A very Bainbridge weekend

Eric, who has been Tom’s best friend since forever (or at least since Tom can remember) came to visit from the Bay Area this weekend.  Eric’s brother Neal and his wife Debbie invited Tom, Eric and me to spend the weekend with them at their absolutely beautiful home on Bainbridge Island.

That meant a ferry ride! Yes, I’ve lived here for almost 20 years and yes, I still love to ride the ferry… 

(And no, the rain didn’t do anything to dampen my enthusiasm.)

These guys have been buddies since they were toddlers – or maybe even before that.

Debbie and I met shortly after Tom and I were married, so we’ve been friends for a long time, too.

I absolutely love Debbie and Neal'’s house and suggested that, now that their kids are grown, they might want to open a Bainbridge Island bed & breakfast… or maybe a pension… or maybe join Homeexchange.com. 

Or maybe just call House Beautiful and arrange a photo shoot.  Yeah, I guess that would be easier.  I mean, really – just look at this place!  Inside…

…and outside.

We played like a bunch of college kids (or should I say say leisure community residents?)!

(Best card game ever: “May I.”  Stupid name, but great game!)

After one of the best night’s sleep I’ve had in a long time, we woke up to this:

And then we all took a stroll (that’s what old people do, right?) around Fort Ward State Park.

This ramshackle house used to be where enlisted men lived – right on the water!  Just down the street this real estate goes for a cool mill!

This is the old battery from where the Rich Passage was protected (because the Bremerton Ship Yard is just around the bend from here):

Only in the Pacific Northwest can you carve graffiti in MOSS!

What’s this?  Palm trees?!  How on earth did those get here?  How on earth do they stay alive here?

This is a salmon farm, where they breed salmon.  These are not wild salmon!

Salmon kinda find their way into many aspects of Pacific Northwest life.

Ferries are everywhere on the Puget Sound.  Can you see the snow-capped Olympic Mountains peeking out behind this ferry?

It was a wonderful walk with wonderful friends.

And it all ended too soon.  We got back on the ferry headed back to the (relative) hustle and bustle of Seattle.

We got Eric to the airport just in time (and far to soon) and decided that the weekend was one of the best we’ve had in a while, but that it was simply much, much too short.