Well, back in the world, the wonders of Wonderland (Alaska) and Narnia (Canada) start to fade. Rather than keeping a lookout for whales, I have to worry about locking my dinghy and keeping the masses of sea lions off my dinghy and swim step. Now I'm anchored in Astoria, Oregon just waiting for low pressures to pass by and catch the express train of North wind to push me South starting tomorrow. I hope to be in San Francisco, anchored at the Embarcadero for several days next week before continuing on to spend two months in Los Angeles visiting family and performing maintenance. Hurricane season ends on 1 December, and weather permitting I'll continue South then.

My stay in Vancouver, anchored right there in False Creek, was quite nice having a pilot buddy, Ian, and his wife, Patricia come and be my first day-sailing victims. They were good sports and great sailors, and when I told them to pack a lunch they kicked it up a notch and packed a lunch, dinner, wine, cheese, snacks and then even cooked on my own grill. I'm such an awful entertainer, that I realized while buddy-boating up in Alaska that I need to work on my skills before I go for the real retirement in 20 or so years. Hopefully, that'll be enough time to get my entertaining skills in order. In my defense, after single handing all over the place, I really don't have the energy to go provision and plan a full lunch, dinner, and drinks in short order. But the fact that my guests were cooking on my grill, on my boat while I sat and drank beer should be a wake-up call for my entertaining skills. Something to work on.

After city living in Vancouver for the better part of a week, I headed South and toured the San Juans and aimed to make Seattle to visit with another pilot buddy, John. I put into Bell Harbor, only blocks from Pikes Place Market, downtown Seattle, and as the water's too deep to anchor, the time and location at the dock was ideal.

We drove up to Everett, and did a magnificent tour of the Big Boeing manufacturing plant. I should have brought a towel, as the drool running down my shirt made it look like I'd been swimming. We started with the 747-8 section, with the tiny 767 at the end (as they're building a short run of US Air Force tankers). Then we got to see the 777 moving line, and the astounding 787 three-days-to-assemble-a-modular-airplane line. We were a few days early to see the first American 787 on the line, but it should be out and moving towards the paint shop by now.

Later, John and I motorsailed down to Tacoma to go to the Washington state fair. John went out of his way and got 3rd row seats for REO Speedwagon and Chicago joint concert at the fair. The concert was outstanding.

Putting out of Tacoma, I had trouble with wind and currents much like going in. Long story short, I'll be putting in a bow thruster during my stay in Los Angeles. I tried to come into the tight marina here in Astoria, just after the big winds hit (even though they were greatly reduced in the marina), and not only could I not make the slip I barely made it out of the marina without smashing and bashing. As one Tayana owner described the 48 without a bow thruster -- she handles like a drunken sailor. So I'll finally get her under control. Right now, if there's any force of wind or current, there's no way to counteract it and regain control. I'm astound that I haven't crashed and bashed more, but I've had little marina maneuvering in big winds. The few times I've had to, I've obviously had problems, and no amount of crew can help as the boat simply won't turn without the thruster.

The old girl is holding together well, and I still don't have my PA/Foghorn connected. I keep wishing, but it's a tough job to get it wired up right, strung down the mast, as there's really no way to temporarily jury-rig it. Coming into Astoria, with 15+ knots and fog, I REALLY want that thing connected to save my hearing when blowing my manual fog horn. Not to mention, that it's automatic, tied into the VHF radio. Most other items are minor adjustments and getting my varnish back in order.

One painful realization was when stopping in to the Safeway liquor store in Seattle. The prices were right on the mark, where they should have been. But the TAX! Washington is the number one state in the Union for the highest tax on liquor. Behind Canada, of course. So 30% tax or ($35.22/gallon), seems pretty insane, but Oregon is right behind them with 22.73/gallon. Alaska's 5th in the nation, with 12.80/gallon. So California will be my place for re-provisioning liquor, as well as food for the long trip down to Panama, with a likely stop in Nicaragua. Once in the Caribbean, I expect the rum to be cheaper than the water…

…If wishes were fishes, we'd all be swimming in the ocean…