Everyone have a good 4th

[bradvo]

One of my favorite Holidays, no pressures, just kick back , Bar-B-Q and relax with the family. Hope you all have the same good time.

[dumluck53]

What he said....ditto...

[Tedster]

Lots and lots of R & R for me too. Everyone have a truely great one, and don't forget to fly your colors!

[SomeSailor]

Happy 4th everyone!

It's a great time to take in how lucky we are as Americans. We live in a great country and couldn't live in a better time in history.

[Go Aweigh2452]

yep, happy 4th of July to everyone... Nice to born an American... :iconbiggrin:

[II Lucky]

You guys up north be careful and have a great 4th. The weather is going to be awesome. We can all talk about our sunburns next week.

Bryan

[Roel Jansen]

yep, happy 4th of July to everyone... Nice to born an American... :iconbiggrin:

I presume you mean your new boat aren't you? :)

And as the 4 th of July seems to be very important to you a very well ment HAPPY 4th of JULY for all of you!

[SomeSailor]

HAPPY 4th of JULY for all of you!

Thanks Roel.

Do you guys have a similar holiday there? Just curious. I was Googling around and came across Koninginnedag. Is that celebrated on the same level that we do for the 4th of July?

It's interesting thinking about the different governments we have, but the same common interests.

[Go Aweigh2452]

Well, we had our first home style 4th of July in about 15 years. Actually got out the old (15 + years old) fireworks and had some fun in the driveway. Almost burned a tree down when a bottle rocket went up about 5 feet, then sideways for about 10 feet, then straight down into a tree next to the house. A small fire erupted when the rocket sputtered out. Lea ran into the house for water and I grabbed some water I keep nearby (been known to start small fires before). By the time she got back, I was already fireing off more stuff. Must have gone through about 30 packages of black cat mats of the 1.5 inch crackers. Also blew the last box of mortors. Lea was trying to catch the fire blooms with her camera and actually got a couple of good shots. Overall, I have one heck of a mess outside to clean up today!

Hope everyone else had a great day/night!

[dumluck53]

Sounds like fun, Doug!

I motored slowly down to Steilacoom, threw the anchor out and waited for the fireworks show to start. Steilacoom has a pretty good show for such a small town.

Finally, pulled stake and motored back to the ol' slip. WOW! What a beautiful night to be on the water. One of those nights when you say to yourself, "Oh yeah, NOW I remember why I pay the boat payments, moorage, insurance, repairs and maintenance!"

[3788sam]

Went down to the boat Tuesday night cleaned it up a bit.
Yesterday just sat on the fly bridge reading a book, have a drink or two and watched the wind (really windy all day) and current play havoc.
Grilled up some sausages and watched the Everett Fire works.
Got home this morning and it looks like a war zone in our neighborhood.
All in all a great 4th. Hope everyone had one as well!

[sunnydude2]

We were sitting on the guest dock in Everett with an unobstructed view of the fireworks. Ran into Ken & Lauri (multiple times in the two days :)) and had a great time.

[burrman]

This was our first 4th in the PNW. It was great; we spent the day out on a friends 4588 doing security duty for the air show in Tacoma. Then we rafted behind the log boom with their friends who had a 39 Meridian (nice boat) to see the fireworks. What a great way to spend the day. It was also my birthday so needless to say the party was perfict.

[Go Aweigh2452]

Well Happy Birthday yesterday Burr!!! So, how do you like the PNW so far? Been to San Juans yet? Gunk holing anywhere?

[dumluck53]

Good Evening Ken (3388sam),

I lost your phone number! I'm sorry for not getting back to you right away.

I ended up running late and did not have a chance to get over to your boat.

I'm going to table the transaction for now. Too busy working and getting some boating in while the weather is nice.

Thank you for getting in touch with me.

[3788sam]

No problem Tony - We are not in any hurry as well! Just good old Russ thinking outside the box!

[Randygh]

We traveled to Roche last Friday and then over to Victoria Sat AM. We visited the Titanic exhibit and IMAX movie at the Provincial Museum. The movie and exhibit were very well done. I highly recommend visiting them if you visit Victoria. Sunday was Canada Day with a very nice fireworks display. We moored at the Coast Harborside Hotel's Marina. Monday we traveled back to Roche for Customs. The Customs guys were great, and we were on our way in 10 min. Haro Strait was smooth on both trips. Before I left home I put in some waypoints to manuever through the islands east of Victoria. Really slick. After clearing US customs we fueled and traveled to Fisherman Bay for a 3 night stay. Last nights fireworks were awesome.

Had a nice crab dinner last night and when we left to pull pots this morning, some SOB stole one of my pots. I set 3 pots and two were picked clean and one was missing. I've never had a problem at Fisherman's Bay, but from now on I'll pull the pots at night.

We had a minor incident while checking the pots yesterday afternoon. I set one of the pots with the inflatable and we pulled it with the boat. We pulled it at low tide and the pot was in 10 feet of water about 20 yrds from shore. I brought the boat into the pot and had the Admiral take the helm while I pulled the pot. I asked her to back out and she put the boat in forward and gave it some gas. I grabbed the throttle back to idle and the gear shift to reverse. Unfortunately she found a rock beneath the outdrive and beached the bow. I raised the outdrive and backed off the shore. Both props were bent but no chips were taken out so they were still balanced. The lower unit is fine. The keel wasn't damage, just scraped some paint. We traveled back to La Conner today without any problem, although it was 3 mph slower at crusing RPM. I'll send the props over to the Everett Prop shop to have them rebuilt.

[SomeSailor]

Sounds like a fun trip... without a little adventure you wouldn't have anything to talk about... :)

The Prop shop can fix 'em up good as new for $60 a piece or so.

[Roel Jansen]

Mike,

Koninginnedag is celebrated all over the country. Actually that day all is free what normally is restricted to certain rules. The main issue is that you are free to take every thing out to the streets that you want to sell. Consider it to be one big National garage sale in the streets, parks where ever people come. Also food is free to sell but is due to regulations and there is fierce controle on the quality of the food. So all meat etc. should be cooled, if not it will be destroyed. A couple of years ago it threathend to run out of hands as commercial sellers seem to take the best places and kids hardly could find a place to sell their stuff. But that;s delt with. Actually it's one big mad house of partying people, Music all over, drinking, eating and selling stuff. All in a very good mood. If you walk from our Central station to the Dam square the crowd is so dense that you can put your legs from the ground and still arrive at the Dam. Also a big spectacle of every thing that floats is on the canals and waterways. If you look at the amount of booze that is consumed and the amount od people on the streetsis unbelievable no serious accidents occur.
In the eve3ning we have the traditional concert of the Concertgebouw orchestra in plain air and fire works.During the day the Royal family visited two towns to celebrate. Btw the day isn't the Birthday of the present Queen Beatrix but still at the day of the late but very popular Juliana.This was decided by the Queen when she took over the reign.

I think there is far much more in common than we think but just the difference are nice aspects too.

[Roel Jansen]

Koninginnedag is celebrated all over the country. Actually that day all is free what normally is restricted to certain rules. The main issue is that you are free to take every thing out to the streets that you want to sell. Consider it to be one big National garage sale in the streets, parks where ever people come. Also food is free to sell but is due to regulations and there is fierce controle of the quality of the food. So all meat etc. should be cooled, if not it will be destroyed. A couple of years ago it threathend to run out of hands as commercial sellers seem to take the best places and kids hardly could find a place to sell their stuff. But that;s delt with. Actually it's one big mad house of partying people, Music all over, drinking, eating and selling stuff. All in a very good mood. If you walk from our Central station to the Dam square the crowd is so dense that you can put your legs from the ground and still arrive at the Dam. Also a big spectacle of every thing that floats is on the canals and waterways. If you look at the amount of booze that is consumed and the amount od people on the streetsis unbelievable no serious accidents occur.
In the eve3ning we have the traditional concert of the Concertgebouw orchestra in plain air and fire works.During the day the Royal family visited two towns to celebrate. Btw the day isn't the Birthday of the present Queen but still at the day of the late but very popular one.

[SomeSailor]

Sounds like a fun time. All that food makes me hungry. Do they make most things free that day then?

[Roel Jansen]

Mike,

No you have to pay for the beer and the food. Biggest problem is where to pee. Amsterdam has about K700 inhabitants. On Queensday we have over K500 people on the streets. A lot come from outside Amsterdam. Most of the people wear funny Orange coloured gear, just like you see if our National soccer team plays and when speed skating champions are held. Most is concentrated in the old part of town, People walking the narrow streets and among the canals and al they do is eating and above all drinking. Also the immigrants take part. So al ot of very nice foreign food can be bought. But also a lot of nice things are for sale. Some times you can find things or books that you are looking for a long time and couldn't be found. Most people who take part of the garage sale have their merchandise in front of them on the pavement. I always say if you want to see and visit Amsterdam, do it if possible during the week Queensday is held.

[II Lucky]

Just got the boat back in the barn. Went up to the new Marina at Salpare bay next to Tomahawk bay and enjoyed a private party with Live music, food and drink and then watched the Vancouver Fireworks from the boat. Went down the Columbia and up the Willamette Thursday and anchored at riverplace in Downtown Portland for the Blues fest. 100 boats and everyone having a great time. The boat ran great, the new misting system on the back deck kept us cool and the IBNW flag flew proudly. Next weekend at Detroit lake and then to Hells canyon for 10 days. Doesn't look like I will be working much this month. I work 11 months a year just for the month of July. Hope everyone had a safe and fun 4th.

Bryan

[Go Aweigh2452]

It doesn't get any better than that!!! Glad it all is going great...