Dispatches from a Ferry Junky

 Here is your intrepid reporter, nose to the wind
on a ferry bound for Seattle.
Dave and I were on our way to meet a friend there for dinner.
Sure beats rush hour on I-5!

Me again, reporting in from the Bremerton/Seattle ferry

last October, iced mocha in hand.

 My newspaper column this week
is about falling in love

with the ferries 

since moving to the Northwest.

(You can read it by clicking here 
and then doing a search for Sherrie Spangler.
It will appear in the July 14 issue of the Peninsula Gateway.)

Unless the weather is horrible, you'll always find me on the deck if I'm riding the ferry. I'm like a dog that MUST stick its head out of the car window. Take a look at the views below and you'll understand why I could never sit in a car below deck, although a lot of people do drive onto the ferry, recline in the their seat and fall asleep. They're probably the same people who, as soon as they settle on an airplane, pull down their window shade and close their eyes. I, on the other hand, press my face against the window and look down at mountains, clouds, and the amazing geography from a bird's eye view. Here is a whale's eye view:

Seattle's Space Needle rises out of the city.

Mt. Rainier towers behind man-made activity approaching Seattle.

Another view of Seattle, from the Walla Walla ferry.

Mt. Rainier floats above a sailboat on the Puget Sound.

This is SO much better than the highway!

A little lighthouse south of Seattle.

Dave checking on the car before joining me above deck.

How could anyone stay inside with fresh air and views like this?

Ferries are for lovers.

Keith and Rachel on their first ferry ride in the Puget Sound.

Here's the other kid -- or at least her feet. She's a ferry veteran.

And we can't forget Mom and Dad.

We told them to visit in the summer,
but they delayed until fall and the gray skies.

I allowed them to sit inside for part of this Bremerton/Seattle trip.

Moving on to the San Juan Islands

and my very first ferry trip:

It was foggy. It was cold. It was gray on our way
from Anacortes to Friday Harbor, WA.

We took photos from inside of other ferries passing in the gloom.

The fog had lifted by the time we arrived in Friday Harbor 
on San Juan Island.

In Friday Harbor, we spent a day kayaking with our friends Duane and Paula. It was a special treat to watch Duane shimmy his way into the kayak skirt. Since that trip, he can't say enough about how much he hates kayaking.

Here's our kayak group coming in for a lunch break in the San Juan Islands. We took the ferry to and from the island that day, so the whole day was spent on the water.

You can even camp on the ferry!

Last summer, Dave took a 3-day ferry trip from Bellingham, WA, up the Inside Passage of Alaska. He joined others camping on the top deck, sleeping in a lounge chair. In Sitka, he met up with the rest of his group for an 8-day kayak trip.

Here he is, left, on the deck of the ferry. The friend with him, Darrell, was on his way to resume a multiyear project of hiking, kayaking, canoeing, and whatever else it takes to get from the Mexican-U.S. border in California to the Arctic Ocean under his own muscle power. The ferry was just his way of getting to where he left off the previous summer. Right now he is powering through the Yukon and hopes to be at the edge of the Arctic Circle by mid-August.

You can follow along on his website at www.UnderHumanPower.com, or his blog, www.http://uhp-isp.blogspot.com


The second picture shows the deck where they camped.

And the parting shot is something you'd probably rather not see on the ferry. Check out the guy sunbathing near the campers, bottom right.

Have a colorful day!