Carol Anderson made me a beautiful Coot burgee. Here it is with Christmas Lights. 
I found this quote from Lindsey Lord, so we decided to make it swallow-tailed instead of pointy: 
I sent her this picture. I think she did a great job translating it.
Thanks Carol!
We spent Friday night on the boat, leaving the marina under a waxing gibbous moon at 10:30 in the evening. We tied up to the Ivar’s Salmon House floating dock at midnight. Since they were closed we figured they wouldn’t mind. At 6 AM Meryll got a call to do some maintenance work so we had to find a Starbucks with wifi in a hurry. We crossed Lake Union to Terry Pettus Park, arriving in the dark. It has this little dock. You have to know it’s there. We walked up the hill to the coffee shop and she did whatever it was she does (I think it has something to do with computers).
This is the view when we got back. The houseboats in back are the ones in Sleepless in Seattle. 
A sign of the times at the park. 
Fall leaves on the walk down the hill. 
A couple of non-boating cell-phone pictures from the top of the building I work in. 
A one-night trip to Blake Island. This was Donovan’s first overnight camping trip, which was kind of a shock to him. I went to the Microsoft company meeting first, and we headed out after the meeting.
Lock cowboy 
Bell Street Marina 
Company meeting at Safeco Field 
Tillicum village at sunrise 
First day of Fall, Diana’s Bow 
Camp site 
Heading home 
Some pictures from our 10-day early-September trip to the islands, with3 days at the Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival.
We came up inside Whidbey Island, stopping at little boat ramps and Langley, and the Cama Beach park. We spent the first two nights at Elgin Cove across from Langley, and then at Hope Island. Stopped at the boat launch at the south end of Whidbey Island. 
Langley. We went up to town to buy fancy treats. 
Elgin Cove anchorage and cute critter. 
We passed through Deception Pass in heavy fog. It lifted for a minute so we could see the bridge. 
Heading across Rosario Straight we tried to avoid the big tug Hunter D, who we heard on the VHF complaining about the small boats in her way. She finally showed up heading right at us so we drove away as fast as we could. She was towing a huge barge. We heard her horn and engines but couldn’t tell where she was in the fog until she appeared. I’m now shopping for radar and AIS. 
The sun came out about 2/3 of the way across but it lingered in Watmough Harbor on Lopez where we stopped for lunch. 
Looking back at Mount Baker from anchor. 
We explored the wild rocky coves on the south end of Lopez on our way to Turn Island. 
Cute critters on Turn Island. 
Foggy again in the morning. 
Trying to be artsy with the cell phone camera. 
We played in Friday Harbor until early afternoon. 
Yellow Island is in the Wasp Islands near Friday Harbor. It’s owned by the Nature Conservancy, who burns much of the undergrowth every year to keep the landscape open. It’s known for its spectacular yellow flower meadows in the spring. Beautiful this time of year too. 
Caretaker’s cabin made of driftwood. 
Meryll driving the boat to a new slip in Fisherman’s Bay. Note the radar reflector still on the mast. 
Tucked into our Boat Show spot. 
Sam Devlin came in his restored 1934 fishing boat Josephine. 
I loved the way the Arctic Tern rested on it’s legs at low tide. I drank a lot of Port and Scotch with the owner, Kirk, and Sam’s webmaster Scott. Scott supplied excellent cigars too. 
I talked to a couple hundred interested festival goers. You can’t see it here, but the t-shirt has a picture of last years show, and the Coot is very visible on it.
Aboard Rita, Lew Barrett’s boat. 
Took a nice walk to Uptown to the Farmers Market on Saturday morning.
Meryll took a little break on the way up. 
Peaceful evening row at Jones Island.
We spent a couple of hot weekends anchored out by the buoys near the Arboretum. Last Sunday evening a water cop very nicely told us that it’s illegal to anchor there and not to do it again. Too bad, it’s a great place to hang out.
Brother Ross in Idaho: 
Took her out of the water for the first time since we launched. Changed the oil and filter, changed the lower unit oil, scrubbed and repainted the bottom, cut the skegs down and mounted them permanently, and got the boat name painted on. I raised the boot stripe on the stern too, to make her look like she’s floating on her lines instead of being stern-low.
First thing I did was to scrub off all the green scum and repaint the bottom. 
Checking out name sizes. 
Nancy painted the letters free-hand after outlining with chalk. 
Dark gold trim finishes the lettering. 
We’ve done a lot of day trips and weekend outings lately. Here are some pretty pictures, in no particular order.
Barry took this from Salty as they followed us through the locks. We have our tarp out to protect the other boat from our tire fenders. 
Tillicum Village on Blake Island. We tied up to the pilings overnight because the docks were full and rowed in for dinner. 
West Point buoy off of Discovery Park 
On the way down the lake these guys flagged us down with a dead motor. We towed them about 4 miles back to Kirkland. Just like a real tugboat! 
Astoria OR lightship Colombia 
Astoria sunset 
Sean and Donovan 
Summer afternoon at the locks. 
Ballard, 14th St Boat Ramp. Stopped to visit Trader Joes. With the motor up, the boat just fits in the space behind the dock, so we don’t block the ramp. 
Same spot 
Downtown from Lake Union. The new location for MOHAI, and Center for Wooden Boats is in the center bottom. 
Aurora Bridge 8 PM
(Caution – links to a 3 MB , 4000 x 300 pixel picture) 
I took the boat to Carillon in the morning, then Sean, Jim, and I went for a cruise to Leschi for dinner. We went along the shore of Hunts Point and Medina to gawk at the fancy houses, including Bill Gates’ very tasteful house. On the way across to Leschi, we got chased down by Lew Barrett in Rita, on a pre-wedding party and reception cruise for Tim Yeadon, who was getting married the next day.
We left the house late on Friday evening and spent the night on the UW buoys. In the morning we stopped at Pete’s grocery for coffee and fancy snacks, then picked up a friend of Meryll, Mark, from the Center for Wooden Boats dock. As we waited there, I casually put my foot out to slow down a small boat that was approaching, slipped, and fell head-first into the boat. Saved my coffee though! Embarrassing and somewhat painful. It could easily have been a lot worse.
Lots of rowing shells in front of the UW in the morning.
In the large locks, tucked in between tugs heading out to participate in the race.
Mark & Meryll. Mark came prepared with foul weather gear and PFD. We had fun talking about airplane kits and Tesla motors much of the day.
Galena anchor chain
A great sailing day. It was windy all day. It stayed sunny until evening.
We were kept 600 yards from shore – so far away that we had trouble seeing the actual races. I watched them from shore last year, and it was much more exciting.
It was fun just drifting around and watching all the action.
Saturday evening and Sunday were a bit damp. We spent the night on the boat listening to the rain pouring down.
We got home at noon, with enough time to buy potting soil and plant our hanging strawberries.
This was a mostly solo 8 day trip north from Seattle to Bellingham and the San Juan Islands. I met Meryll in Bellingham where she was attending LinuxFest Northwest, and afterward we cruised to La Conner for a night. The next day I dropped her off in Anacortes to drive home. I came back via the straits and Port Townsend. I also met brother Steve and Linda in Bellingham and we cruised around the bay for a while It was a nice, quiet trip, without accident or incident. I was forced to stay inside sheltered water more than I hoped because of strong winds in the exposed areas, but the weather wasn’t as bad as it might have been considering it was early May. I anchored 5 or six times and used my new dinghy each time to go exploring. Both the new Rocna anchor and the dinghy launching system worked great.
Some photos have a link to open ActiveCaptain to the location the picture was taken.
Lunch break at a boat ramp dock at the south end of Whidbey Island:
(ActiveCaptain location) 
Langley boat harbor:
(ActiveCaptain location) 
Curious critter: 
Center for Wooden Boats Cama Beach outpost. You can rent the little cabins and boats from the center:
(ActiveCaptain location) 
Coupeville pier in the early morning: (ActiveCaptain location) 
Entering La Conner: (ActiveCaptain location) 
My favorite tugboat names. These are both local street names: 
La Conner – they’re making humongous hats as pavilions for a big canoe gathering this summer: 
Anacortes: 
James Island. Mount Baker in the distance: (ActiveCaptain location) 
Pelican Beach on Cypress Island. The beach is named after a type of boat, not the bird. Testing out my new lounge chair on the aft cabin top:
(ActiveCaptain location) 
Beach tracks: 
Lovebirds: 
LinuxFest party and game night: 
La Conner evening: 
Anacortes – view from the top of Cap Sante head: (ActiveCaptain location) 
The east edge of Cap Sante has an abandoned stone and concrete amphitheater. I read it was built in the 20’s and they used to have poetry readings there and watch canoe races. There’s a trail down from the upper parking lot: (ActiveCaptain location) 
Anacortes – building a super-tug: 
Anacortes has some lovely gardens: 
Deception Pass: (ActiveCaptain location)
Port Townsend: 
Port Townsend: (ActiveCaptain location) 
Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding in Port Hadlock: (ActiveCaptain location) 
Mats Mats bay – dinghy, showing oar storage and hinge: (ActiveCaptain location) 
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