This is going to be a mish mast post of the past two days…because, why not?
We spent Kevin's official birthday moored at Spencer Spit. We had some champagne, snacks (duck rillette, cheese, crackers, caper berries) and then a dinner of linguine con le vongole (with the clams) that turned out pretty darn yum.
Totally boring photo of cooked pasta, because the first photo was too busy next to the third photo:
Waiting for the clams to open:
I worked from this recipe from Mario Batali, and it came out great!
Coast Guard helicopter overhead on our way back into Anacortes yesterday morning (I told you it was going to be a mish mash):
We got back to the marina, packed an overnight bag, and headed (by car) north to Lummi Island.
A few weeks ago, I made a reservation for us at the Willows Inn — for the "present" part of Kevin's birthday. We tend to do events as presents more than things as presents. We arrived at the inn around 3:30pm, checked into our room, and headed out to soak in the hot tub for a little bit before getting ready for the 6:30pm dinner seating. Relaxing in the hot tub was a great way to start the evening, and dinner was once again spectacular. Here's when we were last at The Willows. It was July, and the light was much better than it is at 7pm in December, so I didn't take any food photos this time, but the photos in that other post give all the visual information you need. Trust me. It was just as good the second time. They sent us home with a little loaf of their amazing bread, too! Super nice (though it would be perfect if they also gave us a little tupperware cup of the "chicken drippings" that they serve with that bread because THAT stuff is incredible…in case they're reading this).
We also learned that they have two mooring buoys out front! It's not a very protected moorage, but hey, next time maybe we'll come by boat!
This morning we got up and did some work from our room, and then headed downstairs for a late breakfast. If you were following us when we were last on Lummi Island, at the Willows Inn, you'll know that we had a hilariously sub-par breakfast experience that we detailed here (partly just to re-live the experience from a comedy standpoint).
Well, looks like we might not have been the only ones (or…they read my post and got right on that!) because they moved the Willows Inn breakfast upstairs to the dining room (same place dinner was served, instead of downstairs at the Taproot Cafe) and the experience was 100 times better. (The breakfast was basically the same with a few minor differences…which was good because there was never any issue with the food.) Juice, coffee, a soft boiled duck egg, sauteed kale, local grains with nuts and berries, biscuits, a charcuterie plate, and some good tart jam made from…something I don't remember.
After breakfast we headed south back towards Anacortes.
Lummi Island ferry landing:
We stopped in LaConner to pick up a couple things I'd been thinking about since we were there a week ago (I'll show you in another post) and then got back to Airship with a few hours before sunset, so we decided to head over to Blind Bay at Shaw Island.
New flag pole, with flag. (You guys, there are tons of rules regarding flag stuff for boats! I got ours as close to the middle as I could…I hope it's okay!) 🙂
Ferry:
We grabbed one of the three mooring buoys out by Blind Island (in Blind Bay), and tomorrow we'll take the dinghy ashore and go check out the Shaw Island General Store, which is said to be pretty great! (We'll probably go ashore on Blind Island, too…but it's so tiny, that'll probably only take a minute or two.)
Here's our route from this afternoon:
