Pictures

 We left the desert for Helios on June 19th and took a different start as we went via Las Vegas, although we didn’t stop, to St. George, and then Ogden, Baker City Oregon. We drove the backroads from Baker City to Okanogan and then the next day across the North Cascades Hwy, which was a first for me. We started getting Helios ready to splash on the 24th and went in the water on 29th, with a  

short motor over to Cap Sante Marina in Anacortes. It was going to be another Groundhog Day summer being spent in familiar waters we have cruised, in my case since mid-80’s. We headed south to Oak Harbor and then Port Orchard. Since the Canadian border was still closed to transient mariners, we had decided to join the Tacoma Yacht Club’s summer cruise, which started on July 9th for two weeks. We stopped at Bell Harbor Marina below Pike Street Market for a couple of nights before making our way to Port Ludlow to start the cruise. We moved on to Point Hudson in Port Townsend and then across the Strait of Juan de Fuca to the San Juan Islands. The final stop was at Langley which we passed on and stayed north. Our friends Joe and Cheryl Guizzetti buddy boated with us for a few days, before they had to leave to take care of a few things. We spent a few days at various docks and anchorages and in the middle of August joined TYC for a long weekend at Bell Harbor Marina. We decided to take advantage of the TYC outstations and alternated visits between Dock Street on Thea Foss in Tacoma, Wollochet in Gig Harbor, Oro Bay on Anderson Island and Swantown in Olympia. We started north towards the end of September and Helios came out of the water on the 30th. 

We had a lazy drive home as we try to limit our driving to less than 400 miles a day, so it was stops in Pendleton Oregon, Winnemucca Nevada, Salt Lake City Utah, Cortez Colorado and Winslow Arizona. The stop in Colorado was to spend a day at Mesa Verde National Park and Winslow to stand on the corner from the Eagles song. We were back home on the 10th of October ready to enjoy a pleasant winter in the desert.