shipping trades in Seattle right in front of Elliot Bay

Stacking rocks along this water front hike and bike trail seems to becoming some sort of competition, hundreds of stacks have shown up along this part of the shore.

To many people I think.