Happy 17th Anniversary!

Saturday, July 18, 2015

Puget Sound, WA

Edison, WA

Today Jeff and I have been married for 17 years! At the risk of sounding cheesy, he is the best thing that has ever happened to me. Marrying Jeff was the best decision I’ve ever made and it blesses my life daily. I am so grateful to truly be married to my best friend. We love spending every waking minute together and I am so happy that I get to wake up next to him every morning. He is practically perfect in every way! ;)

This morning we packed up and ran back to Skyline Marina to drop off all of our stuff with Nana so we could enjoy a day on the water. When we got there Mikey, Isaac and Kate all decided they wanted to just head home with Nana and not go back out on the water. I was kind of sad because I wanted them to spend another day in the islands. But they were truly exhausted. We had packed in hours on the water and ridden our bikes all over the island for the last 5 days and they just wanted to rest. So it was just the 5 of us: Dad (Papa), Kira, Calvin, Jeff and I. We had 2 boats so the kids went with Papa and Jeff and I had our little 15’ Boston Whaler to ourselves.

We took the boats over through Deception Pass and into Skagit Bay to set our crab pot. Deception Pass was kind of exciting with the swirly currents and little whirlpools and narrow passages. Dad took us through the smaller pass, and it felt like you were going up a white water river!

We set our crab pot just north of Cornet Bay and then tucked into the Deception Pass marina to look for some ice cream. We found a tiny little general store that sold ice cream and we each got our own little pint for lunch. We sat in the sun and ate our ice cream and talked with Papa about his stories at sea. It was so fun.

We hopped back in the boats and headed out to look for salmon. I really wanted to go back to the Salmon Banks off of San Juan Island to see if we could spot some killer whales and catch some more salmon. It was a long run (45 minutes one way) and a lot of fuel, so Dad and Jeff were a little hesitant. I was probably a little selfish and I gently persuaded them to do it in the end.

It turned out to be an amazing day on the Salmon Banks! We limited out, catching 8 more pink salmon, the water was calm and smooth and while we were fishing just south of Pile Point when a pod of whales came swimming through, right past us! We shut off the motor, pulled the line and just sat and watched. They came right at us. At one point, a big whale circled back around and Jeff got a little nervous. They are huge and beautiful creatures to watch. I love to hear them blow as they surface. We watched a mom and baby playing around as they swam. The baby did a few little pec slaps on the water and the kids and Papa even saw a whale breach! We followed them past Eagle Point and watched them for over an hour before heading back across the strait.

Dad took the kids straight home while Jeff and I went back through Deception Pass to pick up our crab pot. There were 4 big keepers in it. It’s awesome to trade our leftover salmon guts and heads for beautiful crab meat. J We reset the pot and headed back to Skyline marina with a cooler full of 8 salmon and a bucket full of 4 dungeness crab.

Since it was our anniversary, we decided to stop for a quick dinner in Anacortes on the way home. We “yelped” restaurants in Anacortes and found the cutest little, local restaurant in Historic Anacortes called “Adrift: Swell Food for Salty Dogs.” It was a laid-back little eatery that served seafood and burgers with eclectic local artwork with a nautical theme. We loved it! We ended up getting gourmet burgers and fries and ended with some handmade blueberry Lopez Island Creamery ice cream. It was all amazing! My garlic brie burger was probably the best hamburger I’ve ever had.

Today was the perfect day and I loved sharing it with Jeff and Kira and Calvin and my Dad.