Day 221 - The Rapids and the Wolf Trail

Monday Aug 9 – still at Squirrel Cove.  Checking out the rapids outgoing and incoming.  Exploring Hannah’s island with Daddy and dinghy exploring.  Wolf Trail.  2 mile run/walk. Stargazing party.

There are some cool rapids in Squirrel Cove created by the tide and a lagoon which is higher than the cove.  However, the main story of this day was the Wolf Trail.  Let's start off by saying UJ desperately wanted to see some wildlife and I definitely didn't.  In an effort to get off onto the island and get in some exercise, UJ and I decided to find a trailhead that I had heard of but had never looked for.  The trail would take us over to another cove on the other side of the island.  We found the trailhead

TO BE CONTINUED . . . .

Day 220 - We're Here!!!!

Sunday Aug 8 – gray foggy weather, Squirrel Cove by 4pm.  2 mile run/walk on shore.  Girls got dinghy ride with Daddy and Papa and water play on the beach.

Montague Harbor, Early Morning

This was a transit day, we spent all day just getting the boat organized. We crossed the Straight of Georgia (open water for an hour or two).  It can be trecherous at times, but it wasn't too bad.  My brother Jonanthan, who will here by be referred to as UJ (Uncle Jon) probably would say otherwise.  The scenery is simila all day and then you turn a corner and all of a sudden you are at the gateway to Desolation Sound and it is breath taking.  I knew it would be good, but I forgot how good.  It was cloudy on the mountain tops, but still spectacular.  I knew we'd be there long enough to see it without clouds.  The mountains up there drop off right into the sea. They are very tall and just a few feet from shore, the water is very deep.  The area has been likened to the scandinavian fjords. 

When we got to Squirrel Cove, we got off the boat as soon as we could.  John and I were the ones who did the run.  UJ is trying to get back into running after many years and has been working out a ton over the summer, so the goal was to keep up his fitness level during the trip.  I was also interested in maintaining some fitness since at this point, I was still planning to run the super Jock and Jill Half Marathon over Labor Day weekend.  I had never walked past the beach area on this island so it was fun to explore the little community which ai think is First Nations Reservation.  We found an old church and stopped out run to take pictures. 

After traveling all day, you turn a corner and see this - more beautiful than I remember

Running on Cortez Island

Day 219 - Anchors Aweigh

 Now here's the fun part, I get to look through the tens of pictures we took each day and decide what is worth sharing or at least what captures the day's activities.  Since the next 16 days or so was all of us no more than 65 ft away from each other and since we had a healthy dose of activity on all but our transit days, we pretty much had quality family time and exercise each day.  Even though our transit days were low activity, there were many days on vacation where we packed in enough exercise to more than cover for these days.  In my opinion anyway.  I will focus more on something worth sharing from each day. 

My memory from day 219 is fog, gray and pouring rain.  I remember being disappointed that my brother would not get to see the spectacular scenery as we traveled all the way through the San Juan Islands and into Canada.  He didn't know what he was missing and I knew I just had to be patient and that the scenery would be even more breath taking in Desolation Sound, our destination.  When you've seen how beautiful it can be in the Islands, it is disappointing to have visitors not see it in all its glory. Jonathan took a ton of pictures on our stop for fuel at Friday Harbor.  Later on that day, he realized he did not bring the charger for his camera battery, so his camera was pretty much useless for the remainder of the trip. We cleared customs at Bedwell Harbour, South Pender Island, BC and anchored for the night in Montague Harbor, galiano Island, BC.

Just went through the locks, girls still in their pjs

If we go back to the start of our morning, we got up at O'dark thirty and headed for the locks.  We had to wait awhile for the small lock to open and I don't think I've ever seen so many salmon jumping. It was quite a show.  My brother Jonathan got his first taste of what crewing the boat was going to be like.  This direction through the locks was pretty easy for those of us helping, for John it was hard because the boat stretched across pretty much the entire width of the lock which makes manuevering very tricky.

Oh, this is going to be hard limiting the stories I tell about each day. But I did journal as I we went, and I'll need to go back and review that now, but hopefully my writings on the trip will suffice for what I want to record here in this blog. Below is the surprisingly for me brief account of the day from my journal.

Saturday Aug 7 – rain rain rain, Friday Harbor, pouring rain.  Customs at Bedwell.  Anchor at Montague.  On the boat all day.

Waiting at the customs dock at Bedwell Harbour, note the pouring rain

Day 218 - Bon Voyage . . . well almost

Today was the day we were to leave on our 2 week boat trip.  The plan was to make it through the Locks and out into Puget Sound where we would cruise up to Port Madison or Port Townsend and have a lovely relaxing evening BBQ. Yeah, that didn't happen.  By the time we got everything ready, transported and loaded onto the boat, we knew we had to give up that plan.  The only exercise we got was excercising our appetites with burgers, shakes, french fries and onion rings at Red Mill Burger.  At least we got to sleep on the boat, it just stayed in the boathouse. 

Day 216 and 217

When I last left off on Day 215, it was tuesday Aug 3. Although I did take notes on the boat trip which you will be hearing about ad nauseum in upcoming posts, I don't have notes for Day 216 and 217 except that I see from my calendar that my brother Jon was picked up from the airport on day 217.  I don't even remember if I'm the one who picked him up!  What I do know is that my parents rolled into town on Day 216.  I also know that my family and I likely had zero exercise and zero quality time together for these two days.  I can tell you that I did a whole heck of a lot of packing and shopping for our trip.  OK, now a little is coming back to me, I didn't pick my brother up, my Dad and the girls did while my mom and I were at Costco then getting her a haircut.  I think my husband, John, and I took provisions down to the boat in the evening on day 217. The days leading up to a long boat trip are always a blur!  Uncle Jon may have gotten in some quality time with the girls and taken them bike riding around the neighborhood.  Maybe if he ever reads this he can confirm this for me.

Obviously a slow update process

OK, I find myself here again. It's late, the house is quiet, I'm the only one awake and I am actaully awake.  Let's see how far I can get this time on the update process, last time it was zilch!

Starting the update process

After lots of vaction and the start of school, I've finally stayed awake this evening long enough to start updating the blog.  I think it will take a couple of weeks to get all caught up, but rest assured every day will be accounted for. I am a first born type A, so it will happen! I did some writing on vacation and I've been taken notes, so here it comes . . .or maybe I should just sit on the couch and watch good ole Ab on the Food Network instead.