Home is where...

... well, all the signs say, "Where the heart is."  I'm thinking: "Where the cat is," or maybe, "Where we park it (in the RV)", or, "Where the boat is."  And now, Wild Blue is home for the summer.  We are in Friday Harbor.  The crossing this morning was beautiful...

We saw a couple of these along the way...

We didn't stay long in Friday Harbor.  Once we had Wild Blue in her slip, we fed Izzy and caught the next ferry back to Anacortes to get the truck.  It was a beautiful ride back, and even more relaxing since I didn't have to keep a close watch for logs in the water (we dodged 15 or 20 of them on the way over)...

We walked on the ferry at Friday Harbor.  At Anacortes, there was a boarding ramp, and we exited from the upper level of the ferry...

Herb and Wilma graciously picked us up at the ferry landing and gave us a ride back to Big Red.  Looking at the schedule, we had time to fuel up the truck, grab a sandwich, and get back in line for the ferry.  Um... not quite... seems they don't always adhere to a tight schedule.  We waited in line for quite a while and departed late.  Not a problem, no schedule for now.

While in line, a lady in a car over from us said, "Did you see the sun?"  I thought perhaps she had experienced too many overcast days this winter... but, when I looked up, there was a ring around the sun...

 I told her, "Those are from ice crystals in the stratus clouds" (from my pilot days)... I'm not sure she believed me, since there was no ice to be seen. ;-)

The ferry ride back was easy, but... even though we were there way early, we were 4th from the last to get on the ferry.  And there were more cars waiting to load.  Since they were late, I think there was another ferry about to load as soon as we pulled out.  I guess the schedule is more of a suggestion, and I can understand that delays do occur.  This could be a real crunch in the busy part of the summer.

RVs do go on the ferry...

Wild Blue is in a slip with liveaboards on either side of us.  We met one neighbor, an older single guy living on his sailboat.  No doubt, we'll meet the other neighbors soon.  It was nice to have the time in Anacortes to get Wild Blue all set up - there wasn't a lot of work to do today (although she does need a rinsing after getting some salt spray on her on the way over).

As part of our liveaboard fee, we get a parking permit.  The marina manager told me, "There are less than 100 parking spaces.  There are over 500 slips, and we don't restrict the number of parking permits we sell.  So, this isn't a guarantee that you'll always get a parking space, but it does put you in the fight for a space.  July and August are really busy.  Pull out of a spot on a Friday, and you won't see another one for days."  Swell.  Even in mid-May, there weren't many empty spaces to pick from.  I guess we won't be driving much, anyway. ;-)

This will be different from our last two summers in the Tetons.  But, the views are gorgeous, as well.  The living accommodations are a bit more snug, but it will be easier to take those accommodations with us for excursions on our days off.

There is a C-Brat gathering here in Friday Harbor this weekend - we're looking forward to seeing our C-Dory friends.

Little Izzy said to tell y'all she's doing fine...