A Ferry Ride to Bainbridge

After my last blog post we had a major computer system overhaul and rebuild here... hence my lack of blogging. It's not entirely to blame, to be clear, but I firmly believe in never taking responsibility for something I can pass off on someone else, so that's what I'm going with. :-)

Pregnancy Update: It's a girl!! I realized this morning that I never announced that on my blog--mostly because I think most of my readers saw the FB post, or got a text message fairly quickly after we found out. If you hadn't heard that info yet, and were anxiously awaiting the news on the edge of your seat all this time, my apologies. :-) 

...And... apparently I took my witty and slightly sarcastic pills this morning, so please humor me for this post. :-)

She appears to be healthy and well, and she measures exactly right size-wise, so we are VERY thankful for that.

I've got blog posts coming out my ears here, so I am going to attempt to be more regular about that in the next few weeks. So far that's not working out to well for me, but I'll continue to give it a shot. :-) I visited the doctor on Monday, and got heartburn medicine. I've NEVER in my life been so thankful for a bottle of pills, I tell you what. SO SO SO wonderful. That hasn't eliminated all my sleeping issues, but I haven't had even one instance of heartburn since Monday, so YAY!

One thing we really want to take the opportunity to explore while we live here is the ferry system, and the islands, and the Olympic Peninsula. We've found, however that there doesn't seem to be a lot of info about specific ferry destinations... like for example, if we take *this* ferry, do we need to take a vehicle? Or can we walk on and off?  What is there to do at *this* destination? The difference in cost for taking a vehicle (or not) is pretty significant, so while we definitely don't object to taking our vehicle on ferry rides and are planning on it as needed, we also don't want to be wasteful and take it without a plan.  Brooke had told me that Bainbridge was a good walk-on/walk-off ferry ride, so when Garrett's parents visited us a few weeks back we decided to head over to Bainbridge, and have our first ferry ride as "locals". :-) 

We found it very fitting that our first ferry ride living over here was on the "Wenatchee". :-)

Leaving the Pier. Once very excited girl. It was their first ferry ride.

Pretty much the awesomest thing ever to see a tugboat in action.

This one asked 345 billion questions about how everything works. (I'm going to be SO smart by the time I'm done Googling everything she asks about.)

I grew up taking ferry rides in the Puget Sound with my family on the weekend. So this was a little bit of a trip down memory lane for me.

Keira pointed out after we landed that this was the girl's first time ever being on an island. I've wracked my brain over that one, and I'm pretty sure she's right. We tend to head for the woods, not the water when we vacation. So, we took a picture to commemorate. 

I'm sure someone knows what kind of trees these are. I don't, but they were beautiful. 

In my best British Safari Guide accent, which is actually the most terrible, not recognizable accent ever. "The wild Garrett cautiously pokes his head out from between the trees, ever wary of predators! A handsome and regal beast, his instincts are honed for his environment! He will stop at nothing to protect his herd! He is watchful and careful, but also confident in his ability to protect his young! There, there now! Watch him! An excellent specimen, to be sure! (Cue my wild, handsome and regal husband rolling his eyes at me and walking away. Yes, this is how I entertain myself.)

Such pretty bark!

An abandoned anchor! Also like, the coolest thing EVER. Cue my children supposing all sorts of mishaps to ships that could have occurred to land this anchor here. :-)

 And, the next three photos were taken by Keira while we were waiting for the return ferry:

Excellent composition, my baby.

What daddy looks like from their point of view.

 And, photography by Brianna while were were waiting for the return Ferry:

This one turned out so cute. The lighting in this waiting area was HORRIBLE. So a bit of editing here and there was required to make us all look normal-ish. :-)

Keira, and her new sister. :-) I should have edited my double chin out of this one, haha. If Garrett looks slightly scary from their point of view, I just look ridiculous. That could explain a few things, haha!

While Keira has a knack for composition, Brianna has a knack for getting great poses out of people. I love their photos. :-)

 We unwittingly picked the perfect time for our return trip to Seattle. The whole world was a brilliant blue, and then an unearthly city-light orange on our return trip. It was also crazy-windy and the ferry was rocking a bit, so hard to get good pictures, but this gives you an idea of how gorgeous it was. 

It was really fun to get out and explore! I'd say walking on/walking off the ferry in a tourist-y capacity is very do-able for a Bainbridge Island quick trip... it's a quick walk to get up to the town and there are lots of little shops and restaurants, as well as a nice little trail down through the park. Thank you for telling us about it Brooke!


Also, other Puget Sound area locals, please do share! What's your favorite ferry ride? Do you need a vehicle for it? What is there to do on the other end? Do you have resources that are good for finding out info like this?  Thank you!