Culture Shock





Seattle Skyline

 



Freighter Traffic



Leonard Swabbing the Deck

 We departed Port Townsend around noon and made our way southeast through Admiralty Inlet between Marrowstone Island and Whidbey Island.  Leonard swabbed the deck while underway - from Captain to Swab and Swap to Captain, ha.  The boat traffic picked up as we rounded “Point No Point” into Puget Sound.  Pleasure boats, cargo ships, tugs, cruise ships, and even the Coast Guard boat came out to greet us, or so it seemed.  A surprising number of porpoises appeared along the way, acting as our escort.  We arrived at Elliot Bay Marina in Seattle at 4:30pm.  Tall buildings loomed before us, marinas were full of sail and power boats, commercial airlines roared overhead, and houses could be seen for miles atop every hill - a strange sight after having been away for five months in the wilderness with only small villages every few hundred miles.  We were back in the big city - our friend Ginny picked us up at the marina and drove us to our house so we could get our car.  After cruising the expansive waterways at 8 knots (about 9 ½  miles per hour), being in a car speeding along at 60 miles an hour within a few feet of other heavy metal objects was quite a traumatic experience but we quickly adjusted.  We appreciated being back where stores are plentiful, filled with a wide selection of items at reasonable prices.  In remote areas up north, we found basic household supplies hard to come by with few choices and much higher prices.  Except for the challenge of finding a parking spot, I never thought shopping at Costco and Target for basic supplies could be so fun.


Negotiating Freeway Traffic



One of Many Crowded Parking Lots