All winter long I had looked forward to our spring climbing trip. The plan was to leave in early April and spend the entire month in the camper van in the desert southwest. Jason had work meetings that pushed it into mid-April and in that second week of April I was having too much fun at the climbing gym and tweaked one of my ever-problematic wrists. No problem...I was hellbent on this climbing trip so we proceeded forward. I packed the camper van and with less than 12 hours before our departure, it really dawned on me that I may not be able to climb and the trip may turn into a sobfest for me. That, combined with the 90+ degree temperatures in the desert made us rethink the trip. Our friend Emma had sprained her ankle two weeks before and had been knocked out of dance and her upcoming dance performances. I looked at her and half-joking, half-serious asked if she would join us if we went to the boat instead. Thus the magical mystery injury tour was born. We thought about it for an hour or two before completely changing tacks from a desert to ocean trip. I unpacked the camper van and packed up my car with our sights set on Seattle.
In the past Emma had flown in to join us mid-trip and then after three weeks or so we had to deposit her back at the airport. We were excited to show her what a trip looked like start to finish, not to mention sharing all of our favorite spots in Ballard. We spent a couple of days in Ballard eating as many delicious things as we could while Jason worked and I provisioned the boat. It was fun to show her how many shopping carts I could fill in the process. We visited Hot Cakes multiple times and, my personal favorite, Cafe Besalu where we spent a good half an hour talking with someone visiting from Hawaii.
Due to the quick turn-around time after our change of plans, passports didn’t even enter my brain so we were completely US bound for this trip. After departing Seattle we visited all of our favorite spots in the San Juan Islands. Given that this trip happened almost a year ago I will skip the details and let the photos speak for themselves :).
Click here for a whole lot of photos.
