South Puget Sound Cruise, Part Two

Cruise to South Puget Sound, Part Two

July 2, to July 11, 2013

     The second half of our South Puget Sound cruise began at Swantown Marina, Olympia Washington.  The Olympia Jazz Festival was over so on Tuesday, July 2 it was time to move on to our next event.  We had a short 21 NM to travel to Von Geldern Cove on the Key Peninsula.  Gerald and Nancy Schneider, friends from Visalia, have a cabin here.  They had invited us to join them here three years ago for the Fourth of July celebration at the little town of Home, and we were looking forward to being with them again.  Nancy and I taught together in the COS nursing program for years and years, and it’s always great to get together and catch up.

     Our weather on this trip has been hazy/overcast/ cloudy so we haven’t had many good views of Mt. Rainier.  Our route to Von Geldern Cove took us through some pretty, open waterways and I was able to get this shot.  Mt. Rainier is the dominant view on the eastern horizon and quite an impressive site!  We took the reverse of the route we had travelled three years before and were amazed at the change in our perspective.  We were guided through one of the smaller
waterways with channel markers and 

three years ago we thought this was a big challenge.  This year, it was so easy to navigate this channel, I wasn’t even sure we were in the right place!  We spotted this Air Stream trailer sitting on the hillside and thought of our friend Chuck and his desire to park his Air Stream in some remote lovely spot.

     Home, WA, wasn’t really a town anymore and the post office at the head of the cove says “Lakebay”.  Home, WA, is primarily a town of beach homes now, but had a colorful beginning.  The plaque gives a rather milk toast description of the town at its peak.  According to Wikipedia, at the turn of the 20^th century Home was considered to be a model, utopian community.  In 1901, Home included anarchists, communists, food faddists, freethinkers, nudists, and other folks who wouldn’t be accepted elsewhere.  The utopian community broke into two factions (the “nudes” and the “prudes”) over arguments about nude swimming and disbanded in 1915.

     There was no dock in the cove, so we anchored as we had done 3 years before.  To get to shore, we dropped the dinghy, beached it, hopped out, and then pushed the dinghy back out into deep water.  This works quite well except for the fact that, coming and going, we’re wading through sea grass, mud, and salt water.  Our dinghy quickly became a mess!

     Before I go into the details of our visit, I should explain the Schneider’s Fourth of July.  Gerald and Nancy’s home faces Carr Inlet, just around the corner from Von Geldern Cove.  Their good friends, Karin and Paul Gruver, also have a home here (in the photo at left), which faces the cove itself.  These two couples invite friends and family to come and join in the festivities of the Fourth.  Gerald’s brother Gary and sister-in-law Katie were so taken with the area that they built a lovely house here two years ago…just down the road from Gerald and Nancy.  You’re probably getting the idea that lots of people are in and out and this is one big party…exactly right!

     The Schneider home has a wonderful view of Carr Inlet and Mt. Rainier.  In the photo you can see Jerry and Gerald relaxing under the umbrella and catching up.  Do you see Mt. Rainier in the background?

     The whole focus of the visit was the Fourth of July and we were excited to see the poster as we walked to the post office the next morning.  The 

whole little community gets involved in the parade…either participating or watching.  



We chose to be sideline cheerleaders and I got some great shots of the parade participants:

     The Schneider kids:  Jonathan and his wife Kayla in the golf cart, followed by Karin and Kristine Schneider.

     A lovely, well-decorated, patriotic backhoe.  Every parade needs one!

     Of course no Puget Sound parade would be complete without a pirate in his frigate, flying the Jolly Roger!

     This little guy was impressive on his little scooter/bike and was passing everyone!

     Following the parade, everyone was invited to a free pancake breakfast, put on by Gerald Schneider, Gary Schneider, and Paul Gruver.  Yep, they made pancakes and sausages for the whole town!  No one was certain how long they’d been doing this…about 10 years perhaps.  It was very impressive and very much appreciated by everyone.  Gary kept everyone organized and everyone had a job.  It was quite entertaining listening to these three men talk about how many sausages to buy, who will bring the pancake turners, and where the napkins leftover from last year were stored.  The ladies helped with the serving and clean-up and everyone has a great time!

     Paul Gruver’s mom, Maruth, was the primary pancake-cooker, and aspired to actually having her name printed on her apron!

     Karin Schneider, Nancy and Gerald’s older daughter, pitched in to make more pancake batter.

     The evening of the Fourth everyone congregated at the Gruver home for a wonderful dinner, spearheaded by Nancy and Karin.  These ladies have been friends since they were nurses in the Air Force in Germany.  Karin had invited a couple of friends who had also been in Germany with her, plus a nurse co-worker.  I thoroughly enjoyed meeting and talking with these interesting ladies…and realized I’ve missed “talking shop” with other nurses.

     I'd be remiss if I didn't include this photo, too, of Karin and Paul Gruver.  They're great hosts and made the Fourth of July weekend fun for everyone.  Thanks!

     Of course the focus of the evening was fireworks and it was hard to wait till dark…about 10 PM.  The local reservation had lots of fireworks to purchase and these budding pyromaniacs did not lack for “ammo”.

     The Schneider kids, plus friend Michael, kept us all well entertained.

     We went back to the boat about 11 PM and sat and watched the fireworks displays all around Carr Inlet.  Every beach seemed to have a pyrotechnic display.  Beautiful!

     The next morning, Friday, July 5, before our departure about 1 PM, we took the dinghy to the Schneider’s once again for a delicious breakfast.  

     Gerald and Nancy had this high seawall built to reinforce the bank, resulting in lots of levels to the water and great places to sit and enjoy the view.  This is where we had breakfast.  The only problem we had was that the seafloor is quite shallow for a long ways out, resulting in a rather long walk across the mud!

    We had a delicious breakfast, thanks to the cooking efforts of both Gerald and Nancy.

     Here are the folks at the grown-ups' table: Gerald, Jerry, me, Katie, Nancy, and Gary.

     And not to be left out, the kids' table:  Karin, Kristine, Kayla, and Jonathan.

     We had a wonderful visit with the Schneider’s and their friends and hated to go, but had more adventures ahead of us.  Just across Carr Inlet was Fox Island, and the bridge connecting it to the peninsula, so that was to be our route as we headed back to Anderson Island for a longer visit.  We had met some boaters from the Fox Island Yacht Club while we were in Olympia and wanted to explore this spot.  What a pretty area, with lots of lovely homes lining both sides of the water.

     As we approached the island, we got one last good-bye gesture from the Schneider’s, as the young folks came by with the powerboat and tube.  They were having great fun, I’m sure, but that water is COLD!!!

    We had a short 15-mile cruise back to Anderson Island and the mooring buoy just off the beach at Anita’s beach house.  When we arrived she had lots of company and they were just getting ready to go out and pick up crab pots.  

     The catch was good so we had crab for dinner…yummy!  I’ve mentioned that we don’t crab since Jerry is allergic to shellfish, but I was in heaven having fresh crab!!!

In fact, crabbing was to become the theme of the entire weekend and both Jerry and I learned a lot about crabbing.

     We went with Anita several times to pick up crab pots.  She’s quite an accomplished boater and easily maneuvers her dinghy around the bay to grab the pots.  It was from Anita and her husband Dale that we learned so much about cruising to Alaska.  They had crewed on big yachts to Alaska for many years and gave us a wealth of information.

     Saturday afternoon our friends Jim and Chris Munch from Anacortes arrived to add to the festivities.  It was Jim and Chris who introduced us to Dale and Anita four years ago.  As you can see, we had more crab for dinner on Saturday night, too.

     We stayed on Anderson Island until Monday morning, July 8, going back and forth to the beach in our dinghy, since there was no dinghy dock to tie to.  Sounds simple, doesn’t it? The process was this:  put on shorts and water shoes, motored as close to shore as we could before the outboard prop hit bottom, jumped out in shin-deep cold water, and walked to shore through mud and grass.  Our dinghy doesn’t have a flat bottom so it was impossible to avoid this little wading event.  Once on shore, we hosed off and put on dry shoes.  Unfortunately, it was on the other end where it got messy.  The cockpit of the boat accumulated a lot of sand, pebbles, and seaweed before we were done. 

     Our next destination was Tacoma and Dock Street Marina.  We chose this spot so we could visit museums in the area and this marina, at the end of Thea Foss Waterway, is situated just below the Museum of Glass.  The picture at the right is from the Internet, and isn’t a great one, but perhaps you can see how close we were to the museum. 

     Monday evening, July 8, we had great dinner plans!  We had learned that Susan Donaldson, the valedictorian of our high school class, and her family lived in Tacoma.  We had made contact with Susan and were to have dinner at their home…yay!  Since we didn’t have a car, Susan, her husband John, and son Robert came to the boat for a little tour, a glass of wine, and conversation before we departed for their home.  We were certain we hadn’t seen Susan since that chilly graduation night in May 1965…a very long time!  We had a fabulous evening with them, catching up on 48 (yikes!) years of news.  I’m afraid that John and Robert found the conversation a little dull, but they were certainly good sports.  We learned that John has been retired for several years, but Susan is still teaching ESL (English as a Second Language) at Tacoma Community College and plans to do so until at least age 70.

     Tuesday, July 9, we hopped on the downtown light rail to make our way toward the LeMay Car Museum.  We walked about four blocks toward the museum and made this fabulous discovery:  the largest used bookstore in Washington.  At least that was their claim.

     Don't you love wandering through aisles of books?  It was hard to leave.

     Dick Shirk from Anacortes had been at the car museum earlier in the summer with his son and his son’s family.  Dick raved about the museum and we had to go…some of us being more excited about this tour and others!  Fortunately, Dick decided to drive down and join us.

     The building itself is a unique structure, one we have seen from I-5 as we have driven through Tacoma.  Dick and Jerry got a lot more out of the museum than I did…obviously!  Having Dick there to discuss tailfins and engine sizes and who knows what else freed me up to wander on my own.

     I found the various hood ornaments fascinating.  Can you identify any of these?

     The museum had two special car shows in addition to the regular displays:  the British invasion and NASCAR.  One of my favorite quotes in the NASCAR display was from Cale Yarborough:  “Driving a race car is like dancing with a chainsaw.”  Rather a dramatic visual image!

     Dick knew Tacoma well since Vicki is from here, so after the car museum, we went in search of lunch and then had a driving tour.  That’s pretty unique for us boat people!  Even though Tacoma is described as a mid-sized port city (population 200,000), it has retained its unique, quirky neighborhoods and has done a terrific job of revitalizing its downtown/harbor area.  This is another spot to which we want to return and explore in more detail.

     Tuesday, July 10, we went to the Museum of Glass, just at the top of the marina ramp.  We assumed we would primarily a collection of Dale Chihuly art, since he’s a famous glass artist and Tacoma native.  Nope!  Rather the museum has an eclectic collection of glass from artist from all over, and a special section called “Links: Australian Glass and the Pacific Northwest” which showcased 21 Australian and five American contemporary glass artists.  I don’t know a lot about glass art, and my taste in art tends to be rather traditional and conservative.  Even so, the displays were interesting, colorful and challenged my imagination.  Take a look at this piece!

     The museum also has a “hot shop”, a large room with furnaces where glass is melted, blown, shaped, etc.  The large cone that you could see back in the marina photo is the exhaust cone for the furnaces.  There was a large gallery overlooking the floor of the shop, where we spectators could sit and watch the activity.  A visiting artist was creating a piece that required lots of help and lots of heating and reheating of the glass.  He said it wouldn’t be finished until the

next day!  I was able to get a shot of the diagram from which they were working.  I have no idea what one would call this piece!  What do you think?

     We had walked from the marina, over the Bridge of Glass, to Pacific Avenue many times, and this is where we saw Dale Chihuly art.  One wall of the bridge was composed of individual niches holding his pieces.  Dick described them well:  “organic”.  

     Neither  Jerry nor I found a piece we just had to have…again, too conservative in our tastes.  See what you think!  Jerry doesn’t even look happy standing by this one!  The only reason it caught my eye was that it was orange.

     We also went to the Union Train station, just across the street from the glass museum and saw more Dale Chihuly art there.  The train station had been converted to a federal courthouse and was lovely.  We could wander through the old central waiting room and the balconies above.  

The hanging chandelier was huge and full of more "organic" art ala Dale Chihuly.  It was remarkable piece and I had no idea how one would ever create it.  


     We even found time to go to the history museum…just down the street from Union Station.  By the end of Wednesday we were “full up” on culture and education and ready to head north. 

     Thursday, July 11, we made the run all the way from Tacoma to La Conner…a big whopping 77 miles, which took us 10 hours, dock to dock.  We had had a wonderful tour of south Puget Sound but it felt good to be back in our homeport.  

     

In this photo you can see that we’re just approaching our dock…the empty one in the middle of the picture.

     We had travelled a total of 238.6 miles over 17 days, explored new waterways, socialized with new and old friends, and learned a bunch of new stuff.  For us that’s the perfect cruise!