More on the Commute details...

REVISION: As of April 2015 there is a new larger capacity Water Taxi.  The information regarding capacity is incorrect. For my updated post look HERE

I got a received several questions about some of the details of our daily commute to/from Vashon by way of the Water Taxi.   I figured I would offer the answers here...

 I'm a bit worried to hear that the 5:30 fills up.....do they often turn people away?  

     So it is true that the 5:30pm boat does sometimes fill up, but not often!  Because of that people line up a tad bit earlier, but in general this is now pretty rare.   Just over 2 years ago the Melissa Anne (the name of the PO boat) got approved to take on more passengers which apparently helped significantly. I think that the story that the 5:30pm boat fills up a lot is a leftover from that.  Again, it does happen but not all the time.

     Apparently, there is another boat being built that will hold more people.  . Often I arrive at the line at 5:25 and am fine. In two years time I can count on one hand the number of times I have seen people get turned away.  The 4:30 does sometimes also get filled up, but again not very often.   In fact, that is the one time I have been turned away and granted I was rushing down the pier at 4:29...

     Keep in mind that major events can impact this.  If there is an early Seahawks game on TV people want to get home and watch it- they also want to get out of the city earlier.  Also, my impression is that Tuesdays and Wednesdays there are more commuters to/from Vashon. I think that a lot of Islanders have jobs that have flexible work days- but most people who work in Seattle go in on one of the those days.  I also once heard one of the Water Taxi Workers jokingly say, "I am not sure that anyone who lives on Vashon works on Fridays."

how early folks assemble for the morning ride....any insight or tips would be greatly appreciated!"

People don't line up for the 8:15am boat.  It's a pretty chill affair at 8:15am.  I just get off the bus and walk onto the boat usually.  So there is no early assembly.

The 7:10 and 6:10 are a tad bit different of a story...These boats do not regularly fill up now that the boat capacity is larger, but people line up and wait to get on the boat.  From what I've been told (thanks Stephanie!) you can run down the dock at 7:09am and be just fine...

Any insight or tips would be greatly appreciated

Finally, the most important thing is to go onto the KingCounty Water Taxi Webpage and sign up to get text alerts if anything is weird about the boats.    Thus, if a boat is cancelled, delayed, broken down etc you get an alert beforehand so then you can troubleshoot. You can call work, work from home, catch a ferry, try to drive to work etc.

This is really important! This past winter we had weeks and weeks of cancellations, or delays. These texts saved our sanity.


Life on an Island with boats and water is wild! We had one day where the boat filled up, went to the Island and then the waters were too rough to land, so everyone hauled it back to Seattle....things like that are just part of the flexibility you must have!  Our childcare provider is flexible, we are flexible...life must retain a sense of welcoming the parts you cannot control.

Island Quilter...Vashon Island Fabric store

Update: This store has closed. The space was needed for another business.  I gotta say this is serious loss to the VI business community. 

I am not a quilter.

I've only made a handful to quilts in my life and they were all child size.  I think they are beautiful but I don't think I have the eye for it, and the other issue is that quilts just aren't my house aesthetic so even if I made one what would I do with it?

On the other hand, I love fabric. I might even love fabric more than I like white sugar or more than I like gluten, more than I like sunny July days in the PNW....no that last one feels like too much of a stretch... But the options for fabric are addictive at Island Quilter.

Yup right in downtown Vashon is a fabric/quilting store.

There is so much stock.
I repeat.
There is so much stock.
So much of it is beautiful.
It's almost all accessible.

I love love love it.

Mostly I go there for thread, a couple yards of this, a couple yards of that...I am not the reason they are still in business sadly.  But I wish  I could be!

When to Visit Vashon...planning a vacation

Without a doubt the very best time to visit the Pacific Northwest is between July 15 and September 15.  It is our dry season...the clouds burn off, the days are long, and the rain is rare and temps are usually in the 80's.  These are the days that this area of the world seduces us, convinces us that she is the best lover, provider, and is our everything...

It is also true that this is sometimes a miserable time to be other places in the US.  Which really doesn't hurt either (that is also what makes being here in the winter so stinkin' tolerable too.)

So if you are planning a trip to the PNW or to Vashon Island itself the summer is the time to come.

But let's imagine that you are trying to visit on a budget, or the you don't mind damp and chilly, or that you just want to explore... the reality is that there is no bad time to visit. You might be rewarded with views of Mt. Ranier or not... but you will be rewarded with cheaper VRBO, AirBnB and other rates, and if you visit Vashon at the right time you might get a flair for her character...

So if you are visiting in the off season visit- over Halloween and go Trick-or-Treating downtown, or Visit around the holidays and attend one of the varied version of craft fairs or support a local business downtown. Or if you are a really good planner visit during a very low tide and explore the sea life around Vashon...

If you are visiting in the off season though I reccomend 1 thing...stay in a place with a woodstove or fireplace and prepare to enjoy the peacefulness of it.  Watch the moss grow...lavish in the green, heat up by the fire, go on a walk and notice the smell of all the little bugs turning over the earth...this is Vashon.

Sunrise on Vashon.

I got off the bus the other morning before I got on the Water Taxi (on the north end ferry dock) and the sun was coming up.

It was glorious.

Now, 2 weeks later the sun is already higher in the sky at 8:03 when I usually get off the bus.  Alleluia.

Vashon Island garden plan...for a 750sq foot garden...

While everyone else in this country is freezing their tails off everyone who is West of the Cascades/Sierra Nevadas is doing alright (Alaska and Hawaii too!). 

So luck us today we pruned the apple trees, pulled roots from the garden, sent a package, priced out lumber for raised beds and went a bit nuts on my family.  But on this lovely January day the stuff of my fantasy life is mostly about gardening. 

So let me share with you the fantasy!

The green outline is the garden.  It is 750 square feet, but parts are very wet, uneven and parts of it still have a lot of roots that need pulled. As this is our first year in the house I am fairly certain it will be sunny their for the bulk of summer but I don't know what kind of light it gets in the spring...

Here's what needs done soonest...but they aren't exactly in order.

• Ordering fencing and install - 
• Keep hacking down the brush that is next to the garden but will eventually become lawn (the brush has to come down to allow maximal sun!
• Having the brush man come and chip all the brush
• Order seeds and start them under a grow light.

By April I hope to get at least one raised bed (the orange are raised beds) built. I don't know if we can afford more than one this year because the front end of fencing and chipping brush is costing us.  

If you look at the diagram you'll also notice that there are not things like carrots, potatoes, onions, etc. We don't have a goal to become self sufficient and are actually happy to let other people grow some of those things for us. We want to raise things that taste the best when they are home grown- we have never noticed a difference in the quality of those things when we raise them.

So that's what's up 

Vashon Island- some random links...

Did you ever see this- it's from National Geographic?    It's a cool little clip on milling for lumber in a sustainable way on Vashon...most of it looks filmed in Island Center forest.

Or Gluten Free Girl- who lives on Vashon and is quite the cookbook author!

If you are looking for the perfect gift for a lova how about a singing message? 

The fashion on Vashon is especially...ummm.   Well, you give me a description?!

Do you know there is an Orthodox Monastery on the Island?  Someone once told me they think Vashon is very religious. I would not say that...

So there you go.

Winter Fog on Vashon.

These photos look like they are black and white but the fog makes the colors seem much more dim.