And Willie Said: Boat Show Day Two -- 1/24/2015

Herb and I head to CJ's Eatery for breakfast this morning, and Paul quickly serves us some of the best tasting coffee ever.

Then with tickets in hand, we continue our walk to Century Link Field, where we are two minutes early for the doors to open. We find our place at the end of the line, which quickly builds, snaking around the corner.

Find Herb....

First stop -- Ranger Tug/Cutwater area, where we say Hello to Kenny showing yet a different model.

We make our way upstairs to see what interests us, and stop by the Rocna booth. Yes, we do need a larger anchor, and they have plenty to choose from. Should it be this one? We would have to get a larger boat!

Or one of these?

This is a closeup of the one I am holding in my hand:

(It is actually a bottle opener. Cute!)

The anchor rated for the R-31 becomes ours, and we move along to see other items for sale. And spend more money!

A text from Jocelyn tells us that Ray is ready for lunch, but they are at Lake Union checking out the Boats Afloat display. The shuttle between the two show events is just about ready to depart, so we quickly get aboard.

Over salads and sandwiches we catch up on the news of what has happened since we saw each other in October -- not that long ago. We share what we have seen in each location of the boat show, then go in our separate directions for a time.

At this point it is shorter to walk back to our accommodations from Lake Union than from Century Link, so we set out, using the Space Needle to give us our first direction. Even this construction crane has the Seahawks logo in blue and green lights. And flies a 12 flag.

Arriving home, I give my feet a rest while Herb assists Bruce in setting up equipment for Anne's presentation of her cruise up The Inside Passage of Alaska this past Summer. He and Vicki host the reception and viewing.

With setup and testing done, Anne is ready to share her experiences and photos.

Happy Time!

Herb offers me a shrimp from the buffet. "Soon, Herb, I should take a few photos first."

I see interesting labels on the beer....

I later learn that someone is shooting a video of me while I set up my still life, and their faces tell it.

I spend some time visiting with Sam, a new member of the Fluid Motion group, who is a communications specialist. I find no photo of him in my albums, but Bruce shares one from his collection. Here Sam is armed with camera, ready for action. One of his goals is to update manuals for all boat models. Cheers are heard.

Photo Courtesy of Bruce Moore

House lights dim and Anne is ready to tell us about her Alaska cruise. When she had Internet, she had sent eMails during that time, (long eMails typed on her iPhone), but tonight should prove to be even more enlightening and entertaining.

I am so caught up with the program, I forget to take many photos. Anne narrates the slide show and we are all amazed at some of the shots she got. A closeup of a harbor seal comes to mind. A bear with a salmon in his mouth walking by the stream where he fished. An eagle perched on a pole -- or was it in a tree? Mountains, ice, snow, awesome landscapes.

I won't get all her facts correct, but when she arrived at the destination of the group she was in, and it was time to head south, she searched for a companion boat in order to keep the promise she had made to her son.

She found one, a sailboat, which could go only six-ish knots. (Anne has been known to go FAST.) The sailors asked her why in the world she wanted to hang with them, and her response as she raised her arms to us was, "You have no idea!!" Laughter is definitely heard in the room.

Anne is kind enough to recap that part of the trip for me and I quote her.

Insert:

" My sailing friends asked me why I was trying SO hard to find another boat to travel with?

They had observed me at the helm in strong wind and waves, then turning broadside to the waves to line up and get thru the entrance to Meyers Chuck, then dock.

The next day we traveled on to Thom's Place, where I anchored while they did some practicing of maneuvers, then anchored within sight.

The third morning I led through winding sections and they again wondered why kept looking for others to travel with since clearly I was doing fine and Cascadia could move faster to avoid weather issues rather than going 4 knots, which they were doing for the most part.

I commented " IF THEY ONLY KNEW" reflecting my struggles to keep my word to my kids that I would travel with others rather than wander around SE Alaska on my own.

After that, I did wander around on my own, traveling on to Petersburg and Sitka, anchoring out in a wide variety of coves looking for bears and enjoying whales, waterfalls and wilderness."

She shows gorgeous scenery, lots of photos with water -- all flat calm. Hmmm...how could she get so lucky? Then I recall some of her eMails describing not so flat calm seas. Then it hits me. Single handing is hard to do and operate a camera at the same time.