We left Tucson to fly up to Washington to see Dave’s brother Don and his sister Doti. We have not seen Doti for more than seven years. We did visit Don and his wife Debbie last year in Connecticut. They happened to be out in Washington for a bit of vacation on their motor vessel Change of Latitude. Being cruisers we jumped at the chance to travel with them on their boat, visit with them AND see and visit Doti as well! A THREE-Fer!!
We spent our first two days shopping and getting the boat ready for a cruise as well as visiting Doti. It was great seeing her again. She is Dave’s older sister and does not travel so it had been a while since we have seen her. We spent a couple of evenings together talking and enjoying each other’s company. We laughed a lot and shared future plans with each other.
Then on December 30 we left the dock in Bellingham to head out to Roache Harbor, San Juan Island and the famous McMillan Room. This was going to be a “foodies paradise cruise”! The restaurant has the BEST food and we loved it! The cruise to Roache Harbor was wonderful. Their boat is so beautiful (Dave will post pictures). Being a motor vessel we were not sure what the noise level would be. I am happy to report that it is very quite! We hardly even notice it. We had great weather (it was VERY cold 35degrees) but it was clear and crisp. Being with Don and Debbie has been so much fun. Our children are the same age, we have 42 years of friendship (Debbie and I)and we love cruising! We have had LOTS to talk about!
The next day we left Roache Harbor and went to Prevost Harbor on Stuart Island. This was a wilderness harbor so we did not have electricity but were so snug on the boat. Don made homemade New England clam chowder. It was to die for!!!! Then for our New Year’s Eve dinner, the men grilled steak and we women made salad and mushroom sauce. This cruise was putting the pounds on me! It was all too good. For New Year’s Eve we watched the ball drop (on cruiser time 9:00pm since we were on the Pacific coast and CNN was televising from New York City). We wished each other love and good health for the New Year and went to bed!
New Years day we headed out to Coupeville on Whidbey Island. On the way we watched Michigan lose a TRAGIC game to South Carolina.  I’m just sayin‘ the refs may need to go back to school. Just sayin’! Don and Debbie have a TV so we did watch a few other games of football. To drown our sorrows, we went to an amazing mussels restaurant called Front Street Grill. We had the best mussels I have ever had. I had mussels Rockefeller. I expected them to be like Oysters Rockefeller but they were not! It (the mussels) was in a broth but made of the same ingredients. It was super!!
Today we are heading toward Pleasant Bay near Chuckanut Bay. Once again, it is more rustic and we will make gourmet food on board. We discovered a game on board called Blockus. Dave and I have been playing it and it is a wonderful strategy game. Dave keeps on winning the majority of the games but I still love it. This trip has been so much fun and we are so grateful that Don and Debbie could share it with us.