June 19, 2010 - Swinomish Channel

This one doesn't really count as a boat trip, but we were out on our dinghy Saturday.  Our neighbor a few doors down has had their grandaughter at their house for several weeks now.  She lives in Arizona and her school got out a few weeks before ours did.  So, Morgan came to spend some time with her grandparents to start summer vacation.  She is the same age as Cindy, and they have really hit it off.

On Saturday, Morgan and Cindy went into town with Rich and Judy (the grandparents) on their skiff.  So, Kathy, Kevin and I went on our dinghy to go check out a little beach.  On our way out of Shelter Bay, Rich and Judy and the girls turned the corner and were coming back in.  We stopped in the middle of the waterway and chatted for a while.  The girls wanted to keep boating so they climbed over into our boat and we headed up the channel, past La Conner, and stopped at a beach just north of the Pacific Mariner boat factory.

Pacific Mariner Yachts - built in La Conner

The tide was going down and we used our "anchor buddy" to keep the dinghy off the shore so it wouldn't get stuck as the water dropped.  There was some nice sand at the beach, and opportunities for the kids to jump off of a bank into the sand.  We spent about 90 minutes here while the kids played.  I (Steve) took a little nap on the beach while the clouds rolled in and the wind picked up.  It wasn't really a very nice afternoon, weather-wise.

Playing in the sand

and mud!

Digging into the sand bank

After the kids played a while we decided to head back, because it just wasn't very warm outside.  The kids had a blast though playing in the sand, and the mud.  I hope their clothes clean up OK....  Not much of a boating weekend.  We left our dinghy in the water overnight hoping for good weather on Sunday, but by noon the rain had started, and I don't think it even broke 60 degrees today.  Where is summer???