Vashon Island

Yesterday, Tim and I took a day trip to Vashon Island. Neither of us had ever been there. At other times in the past, one or both of us have taken a ferry to Bainbridge, Bremerton or Kingston.

The ferry to Vashon is a little more out of the way. We had to drive all the way through West Seattle, which really wasn't so bad on the morning of a day after a holiday that was the second day of a four-day weekend.

We had no particular plans beyond driving into the "urban" core of the island.

On the ferry, we picked up a tourguide magazine, which informed us that there was an old lighthouse on Maury Island, which is actually kind of a misnomer, because Maury Island and Vashon Island are connected by a narrow isthmus.

Anyway, we did drive out there. Who doesn't like to see a lighthouse?

Also, on the way down to see the lighthouse, we passed a grassy area that featured this:

Not entirely sure what it is supposed to represent, but it attracted our attention. Actually, the path to the lighthouse is at the far end of the lawn in the photograph. The boulders are closer to the path, and the sculptured pieces farther away.

The lighthouse was situated on a beach that had a lot of driftwood washed up from past storms. It reminded me of the tidal flats we used to drive by in the East Bay back in the late '60s when I was a kid. People used to go out there and make sculptures from the driftwood; it was very cool — you never knew what you would see when you drove by.

After we saw the lighthouse, we headed back to Vashon town. On the way, we stopped at a boutique distillery we had spotted on the way out toward the lighthouse. At first, it appeared that no one was around, but just as we were getting in the car to leave, a fellow came around the side of the building and let us know that, yes, the tasting room was open.

This is a very new operation; they only began selling their product last December. We came away with two bottles of herb-infused gin, one bottle of vodka, and a fourpack of blood orange soda. Still in development is a coffee liqueur that we tasted — very good, not so sweet and syrupy as Kahlua.

Back in town, we had lunch at the Hardware Store restaurant. A good choice.

After lunch, we did some shopping. Among the places we visited, was the Island Quilter. For such a small community, this was a really impressive establishment. All I can say is, I wish it was on my side of the water and I didn't have to get on a ferry to visit it. Extensive inventory, well organized.

As I like to support the local economies of places we visit, I purchased this fat quarter ten-pack:

I don't know what I will do with it (yet), but I will figure out something!

Vashon Island on Dwellable