Happy 15th Birthday Isaac!

When I really think about it, it really is a strange transition to go from the camper van in the desert to life on the boat. They're about as opposite as you can get but somehow we all settled in without skipping a beat. We spent our time in Seattle catching up on school and visiting favorite haunts and restaurants. We enjoyed a couple of evening sails after Jason got off work and even squeezed an overnight to Blake Island. We had lovely wind both to and from the island and since we didn't have long distances to cover, we had a chance to work on our light wind sailing skills a bit. We also celebrated Isaac's birthday on the boat, third year running on Marinero (fourth year on a boat, if you include the Bermuda 40 we chartered in Maine four years ago). Isaac being a board game junkie, we celebrated the day playing crazy board games (such as Paths of Glory) on the boat. We emerged in the evening for dinner at a Thai restaurant before snuggling back into the boat where we sung happy birthday and then enjoyed a decadent chocolate pot o' cream I had made the day earlier. Happy birthday Isaac! I'm so happy both boys got their birthday wish locations and that we have such a flexible lifestyle that allows for such big changes in scenery in the eleven days between their birthdays. After ten days in Seattle we climbed back onto an airplane and flew to Salt Lake City where Sylvia and the rest of our road trip awaited us.

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Desert to Seattle

The day after Aaron's birthday we squeezed in a quick hike up to Emerald Pools before bidding farewell to Zion. As we headed north we made a side trip up to Kolob Canyon, the remote northern region of Zion. At the end of the road we took a short hike out to a spectacular view point before pushing on to Cedar City. After dinner at a very tasty pizza restaurant we pulled into a KOA for the night where I did laundry while Aaron played with his remote control tank. Our destination for the following day was Salt Lake where a vet appointment along with hotel and plane reservations were awaiting us. We had to take poor Pika to the vet for a health certificate as a part of the never-ending hoops to jump through to get her on a plane. Next it was dinner at our favorite sushi restaurant, Takashi. Lastly we checked into our airport hotel where we all took turns showering. Squeaky clean, we climbed into bed at 11pm. The following morning we awoke at 6am and were off the airport by 7am for our 8:30 flight to Seattle so that we could make it to our 2pm wedding that afternoon. Luckily everything ran smoothly and we arrived in Seattle with enough time to eat lunch at Serious Biscuit, grab seriously delicious coffee at Kakao, get groceries at Whole Foods and drop them, along with Pika, at the boat. The wedding was an hour drive away at a lovely farm and, uncharacteristically, we arrived on time. The wedding was beautiful and we spent the afternoon into the evening socializing with friends. At last we pulled ourselves away at 10pm (11pm our time) and drove back to the boat, bleary-eyed and exhausted.

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