Vashon A Unique Little Island

Linda relaxes after our trip through Seattle traffic.

Our travels to Mexico have given us many things, but most importantly has been all of the people we have gotten to know that we now consider friends. Because of our trips, we have friends in Nova Scotia, Quebec, Saskatchewan, and British Columbia in Canada and Maine, Alaska, and Washington in the states. They are all wonderful people and we hope to someday be able to visit them at their homes and introduce them to our beautiful part of the world.

The sailing adventure gave us the opportunity to visit friends in Edison, Washington on the front end of the trip and it also gave us a chance to drop in on some special friends at the end of the adventure.

Leaving Bellingham and saying goodbye to our shipmates Holly, Ryan, Zane and Anika, we headed south through the bumper-to- bumper traffic of Seattle. At Fauntleroy, WA we boarded the Southworth/Vashon Ferry and crossed over to Vashon Island where we found our way to Gary & Grace Christophersen's beautiful home.

During our stay, we were able to visit with Gary & Grace (our hosts), Art and Mary Hodgins, Craig Brenneman and Dayl Holst, and Geo and Zoe Cheroke. They all have wonderful properties on the island, each unique and comfortable.

Arriving on Friday gave us the opportunity to wander into town and get involved in the bustle of Vashon's First Friday Art Walk. We walked along the main storefronts listening to live music and checking out the ice cream. The event was about as hometown as you could get.

Linda got up early and went running. When she returned she came to me with wide eyes and told me an amazing story. While she was running along the road, she came to a tunnel of foliage where the morning sun was blocked. As she ran, she suddenly was hit in the head by something from above. She stopped and, in her words, said "What the hell!". She looked up, thinking that a squirrel had dropped from above and smacked her on the head. Nothing! She then scanned the bushes beside her. There, not five feet from her, sat an owl looking directly at her. She had been bopped on the head by an owl! It just sat there looking at her! Amazing!

When she returned and told the story Gary and Grace said that it was a barred owl and they had heard of this happening before. They thought that the owl was protecting its territory as they are very territorial and wanted Linda to leave as soon as possible. She did. What a neat story!

The day was spent touring the island with Gary and Grace. Then that evening all four couples joined us at the Christophersen's for a wonderful meal.

Our final full day on the island was started with a wonderful breakfast provided by Geo and Zoe and then we got a chance to visit each of the other two homes. All their properties were wonderful and we could see just why they love living on this quaint little island. After all the visits, we returned to our hosts' home and helped Grace braid Gary's garlic. It was his first attempt at hanging braided garlic and since we braid Linda's hair, we felt we might be able to help with this project.

On Monday we packed up, said our good byes and hit the road. It was such a nice visit, but Linda and I agreed that our twelve-day vacation should come to an end and it was time to go home. 

Here's to a special visit!

Craig, Mary, Linda, Dayl and Gary

Breakfast at Geo and Zoe's.

We braided some of Gary's garlic.

Checking out the island with Grace and Gary.