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Lummi Island, The Willows Inn, and the Spark Museum of Electrical Invention

We headed up to the Willows Inn on Lummi Island again this year for Kevin’s birthday. We mostly do experiences rather than gifts for birthdays these days and it’s quite nice because we both get to experience what we plan. Luckily, our tastes are very similar.

The ferry ride over to Lummi was almost (but not quite) as bumpy as last year. Dinner was fantastic, as usual. Also, as usual at this time of year…it was really too dark for any food photos from dinner, but trust me  — it was totally worth the splurge.

Breakfast in the morning always includes an interesting variety of things: yogurt, buckwheat crepes, house smoked bacon, smoked king salmon, cheeses, pears, a soft boiled egg, apple butters….

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We caught the ferry back to the mainland just after 11am and decided to check out the Spark Museum of Electrical Invention in downtown Bellingham.

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The museum collection contains many unique and rare artifacts dating from the earliest days of scientific electrical experiments in the 1600s through the 1940s and 1950s. Artifacts from the laboratories of the early pioneers of electricity, from magnets and Leyden jars to Edison light bulbs, vacuum tubes, early telephones…it’s an impressive collection! We didn’t have time to stay for the Tesla coil demonstration (called “The MegaZapper Electrical Show”), so we’ll have to go back for that!

Some photos I took while we wandered around the museum:

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The first “wireless” telephone:spark-1953 spark-1957 spark-1966 spark-1972 spark-1967 spark-1968 spark-1986

One of the original Theremins:spark-1990

This is an early television!spark-1991

After the museum, we headed back to Airship. We just unloaded stuff and organized the boat a bit, grabbed some groceries, and prepared to head for Roche Harbor in the morning to meet up with Sam. The plan this week is to record some more Slowboat webcasts! Up next: Clearing U.S. Customs, and Flying Drones from Boats!