Saturday, after a lunch celebration (St. Pat’s/birthdays/spring/new home) at Sierra & Brian’s in Queen Anne (with the Northend Motts), we continued north to spend a couple of days on the boat to take care of some tasks.

Nick met the fridge guy at the boat back on the 12^th. Good news: a fixable coolant issue. Bad news: there may be an unfixable slow leak. We were anxious to get back to the boat to see how it is working. Seems to be performing better than before, which we were hoping for. Time will tell if there is a leak.

We had dinner at a very busy Secret Cove (Anacortes). We since heard that it will be closing in a few weeks, possibly a reason for the crowd. More about this below.

We took a walk around town on Sunday…and learned a few things. As we approached our favorite old marine and hardware store (and Alley Cat Antiques) at the north end of Commercial Ave., we noticed it looked closed. As we got closer, we realized…it’s gone! WHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT! The sign indicated a move so we turned around and headed back down the street. I asked Nick to make a sad face to represent how he feels about the demise of this store, but he said he frowned because IT’S FUCKIN’ COLD AND WET!

We found the new Alley Cat store (minus most marine hardware) on Commercial between 5^th and 6^th and ventured in. The woman working that day had a lot to say about their move. Her opinion is that the Port of Anacortes is responsible for this change, and others in Anacortes, and has far too much power and influence. “They don’t care” about historical buildings and about what the residents care about in this old maritime town. She apologized for her rant…but it seems she (they) have a lot to be vocal about. The Port doesn’t seem to be very community-minded. This also involves the Secret Cove. Apparently, the Port is not renewing the land lease, forcing the owner to close the only locally owned restaurant in town with a water view. Unfortunate. Progress happens…it’s inevitable. Doesn’t always happen in the right way.

She also joked about the owner finding a new home for Alley Cat to make sure they have a place to continue roasting the coffee…and for the cat to have a place to live. 😊

From the boat, a deer making its way past our dock and along the Skyline shoreline.

A couple of months back I mentioned the work at Tacoma’s old Dickman Mill. The beach is transformed now that the pilings have been removed:

Moving forward, we have plenty of time designated on our calendar for possible boating, but man, the weather looks like shite. We’ll see…