June 2023 Back to Bainbridge, Skagit River Soccer, Sailing Camps, and More

June 2023  Back to Bainbridge, Skagit River Soccer, Sailing Camps, and More

 Well it is June and the end of school and hello Summer camps for the Grandkids, and Soccer has a grand finale for the end of season. The nice thing about living aboard is when you wake up in the morning you are already there. I like that. 

Another thing about living aboard are the sunsets.

We had an opportunity to go to Ella Bailey Park with our youngest granddaughter which is on the East side of Magnolia, overlooking the Sound and the Cruise ship Piers.

Using the Marine Traffic app is an easy way to identify ships in the Sound 

And  Looking East from  Magnolia the Queen Ann neighborhood is in the distance, Seems that so many of the neighborhoods are the smaller foothills of the Cascade Mountain range.  The ridges of the foothills run North/South. So When you are Driving from West to East or vice versa you are driving either up to the top or down to the valley. Magnolia is the last of the hills as it border is Puget Sound.

I wonder how many Grandfathers now know how to play Minecraft, across the world I bet many hundreds of thousands.

When we travel from the marina to Magnolia, we have to cross the Ballard Bridge, we often wait for the draw bridge to go up, then down along with several hundred cars

And often the wait is for just one sailboat.

We have learned why they cover the apples on these trees with small bags, to prevent a certain type of insect from running the crop.

So many of these have replaced the single family home that used to be on this lot.

Interesting to see in the Marina on someone else's mast head.

Not sure how this Sea Star made it up onto the dock, I threw it back in.

Seattle Yacht Club Sailing Camp

Seattle Yacht Club, a great place for me to hang out while picking up Big D after a day at Sailing camp.

The sailing and boating history oozes out of this building.

We spot the campers out in Portage Bay

The camp counselors herd the Optimist sailboats from small motorized dingy's and skiffs.

De-rigging after a full day on the water, Big D assist those docking by pulling the dagger boards out.

And then stowing them in the wood lockers on the dock.

Drew has started his journey toward being a sailor!, He has 4 more sailing camps scheduled for the summer at other locations.

Seattle Family Return to Bainbridge Island

Bainbridge Island was recently recognized as being the most peaceful community to live in the US.

Fay Bainbridge State Park is a great place to start a day on Bainbridge

 Then we return to Islandwood to complete our exploration there.

We missed a few places of interest on our first trip here to Islandwood 

This building serves as a classroom and a meeting place.

We finally found the Tree House by following others along the trails.

You always have to stop by the lake to see what is going on there.

The Wetlands at Warren G Magnason Park

Warren G Magnuson Park is where there are some awesome soccer fields are where both our grandkids practice. There is also a tennis center there where they were both enrolled in a half day tennis camp. Another opportunity to spend a day exploring the Wetlands there while the kids were in tennis camp.

The Seattle Department of Parks and Recreation envisioned transforming a former U.S. Navy airfield into a restored wetland and natural habitat that’s fully integrated with an urban park. A trail system within the wetland complex would also provide access to five newly constructed athletic fields.

One of Seattle’s Largest Wetland Mitigation Plans

In what was at the time the largest compensatory wetland mitigation plan in the City of Seattle, Warren Park also included continued extensive wetland monitoring. That monitoring would include collecting data on vegetation performance, water quality, amphibians and macroinvertebrates, among other parameters. The unique habitat design that combines wetland mitigation with a public park also retrofitted the existing stormwater system to improve water quality and provide hydrology to the wetland. Otak led the environmental design and extensive permitting across local, state and federal levels for the 65-acre habitat and park.

Looking South Lake Washington

Looking North

Can you find the mother Wood duck and her ducklings?

Hikers and Birders were around.

Corinthian YC Sailing Camp

Corinthian Yacht Club is at the North end of Shilshole Marina

CYC has quite a fleet of Lasers, Optimist, and other one design racers.

The first day of activities at each of the sailing camps  includes a swimming test and righting a capsized boat test. Seattle YC is in Portage Bay so the waters are considerably warmer than Puget Sound where the Corinthian YC is located.

Here is a screen shot of Puget Sound Temperatures first day of CYC sailing camp. The water temperature in the relative shallow waters of the marina were probably a few degrees warmer.

Drew did have a 3mm wet suit on for Puget Sound waters!

A light South breeze assist the Opties past the breakwater and out into the Sound

As the sailing class were headed out the Adventuress was headed in.

https://tallshipsamerica.org/vessels/adventuress/

A Osprey AKA Seahawk stands watch over the sailing class

Skagit River Firecracker Soccer Tournament

See:

https://www.nwunited.org/firecracker

Soccer Mom Lia is a very good planner, she found a AIR B&B to rent for the weekend on Similk Bay. just 20 minutes from Burlington WA where the soccer tournament fields along the Skit river are located.

Tides out

peaceful views

Ariel view of the Tournament site along the Skagit River

The Skagit River fed by snow melt was flowing 2-3 Kts.

These fields were nice, the turf felt great.

Standing up on the flood control berm you could see soccer fields stretching into the distance.

On a clearer day the Cascades would be amazing.

Next to the soccer complex was a  tournament  Horseshoe Center. These people seem to be very serious about Horseshoes.

Similk Bay has been used by the logging industry to move logs by water to the sawmills. There is an advisory to sailors to avoid the Bay. I have seen post by some sailors who say they day sail in the bay often with no problems. After seeing a very big log floating horizontally about 18 inches below the surface I would head the warning, its the ones you can't see that get you in trouble.

There is a couple of tugs sitting on the East shoreline that I believe is waiting to tow logs to the sawmill.

Adventure Rocks!

It's amazing what you can do with 30 days these days.

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