Lunch In the Middle

I am the luckiest ferry passenger ever. Ok, so I've missed a ferry or two in my ferry-riding career, but for the most part I've had the great fortune of sliding up to the ticket booth 45 seconds before the ferry leaves and cramming my car on the tail end of the boat just in time for a crew member to slip a little red wedge under my rear tire.

I cut it close on Saturday, arriving at the Kingston dock about 8 minutes before the ferry was scheduled to leave. The ticket seller even made me wait at the booth until he knew if there was room for me or not. But remember? I'm lucky! There just happened to be room for a few more cars on the 10:05am sailing.

Photo stolen from Internet for dramatic effect.

Does not represent my personal experience.

Usually, missing the ferry would not be the end of the world. Sure, the 50 minute wait is annoying, but what are you going to do? But this weekend was different. I had to make that sailing. Why, you may ask?

Because my MOM was waiting for me in Mukilteo!

She's the cute one on the right.

Instead of making a three day pilgrimage up to Whidbey Island, I talked my mom into meeting me halfway for lunch and shopping. It was so nice to hang out and do something a little different than just sitting at home. The plan was to just go to the Everett Mall, get lunch and shop a bit, but a wrong turn took us to Alderwood, darnit! Since we were almost there anyways, we figured we should probably go to the big mall.

But first we had a delicious lunch at Red Robin.

We each had the Whiskey River BBQ Chicken Wrap.

Why try something new when we know what we love?

Followed by a trip to Coldstone...Mom had never been!

Happiness comes in a waffle bowl!

We stopped by the Apple Store and found a ridiculously simple solution to my ginormous iPhone problem.

It works now!

We shopped. And shopped. And shopped. I rediscovered my bargain-hunting skills and purchased seven pairs of pants and around 12 shirts for Chloe and Nicholas, all for a whopping $120. Now that takes skill!

I may also have found a shirt for myself...and maybe a blazer. Sssh.

New sunglasses may have been involved, too...

Best of all, we just hung out and caught up. This Mukilteo thing is the perfect solution for the distance between my family and me. We're all too lazy to make a 3 1/2 hour trip, but an hour and a half? No biggie!

So if you're in Oak Harbor, and you don't mind jumping on the Clinton ferry, let me know and I'll come pick you up. We can go shopping!