Batch Lunches

 I had absolutely the most fabulous adventure today. 

I had to hie on up to Friday Harbor Labs for work. This meant getting up and out the door by 7 to make the 9am ferry from Anacortes to Friday Harbor, but I was on the road by 6:40, and not fighting commute traffic (that's all going the other way) made for a nice relaxing drive up. While I did have a deadline, I wasn't in a rush. I took some mental notes of other things along the way for when I do this without work as an excuse. 

I chose to walk-on the ferry rather than drive on. Much less expensive. This late in the summer season there's lots of room at the parking lots right by the ferry terminal, so I absolutely could have parked closer, it was fine to have a little bit of an amble down to the waiting room. Got myself some more hot water for tea, and bought a cookie to feel less of a mooch. I had just enough time to wander around a bit, but not quite enough to wander off to explore the cove near the ferry. 

The ferry was a little delayed in loading since someone's car stalled, and they had to push it off. There was an entire pack of bike riders all lined up, and another crowd of walk-ons, but the ferry wasn't full at all, and I happily took over an entire tabletop right near the side concession stand (not the one with food) and did a quick catch up on email before opening my reading and passed the time reading and eavesdropping on the concession stand. The clerk was on his last day - the stand would close for the winter (and end of tourist season) tomorrow, and he'd be on another route. The weather was breezy and cool in the morning - the distant mountains were a little smoky/hazy, but the sun was shining and I had some great views along the ride. 

I didn't have time to do more than glance around at the town as we offloaded - my ride was ready for me to whisk me the whole mile and a bit to the FHL campus. I am glad for the ride - the devices and laptop I needed to carry were heavy, and a return personal trip will have me packing much lighter. 

I installed the device I needed to, and while I was doing that, the team that would be using it wandered in to be introduced, and one of them brough a large ceramic fish platter filled with snacks. We joked a little about the salami that was meant to be roses but ended up looking a little more like sombreros. (They were still tasty) The session I led was part training, part setup, getting them geared up to use ecommerce instead of just the in-person device that I'd just replaced. With the group in the room and the questions I was fielding, it would have taken twice as long over multiple zoom sessions, so I felt like the time we'd just spent was well worth it. Plus, you can't get snacks like that over Zoom! 

Then I got to have a tour! The campus is a fairly sprawled set of buildings a little ways of a side road, well treed and right by the water: the entire focus/feature of the labs is freshly pumped sea water for the tanks and aquariums. The lobby of the main admin building has a 'tide pool' with some absolutely huge anemones, urchins and sea cucumbers. There were some smaller sea stars in that area, but the highlight of the lab space was a large set of tanks with sunflower sea stars. These are the starfish that have been hit with a wasting disease, and are the major predators of sea urchins, which themselves will absolutely mow down swathes of kelp, leaving undersea deserts in the absence of the sea stars. They've figured out the cause of the disease this year! At this lab! 

I had also recently read an article about smashing urchins to restore the kelp forests, so I got to enthuse at the researchers there (the PI and one of the assistants, a recent grad) and they got to enthuse right back at me, and show me the dinner-plate sized three year old stars and the one single four-year old who'd been held back from the release the week before. 'Charlotte' had actually shrunk from not eating for some six months or so, but had started consuming cut up squid (while still turning up it's tentacles at the usual mussel-fare), so they were happy it was improving again and they'd also learned more about the star's physiology! Then we proceeded down the line of the tanks looking at all the other stars at different ages; the one glormped over a mussel it was eating, it's central body puffed like ball; the little bitty stars smaller than a dime with only 5 arms (sunflower stars just keep growing more arms!); and all the way to the free floating juveniles that had not yet settled onto a surface, but were just little specky things I absolutely needed my glasses to see. Absolutely delightful.

We didn't go out on the dock where the motored research vessels or leisure rowboats were, but it's a lovely little cove that the offices overlook. I topped up my water in the old dining hall - the oldest building dating back to the 20s or so, with a huge vaulted ceiling with thick beams of wood from the local forests. There's dorms and small living spaces tucked up from the water (and all the pumped sea water) and into the trees. I didn't ask to look into people's living spaces, but I did poke my nose at the window of the little building labeled Art Studio which was just a one-room structure with a wood stove and a south wall that was all glass. Serendipity smiled on me: the Artist had just pulled up, and she was delighted to show off what she'd been working on (lots of mixed media, sea wrack and cyanotypes) 

I had missed the 2pm ferry to get my tour, and time was ticking for the 3:50 ferry. I could easily have caught the ride into town and poked around for dinner and a later ferry, but decided to try for the ferry, and made it with a few minutes to spare. There was a redhead who looked passingly like my Cousin Whitney there with two corgi puppies - I didn't run up to pet them, but watching their antics while waiting to board was fun. 

I did get to sea a dolphin or two alongside the ferry - a brief glimpse only, but a happy chance. On the return ferry, I noticed quite a few more puzzles on the tables, but they all had other people in those booths. Maybe next time I'll bring my own. 

Once we'd disembarked, I decided to skip the rush out of the parking lot and explore the cove. There's a little boardwalk over the marsh down the hill from the parking lot, but it's closed, so I stuck to the shore for a little amble and then back. I took a different route out that avoided Anacortes proper, and got on the road back towards I-5 just in time to start thinking that I was getting hungry. 

Just then I came across the Irish Pub I'd made one of those mental notes about on the way in. It's a huge building surrounded by open fields so it really stands out. Inside, there was live music that had just started up and I was informed it was half St. Patrick's Day: they had a nice prix fixe menu for the 6 months from the Day. Well, that's me sold! The salad and fish&chips were decent, but desert was the most delightful bread pudding. Absolutely delicious. I was tucked nicely into a little booth with live music that wasn't so loud I couldn't hear myself think (my usual complaint with music like that, but it was just a large booth with many musicians, and no amplification, just good acoustics) I lingered for a while before I noticed the light outside dimming and the desire to be home with my cats welling up. 

None of the other places I noted on the way up were open anymore, and I was tired, so I queued up the Kpop Demon Hunters soundtrack and attempted to sing along all the way home. It had just rolled onto the instrumental songs at the end when I hit my neighborhood: perfect timing. 

I think I'll be smiling about this trip for a solid week, but also. Tired now.