S/V Wand'rin Star: July-August 2026 Seattle Back to Austin to Seattle

July-August 2026 Seattle Back to Austin

Our last week in Seattle continued with the World Cup excitement, and some preparations for traveling back to Austin. We spent an unusual amount of time watching every game that was possible on TV. That's a lot of time just sitting!

Harbor seals napping on the dock. They couldn't care less about the World Cup!

I wore my USA cap to watch world cup games on the boat.

Rabbits are simply everywhere in the Pacific Northwest now.

I'm grooving on the recent addition of solar panels to the boat, Here Comes the Sun! You can see 89 Watts at the top, the boat just draws only what it needs from the 350 watts available from the solar panels, I once saw it hit 170 watts for a brief moment when the frig kicked on. It has the house batteries charged before 11:00am. So any 12 volts of energy the boat needs is supplied directly from the panels. So when the sun goes down our batteries are fully charged.

Lions Mane Jelly fish

Mom and pup are adored by the marina tenets

We had a Great flight back to Austin but on return we found a kiosk at The Domain to get our TSA pre-Check to try and simplify the process, a lot of humans returning to their home countries from Seattle!! The Seattle Airport had several big screen TV's broadcasting the games and huge crowds gathered to watch every move.

Back in Austin our Yellow Bells have been enjoying the unusual July rains

The grandkids spend the summer in Austin and enjoy horse camp at Switch Willow Stables

It's a family endeavor.

I began my birthday morning by getting a picture with Bean Dip, our grandkids love this horse!

And then I stopped by a bank to get a roll of quarters. Since it was my 3/4 birthday, I planned on handing out three quarters to whoever I happen to run into during the day. I told the bank teller what I planned to do with the quarters and she went to a safe and got me a uncirculated roll of quarters for the occasion!

Central Texas was Blessed with very uncommon early July rains topping off the lakes.

The entire Colorado River chain of lakes eventually were all 100% full

An unusual July sighting to the East of Mopac Expressway

Landscaping in Austin is favoring desert plants over grass.

The home across the street gets a remodel. This is occurring throughout the city on a huge scale. No grass, no cactus, just rocks. Rocks never need watering!

A lunch with the Soccer mom's is always fun, the talk never stops!

A complete knockdown and new home on our street, Purple is the new in color!

Three of our Austin families meet at Zachary Scott Theater to see Annie. The Theater Community is celebrating my brother's, Dave Steakley, 35th year as Director of Zachary Scott!

A fun pic on the patio at Zach Scott.

The Cousin's

Zach Theater is a family thing, here to see Annie

Some get to pet the dog who performed in Annie in the lobby after the show.

We went to see Brother Dave at a talk Back with the Playwright Suzan-Lori Parks at PBS in Austin.

Then we went with Ginger and Susan G. from Oklahoma to see the play.

There are three different theaters at the Zachary Scott Complex, This is the smaller Kleberg Stage for a more intimate setting to deal with the complex issues that Sally and Tom brings forward.

Time to go to Fort Worth, there is a Buc-ee's in Hillsboro where we now stop to stretch our legs on the three hour trip.

See Buc-ee dance

Roberts Automotive is doing a brisk business on Ramona, if your in Ft Worth and need a Mechanic, we strongly recommend Robert!

This truck has needs the axel bearing replaced, however it would cost $700 to just replace the bearing,

Instead they can replace the entire axel assemble for $500 that includes the bearing! That is due partially to labor cost. I learned a few things with our visit to Robert's Automotive.

They are gearing up for season three of Landman.

Not sure about this Patriotic Bull at the local Land Rover shop?

We met our Ft Worth life long friends at a nifty restaurant just 4 blocks from our hotel, we braved the 100 degree heat and walked over, But Roxanne gave us a ride back! During the lunch Jeff mentioned a walking trail near the old Carswell Air Base called the Airfield Falls Trails

We saw a Water Moccasin!
See:

not much water running through the falls, just a little bit,
see: https://youtube.com/shorts/W2adMyeG9_w?feature=share

Then we went to see Come From Away at Zach Scott, after the show there was a discussion with a man that lived in Austin that was on one of the planes diverted to Newfoundland during the 911 crises.

Come from Away is a musical, with book, music and lyrics by Irene Sankoff and David Hein. It is based on the events in the Newfoundland town of Gander during the week following the September 11 attacks, when 38 planes, carrying approximately 7,000 passengers, were ordered to land unexpectedly at Gander International Airport. The characters in the musical are based on actual Gander residents and the stranded travelers they housed and fed.^[1]

All the stars aligned and I was finally able to attend one of the monthly luncheon's with my long time colleagues, all teachers of Crockett High School. I loved every moment reconnecting and enjoying their camaraderie again!

We had a meeting at a South Austin office building and had to take a picture of one business' waiting room.

Our flight back to Seattle was delayed by a few hours, we managed to get on an earlier flight, our TSA was nice though!

My father in law gave us a Mini Cooper back in the early 80's, it needed some work to get it running but I never had time to mess with it so we sold it. I like the new ones better.

Cool pumpkin patch in the front yard

I saw this unusual ship in the Sound and wondered what the purpose was.

This week, Seaspan Energy launched the second of its three 7600m3 LNG bunkering vessels, the Seaspan Lions, named after the twin peaks of the North Shore, or known as Ch’ich’iyúy Elxwíkn (“Twin Sisters” or “Two Sisters”) to the Squamish Nation.

This series of vessels is named after iconic West Coast mountains and the first two vessels, the Seaspan Garibaldi (“Nch’ḵay̓”) and the Seaspan Lions (Ch’ich’iyúy Elxwíkn), will be delivered in 2024 with the third vessel arriving in 2025.

The Seaspan Lions will provide Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) fueling services for vessels on the West Coast of North America, becoming the first company to provide LNG bunkering in the Pacific Northwest. The Seaspan Garibaldi is set to deliver low-carbon solutions to the global market and will be based in the Panama region.