| Home just up the street from the Stilsons', viewed from their deck looking away from Henderson Bay. |
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A Few Days with the Stilsons
Photos taken August 9-10, 2003
Posted August 16, 2003
© 2003, Herbert E. Lindberg
I finally had time today to look at the pictures we took on the yacht trip with the Stilsons, and review other pictures we took at their home in Gig Harbor. We arrived at their home early Saturday afternoon after a trip via Whidbey Island from Mary's brother Harry's home in Bellingham. I was soon out on their deck looking at the views on the partly cloudy day (it rained lightly during most of our trip from Bellingham). I continue to enjoy the mansions in the Stilsons' little community (all private roads and a community association much like Lake Wildwood but on a much smaller scale).
| Home just up the street from the Stilsons', viewed from their deck looking away from Henderson Bay. |
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| But the above mansion doesn't have the expansive view of the bay that Stilsons have. |
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Further view of Henderson Bay from Stilsons'
light and airy living room. |
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After a leisurely breakfast Sunday morning we drove into Gig Harbor, picked up four sandwiches, and headed down to the dock where the Stilsons' boat is berthed. Hal piloted the boat straight out from the harbor south to the Tacoma Narrows Bridge. As the high tension power cable towers on each side of the narrows appeared Hal turned the wheel over to me so he could tend to other things. I had the pleasure of piloting the boat into the narrows leading to the bridge during maximum tide flow and turbulence. It was definitely a hands-on experience -- thank goodness we were going in the direction of the flow.
| Hal took the wheel so I could
switch to a wide-angle lens for this shot, by Barbara. Note the Narrows Bridge out the window beyond Hal. |
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Barbara and I traded places for this shot. |
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The Tacoma Narrows Bridge after passing
under it. |
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Barbara and Mary enjoy the sunny day at the rear of the boat. |
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Soon we came to the bend at the entrance to Wollochet Bay on our right. At this point the hills are filled with mansions. I took a series of pictures, including close-ups of beach-front homes with boat launch rails extending far out into the tidal waters, in this case tidal sands.
| Representative shot of beachfront and hillside homes overlooking the Bridge. |
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Typical shorefront mansion with boat-launch rails across the "sand" into the water. |
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Hal's butt in the picture below was not intended as the point of focus, but it was the only way I could record his dropping anchor along the shore where we ate lunch. The picture also frames more lovely homes, which I'm sure entered into Hal's choice of lunch spot.
| Hal drops anchor at a lovely spot along the Wollochet Bay shoreline. |
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| Our cruise came to an end as
Barbara spotted while Hal berthed the boat. That evening we dined at a new restaurant in Purdy overlooking Henderson Bay at Hwy 16. |
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