With the weather as nice as it's been, we decided to run away for a sailing trip. You can't take nice weather for granted when it comes to the islands, so we jumped on the idea to sail away for a quick adventure. The key to an island sailing trip is a great pool. Last year's adventure to Roche Harbor's pool was a success, so after seeing that the Lopez Islander had a marina with a pool, we decided to head there instead. Grandma Lillian is the queen of inside cabin activities for the boys, and while the weather outside wasn't all that thrilling for tanning, the boys were having a blast down below. Every now and then they would peek out to see what was going on up on top, but quickly headed down for more journaling, books and games with grandma. The trip over to Lopez was fabulous, and we were even treated to a dolphin sighting that Thomas spotted on his trip to the front of the boat. The water was dead calm at that time, so it made for a marvelous sight. Shortly after that, though, the adventure turned sketchy, as we entered a fog bank. With John and I scouting out the side, and Bruce manning the instruments and front, we slowly crept through a thick, scary fog bank. It was disconcerting to hear a fog horn, yet not have a clue where it was, or how far away it was. At one point, Bruce motioned for me to see a large, yellow dot on his radar, and I switched from watching the side of the boat to scanning the back. I can't tell you how amazing it is to see an enormous ferry emerge out of the fog right on your tail! It was like a scene out of a movie. "Bruce! Bruce! It's a ferry! Right behind us!" I yelled. That yellow dot was not just any old boat coming up on us. I am sure Bruce thought I was nuts when I said, "Can you just pull over?" Uh...pull over, like a highway? Hmmmm....
Can't really do that on the open water, now can you? However, Bruce did change his direction just a tad, and instead of the ferry overtaking us (sailboats have a tendency to just disappear out on the water), it also changed course just a bit. I prayed and prayed that the sun would break through the fog so that we wouldn't be in such a sketchy sail much longer.
Lopez Island treated us well, and we found that the laid back marina was much to our liking. There was nothing fancy about it, no mega-bucks boats and their parties to contend with. We spent the majority of the afternoon playing up at the pool and hot tub, then had dinner out on the deck of the restaurant. We timed it just right, as the thunder and lighting that we could see on the horizon all day finally overtook our little slice of heaven and the storm hit. It was an amazing thunder and lightning storm. It's an interesting situation to be inside a sailboat, out in the water, with lightning strikes all around and pretty continuous. Normally you would run from such a situation, but when in a marina, all we could do was hunker down and enjoy the show. And what a show it was! We played Scrabble, the boys played with the Ipad and cards, then when the power in the marina went out with one powerful burst of lightning, we all settled in for the night. I loved this trip. It was a perfect, amazing little adventure, and I couldn't be more thankful for the opportunity to do this with our family.
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