Bookend Cruise, Part II

As the title suggests, this is part II of the "book end cruise" with brother and our Dad. I'll be a bit more complete than the previous post. With the time Reid and Dad arrived into Seattle, it worked out best to spend our first night at Mahalo's home dock.

The next day we motored down to always beautiful Gig Harbor. There is a long end tie at The Tides restaurant, but it was taken up by a 50 footer and then a 26 foot or so fishing boat. So I put Mahalo into this inside finger pier. 

About the time we get everything situated and make our way up the ramp there are two couples coming down the ramp. They say "whoa, nice job getting that big boat in there, we realized now we shouldn't have taken the end tie!" No biggie. 

I have to say from inside the restaurant Mahalo looked huge! Sorry for the crappy picture, my phone couldn't handle the dynamic range. We walked around town. I really like the distillery there but it was closed for remodeling. 

One of the fun things about Gig is that there's always so much going on. Watercraft of every type. Various rowing/SUP teams practicing. You'll see someone pedaling by in a "water bike" contraption. 

That Selene in the background is owned by a friend of mine. Met him when we were in the process of figuring out what kind of boat to buy. We like Gig Harbor a lot. When we begun the building process with Mahalo, we had an idea of buying a house there with a dock, so we could have the boat right at home. In hindsight, I'm glad that didn't work out. But nestled in there is a house we LOVED, that went off the market before we could decide if we wanted to make an offer or not.

In last year's trips with "the Steves," one of them had bought a beautiful pizza cutter at a co-op gallery. This guy makes these beauties. Later I was kind of mad that I didn't pick one up for the boat. So this year I got my own. 

Also shown, salami, sausage, mushroom, olive, potato pizza, made with my own sourdough starter and cooked on the BBQ. Dad was in heaven. 

The next morning we set off for Olympia. I had never boated there before, thought it would be fun and something different. There are always a lot of great views of Mt. Rainier when cruising the south sound. 

I would set a course with the Garmin and then have Dad "follow the pink track" until he got tired of hand steering. Which took a LONG time, LOL. 

Tied up at the dock at Swantown Marina, the city marina. Very well run and maintained, and super reasonable. It was like a buck a foot or something. 

It's a nice and short walk into the town. They have some interesting sculptures.

The real attraction though is the Farmer's Market. As you can see it is a gorgeous permanent structure. If your average Farmer's Market is a B-/C+, this one is an A+! We bought some excellent pastries and fruit. 

Lots of great produce from nearby farms and orchards. Also several restaurants in this area. 

The next day we were off to our final anchorage, McMicken Island. That will be part III.

Previous - The Boating Brothers

Next - Bookend Cruise III