San Diego to Seattle: The Shore Crew's View I

While Jim and I cruised the 47-foot, 1963-vintage Stephens motor yacht Jason from San Diego to Seattle, we were helped immensely by my wife who drove our car up the coast, meeting us at our ports of call, spending the night on the boat, helping with shopping, laundry, and using up our food and drink.

I originally thought that I might include her perspective on our daily blog postings, but we were just too darn tired every night to make that happen.

As we pored over the photographs, we realized that she didn't document her days too closely (it was a vacation, after all). So rather than a travelogue, this posting will be a sequential photo diary of her trip, for your viewing pleasure.

I should add that our first attempt at the trip, started around Memorial Day 2014, did not envision a support crew. She was still in school. Our second attempt, which began in mid-July, was enhanced by her agreement to come along and (try to) keep us out of trouble.

While we were all on the boat, I cooked and Jim provided us both with luxurious accommodations.

Each morning, after a luxurious breakfast, served on fine china  a slab of wood or paper towel,

we bade her goodbye on the dock (at roughly 5-6 am!) and sailed away.

 Laurie tells us what she did next:

"I walked up to the car, turned on the seat heater to high, and looked at a map. I tried to figure out what my activities would be for the day."

(see the next few blogs)

"I would usually drive for 10-15 minutes, stop by the water, take out my binoculars and see if I could spot the Jason coming up the coastline. Often it was the only boat so it was easy to spot them if the weather was good. We'd be traveling together northward."

"After 45-60 minutes I'd stop and take a walk along the beach, or see if there was a lighthouse nearby that I could drive out to visit. Since I left so early in the morning the sightseeing spots weren't open, so I could cruise in and out for free. One day I found this hermitage on the hill - sadly the sign was the most interesting part of it."

"I'd usually find a place to buy a yogurt, piece of fruit, fresh bagel or whatever, to go with my drinks and other supplies in the car. If I found a thrift shop or local library or tourist info center, I'd stop and talk to people to learn more about the area. I liked looking at houses and gardens too."

"About 3-4 in the afternoon I'd arrive in the destination town, and figure out where the harbor was. If we needed food, I'd do some shopping before the boat arrived. Then I would look for the Coast Guard station or the Harbormaster would be located. Mike would sometimes send me a photo via iPhone of the marina where they expected to be docking."

"For example, this is the fuel dock in Newport, OR where we also tied up to a guest dock. Usually I got there early but a few times they beat me to the dock. In Newport I got tired of waiting and went to the car to read and nap. Then I had to rush down when they called wondering where I was."

"Sometimes it was a very long walk to the boat, but we never had to pay for parking, didn't get any tickets (that we know of) and having our car was always handy - especially when it was cold, windy and raining."

Please continue reading my story...