Pacific Standard Was On Vacation

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And now we're back. Last week Emily and I took our boat up to the San Juans in an attempt to take a first proper vacation since that massive roadtrip move from New York to Seattle in Fall 2008. If you aren't from here, the San Juans are a chain of 172 islands in the Salish Sea.

Kind of a weird trip in that we got stuck on Lopez for three days with engine trouble (I know, rough life... but not what we had planned).

Still, the weather was perfect and we made it out to Jones and Stuart Islands for two nights at the end of the week. And:

ORCA WHALES!

Here are some other pics:

Emily at the wheel

Prevost Harbor on Stuart (the second boat from the left on this side of the dock is us)

Lopez Island

iPhone photo of the sunset on Lopez

Our campsite on Jones Island

Downed tree from the 1995 storm on Jones

On Jones we met these people from Bellingham who had the same model of boat as us (1980 Boston Whaler Revenge). It's kind of a rarity so it was cool to talk to them about modifications they had made, etc. Yes, we're becoming boat people.

When I was younger I wanted to pilot one of these small ferries. Oh well.

M/V Buster ("I know the blue parts are land")

Johns Island

Speiden Island

Barnacle remains on wood

Roche Harbor on San Juan Island (beer, ice, and we were out)

Geodesic Dome house on Stuart

Big ol' jellyfish near Satellite Island


The San Juans have the best tide pools of anywhere I've been.

More cool modern houses on Stuart. I used to kayak by these all the time – the fronts flip down and you can walk out on them.

Bedwell Harbor on Stuart

Hank's in Friday Harbor

Crab humor ha ha ha

A good vacation message

I'm sorry to report that on the last day – literally, when we got back to Everett and were getting ready to put the boat back in – we were trying to dock in a fast current and Emily fell in, dislocating her shoulder in the process.

Still, setting that and the engine trouble aside, it was a phenomenal trip.