Meanwhile, back at the ranch (part 3) . . .

Wow, life sure is finding a way of interfering with the telling of my vacation story. Oh well, I guess one can’t stop time!  So back to the ranch . . .

Unfortunately, even though we would have loved to stay on Orcas Island a few more days (well, at least I would have!), we had to get home so Kit could catch a plane.  Given the fact that there had been fog the past couple of mornings and we had a very long drive home, we decided to take the early boat off the island.  Which meant getting up at Oh-Dark-30 to line up for the ferry.

Even though I thought we were way, way early, we definitely weren’t the first ones in line!

After a while, the sun came up and finally the ferry arrived.  Fortunately we didn’t have any fog, though it was overcast.

The ride to the mainland was largely uneventful.  Compared to the beautiful sun-lit scenes from a few days earlier, the overcast made the water and islands rather depressing and I wound up not taking any photos on the return voyage.

One of the things Kit asked was if we could stop in Seattle.  So we planned a quick detour into Seattle and took a walk around Pike’s Market.

While nice, it is a tourist trap was was packed with people.  We probably could have had a blast if we’d stayed for a couple of days and really went exploring or slowed down to really see things (well, at least we did a few years ago with Devon, so why wouldn’t we with Kit?), but what can you  do when you give a city an hour to check it out.  Not much, other than to enjoy the people you’re with.

Which I did.

We decided that, instead of spending time in Seattle, we’d try to hit our favorite Italian restaurant in Portland (twice in one trip!) for dinner.  We accomplished our goal!  Though why didn’t I take any pictures there?

Coffee snob that I am, I decided I really needed a good latte for the road.  Being in Seattle we had lots of choices.  Now, the Pike’s Market Starbucks had a line out the door and half way down the block.  I guessed it wasn’t the time to check out whether the original Starbucks is better than any other Starbucks (which is competent, but just that [Bring back Yirgacheffee!]).  So instead we popped into a little cafe across from where we were parked.  

Now this was a local coffee shop and the latte I got from them was SUPERB!

I guess the next time I’m in Seattle I’ll have to try their biscuits and gravy!