Travelin' man

Wrote this post on the airplane ride back to Appa today and it got lost in the internet ether.  So here I go doing it again.
Flew into Seattle on Thursday for the YMCA Camp Orkila bash.  Stayed over at my mom's and dad's Thursday night and then hit Seattle on Friday.  Did the Fisheries run for fans and other boat related crap.  Also dropped off my old key fob at Shileshole.  Found that damn thing in my pocket while getting clothes ready laundry while I was in Alameda.
Hustled over to Bertschi (Ben's old school) and picked up a good friend of Ben's who was joining us to fly to camp.  Got my flight times switched and realized that we flew out at 1600 not 1700.  Had to rush home and pack quick.  Made the flight with time to spare as it was running late.  The flight up was glorious.  Really nice weather.
Here is a photo album that Alexi shot.  Of course most of you won't know anybody on the slideshow and I am hardly on it either.  Ben has a couple shots. It gives you a good idea about the camp though.   

Seth on his first seaplane ride

On Friday night, three of the dad's prepped some food and whipped it all together for a feast.  We had clam chowder and crab louie wraps with pickled cucumbers and salmon that was flayed open and roasted over the open campfire.  Gourmet, eh?  To top it off Larion brought a 2007 Barolo, that was simply gathering dust.  The kids had hot dogs.   They got scent of the chowder though and ate that up.

Flayed salmon 

Ben plinking at cans

Zip line tower.  The line is over 1000' long

Seth is all ready to go

 In years past, Ben would not leave my side and we would do everything together.  Side by side from sunup to sundown.  Some of the dad's with older kids said that when they hit 3rd grade, you'll never see them at camp.  That is exactly what happened.  Made me kinda sad.  We did a couple things together but after that he ran off with his friends and us dads were standing there bewildered.  You hear how they grow up fast but I felt it this weekend.

That's Tom doing his seagull impersonation

On Sunday the wind kicked up and our seaplane flights got canceled.  So at 1100 we caught the old yellow YMCA school bus to the ferry and caught the 1230 to Anacortes.  The wind hit high gear when we got into Rosario strait.  I'll bet we had 40 knots of apparent wind speed.  The strait also has a bit more fetch so the waves started to come and rolled us pretty good.  Couple times a big wave would smash into us and bring the ferry to a near stop.  Best.  Ferry.  Ride.  Evah.  Very cool.  The cars at the front of the ferry got hosed down with salt water.
Made it to Anacortes and had to wait on the charter bus.  We waited about 3 hours or so.  Some of the kids went to the beach and Ben and I stayed in the terminal.  Seth cracked open a book and started to read out loud to Theo and Ben.He did that for about 45 minutes or so.
Bus finally got there and we enjoyed a lazy trip home.Once back in Seattle, I dropped Ben off at his friend Matthew's place and went to the house.

Table on the ferry

 Now back in Santa Barbara and we are deciding where we want to go next.  We are all Santa Barbara'd out and are looking for new anchorages/marinas.  I think we will head to Ventura till the weekend and then shoot over to the Channel Islands.  The wind is forecasted to be a bit brisk till Friday or so.  Not sure about the anchorages in the Channel Islands.  How rolly, holding, etc.  Have to figure that out.