Waiting for the ferry

We had a wonderful weekend on Orcas again, but our return home was a bit hairy.

The Washington State Ferry started allowing ferry reservations this summer and while that's helpful, it also means it's stressful if you don't have one! 75% of the ferry spots can be reserved (25% of the spots are opened up at 3 different intervals leading up to the date) so only 25% of the ferry is for walk-ons. We were one of the fun 25% that didn't have a reservation coming home on Sunday. We got to the ferry terminal 45 minutes before the 5:15pm sailing but didn't make it because of the crowds. We didn't make it by a long shot - by probably 10 cars. That meant we had to wait for the next ferry which was scheduled for 8:45pm! What to do with 2 little kids, stuck in line for 3+ hours?!

The Orcas Ferry terminal has very little to do so we took our time letting the kids (ok, Nora) play with all the buttons in the car, then we walked around the little marina several times and pointed out all the little fishes and jellyfish swimming about, ate a very leisurely meal of fish and chips and ice cream for dessert, and let the girls run around many many times.

We were pretty pooped when we finally got on the ferry (which was 30 minutes late!). The boat ride back was pretty dicey since it was WAY past the girls bedtime but then the drive home after was thankfully pretty quiet because they zonked out as soon as we started driving. Poor Scott was not so lucky since he was the driver!

Sunset on the dock.

Evie and Nora liked to "rock climb" and sit on top of this mountain.

Chocolate ice cream face!

ooooh! what does this do?

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