The Center for Wooden Boats

A few weeks ago Jeff was deep in the trenches of finals. We knew he was going to have one brief break before he began his mini-mester, so I kept trying to talk to him about taking a little vacation. However, in case you didn't know, it is impossible to talk about something like that with someone who is dedicating every part of their brain to finals - there just isn't the bandwidth left for something so far off and imaginary-seeming as a vacation.

Jeff had his last final on a Friday morning. By noon on Friday, he was in my office. "Let's go somewhere," he declared.

Two hours later we had tickets to leave for Seattle bright and early the next morning thanks to reward miles, my understanding boss and my Morfar, who said "Of course!" when I called and asked if we could come for a visit...the next day.

We had such a nice, relaxing time and did all sorts of neat things.

Have you ever had a vacation destination that you visit regularly enough that you seem to get sort of stuck in a rut on the itinerary? I grew up spending two weeks in Seattle every summer, and we've done all sorts of things over the years; but in recent years the trips have gotten more and more set in their (our?) ways. A family outing to Half Priced Books is more sure to happen than church on Sunday, but I don't think I'd been to the Space Needle since I hit double-digits. Jeff and I decided it was high time to switch things up a little bit. (Don't worry, we did still go to Half Priced Books, because some things are tradition for good reason.)

I consulted the great internet and found The Center for Wooden Boats, which offers free sail boat rides to the public on Sundays. They have so many neat old wooden boats that they maintain, and we had so much fun poking around while waiting for our ride. In fact, I'm wondering how this place stayed off my family's radar for so long - it seems like something right up our alley.

We went out for a ride on The Admiral, a sailing boat built in the early 1900s. It can seat about 12 people and is a worthy old vessel. Jeff and I were total sailing newbs, but learned a lot from the volunteer crew.

Here are a lot of pictures, because, well, cool old boats and water. 'Nuff said.

This is Jeff's smug I'm-sailing face. And this is how we look after sailing! A tiny bit rained on and blown about, but happy!