September 3, 2013 ~ La Conner

We had some rain during the middle of the night, and then some more this morning.  Every so often it would like clearing up, but then more rain would come.  Erin wanted to do some more browsing of the local shops, and it wasn’t a hard decision to just stick around for another day.

After a breakfast of bear claws Erin picked up from the local bakery yesterday, along with eggs for Ray and me, we all went out on an excursion into town.  With our stay extended for a day, I started the generator to build up our amps while we were out and about.  We strolled along the promenade that is under construction, and watched as a welder hanging in a basket from a crane added some length to one of the new steel pilings that are being pounded in along the shoreline.  It’ll be a nice addition to the town when it’s finished.

Erin and Mary headed off to some foo foo shops, while Ray and I paid a visit to Nasty Jack’s, an antique store with some neat stuff scattered throughout.  We had fun browsing through ancient Life magazines, brothel tokens from various ranches in Nevada, old kitchen appliances, jukeboxes, old toys and other items of interest.  We weren’t big time spenders, but Ray did acquire some magnets, four for a dollar.  After a brief visit to the Wood Store at the other end of town, where we perused some fine woodworking, we headed back to the boat and a rendezvous with the ladies.  It was lunchtime, and we all headed to the La Conner Tavern to sample their fares.  Thanks, Ray, for treating!!  While dining on fish and chips, French dip and a burrito, we saw the Willow-B-Gee cruise by.  That’s one of our neighbor boats at our moorage in Lake Union, a 1928 bridge deck cruiser.  They were on their way north, no doubt to enjoy the relative solitude that happens after Labor Day when school is in session and most boating families have returned home.

We had a few more rain showers in the afternoon, but for the most part the day cleared up very nicely and at 6:00pm now it’s sunny and warm, around 68 degrees outside.

We enjoyed a pleasant evening, finishing off a game of dominoes that we had started several days ago.  I think that tomorrow we’ll definitely be going for a cruise.

La Conner is one of my favorite places to spend a day to browse, and sometimes pick up non essential fun stuff, so I enjoyed spending an entire day to walk around the stores with mom.  What I enjoy about the stores are that most if not all are locally owned, and the owners are usually working and enjoy spending time chatting with you without pressuring you to buy.  During the recession we saw several of the stores close, it’s good to see that some of the stores fronts are now occupied with new owners.  Mom and I enjoyed one of the new stores, Maison de Kristine (www.maisondekristine.com).  We really enjoyed getting to know the proprietor Kristine Hasslinger, and one of the local artist who brings in some paintings which she sells in the store.  Kristine and her husband are boaters.  They’ve never gone further north than the Gulf islands, so after sharing some of our current and past travels she’s interested in learning more about it, so I now have another reason for coming back to La Conner sooner rather than later!          

It’s hard to think that our summer adventure is ending, but now I’m looking forward to going through the several thousand pictures (4,000+) to find the best for some paintings; I know there are a several that I want to do.  While I brought my paints with me I only played with them a few times.