June 2017

Summer 2017 Travel: Friday Harbor Day 8

It was windy and rainy most of the day yesterday. Nonetheless, Everett said it was great bike riding weather and he came by the Whiteley Center a few times to see Chris working. During one of his visits we saw a bald eagle fly by. In the afternoon everyone went to the Whale Museum.

Chris came home around 4pm to see Gabby and Grandaddy off. They were scheduled to fly out on a sea plane at 6pm. Around 4:30 Cress got a call asking if we could fly out of Roche Harbor instead because Friday Harbor was too windy. So we loaded everyone in the car and went to the dock at Roche Harbor to wait for the plane. After a few minutes we decided to get a table at Madrona, and the adults had drinks and shared a Dungeness crab while the kids played in the garden. Then we received a call saying that the sea plane hadn’t left Seattle yet because of a storm, so we ordered more drinks and dinner for the kids. A while later we received another call saying that the plane had landed in Roche Harbor. Fortunately the kids were done eating and we had already paid the bill, but it was still a bit of a scramble to get to the end of the dock and get everyone loaded on the plane. It was raining, and everyone got pretty wet while tromping around, so we decided to give the kids a shower when we got home to get them clean and warm. Then we put them down for an “early” bedtime at 9pm while we ate dinner and watched two episodes of Catastrophe.

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Summer 2017 Travel: Friday Harbor Day 7

First, let me acknowledge the obvious: this blog and website have been languishing for some time. It is important to us to keep it up to date for many reasons. The problem is that that our lives have been so busy that there hasn’t been time to write what we have been up to. Ironically, if we did fewer things and had less to write about on this blog then there would be more time to write. But this isn’t likely to happen any time soon. Another problem is that we now have a big backlog of blog entries and photos to publish. This will get done in time, but the best thing to do now is just start writing now.

We are currently staying at Friday Harbor Laboratories for 10 days. It is a privilege to be here for many reasons. First, simply to be a part of FHL. This is our third time here. Chris came here for a month in 2004, during which Melissa visited for a long weekend. We returned for a month in October, 2011 with Everett, who attended Alphabet Soup preschool while Melissa worked on her dissertation and Chris worked at the Whiteley Center. Now we are here with Teddy & Gwen. Second, to have the opportunity to work in the Whitely Center, which is where Chris is working while we are here. Third, to be able to spend time on San Juan Island. This place is heaven for us, though not necessarily in ways that we can articulate or that would make immediate sense to people outside our family. It is reminiscent of the line from Which Way Does That Old Pony Run by Lyle Lovett: “What’s riches to you just ain’t riches to me.”

Gabby and Grandaddy arrived on Monday and are leaving this afternoon. It has been great to have them here with us, taking part in our adventures. Last night all of us had a fantastic dinner at Downriggers. We recalled having dinner with Grandaddy somewhere downtown in 2011 but couldn’t find the restaurant on this trip. Then we checked the blog and realized that it was the same place, but looked different because it burned down in 2013 and reopened in 2016. Particularly memorable were the Dungeness crab tater tots and a charcuterie plate as appetizers. And the fact that the kids got to go the restaurant with Chris in the rowboat.

Photos of the trip so far are here: http://gallery.dromomania.net/Travel/2017/Friday-Harbor-2017

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