Day 59 - Touring Fayette and guests!
Awwww! I slept in until 8am! The cool air is very welcome! One thing I love about Fayette is the fact that the marina is in the middle of the state park. It isn’t a very busy park on its best days, and on a Wednesday morning I can just take Kona for a leash free walk and play Frisbee with her with the most amazing scenery. The Canadian fires were causing a bit of a haze making the escarpment look eerie and foreboding. I sat down at a picnic table for my “tippity tap tap tap” time; which is what I have started to lovingly call my blog time. Captain joined me when I was done and we headed up to the “hotel” for the Wi-Fi so I could post the last two days.
By the time I was all done the kids were up and had made breakfast for us all. Eager to take them around we got going on our tourism for the day around 10am. We toured the historic town seeing the superintendents’ home, the doctor’s office/home, the school, the “hotel” (which was really a brothel), the slag beach, the variety of homes for the workers and their families, the machine shop and the old furnace/foundry. We stopped at the visitor center and had some ice cream and I bought myself a sweatshirt as I have been wanting one from here for a while. We then hiked the kids up on the escarpment overlooking the town. They loved looking over the cliffs and playing on the trees.
After about three hours we had pretty much seen most of the places. They had already seen the theater, butcher shop, the accounting office and company store so we skipped those. I had a little side cramp so I laid down for a quick moment which ended up being 1.5 hours. Sometimes those unexpected naps are the best! I awoke to find the kids had cleaned the dinghy, cleaned the deck and were busy cleaning up their bunks. It is apparent they are ready to go home! I did my part by cleaning up our “garage” space, our bunk and the rest of the odds and ends. It appears that if all goes well tomorrow, we may be done in time to drive home that night much to their delight (and also mine!)
Around 5pm our friends from Garden came to visit. Dr. Mark brought Phil and Gordy and fixings for burgers. Captain made good work of their gifts while I entertained them on deck. Dr. Mark remembered my bloody mix and didn’t hesitate to ask for one of which I happily prepared! Even Gordy couldn’t resist and I made him one as well. We enjoyed having them for dinner very much. Gordy brough blueberry rhubarb muffins that he made and even ground the flour himself. He makes the most wonderful food and the kids ate the muffins quickly for dessert. Now that we have a better dinghy motor Captain and I will try and go up to Garden to visit them again for sure as we feel very welcome and they are a lot of fun to hang out with.
The winds really picked up by evening and while a little uncomfortable up on deck the temps were just perfect. About 8:30 we saw a familiar person coming down from the parking lot on a scooter. Our friend Brett was coming for a visit! We invited him! He was coming up to Cedar River anyhow tonight to work on his boat for the weekend. Earlier this season he rescued us in our mopey mood and took us sailing on his boat while we waited for the boat yard to release Ciara. We were sad and frustrated and the little pick me up was exactly what we needed. Now his boat was needing some TLC and not going for a sail this weekend so we invited him to come stay the night and sail back to Cedar River with us tomorrow. He happily accepted the offer and we are excited to take him sailing on Ciara. When we get back to Cedar River, we can use our car to drive him back to get his. I think that will work. It’s 3 hours round trip for Brett and Captain and the kids and I can fully prepare Ciara to leave while we wait. Maybe even sneak in a shower! I think motivation will remain high. I played my trumpet at 9pm and then the three of us had a blast walking amongst the ghost town at night catching up and watching the bats come out of the rafters of the old foundry.
One other highlight was as a senior who was taking their senior photos. Captain invited him aboard and cleaned up all our “live aboard” mess to give them awesome photos at the helm. I hope they send them to us so we can see how cool they turned out. I really enjoying having a one-of-a-kind older boat. Most people can’t get past “all the work” she must take, but honestly the work is very rewarding and all boats take work. The more we know her and take care of her the more she takes care of us in return. We are forced to be social and we have embraced the goodwill pirate persona well IMHO. I’m glad we can make things special for people, I’m glad we get to meet so many different people. It is always amazing to hear their stories and add them to our growing list of friends. It really is a special life and gift.
