Northwest Passages VI

Destination - Skagit County, Washington
The underlying purpose of this trip was to gather with all of the Cooks in celebration of Harry Cook, Sue's father, who had passed away on the 1st of the year.  As it is said, funerals are for the living, and though at Harry's request, no funeral was planned, a memorial gathering of his seven children in Western Washington was a fair and fitting tribute.  August was expected to be accommodating as far as the weather could be predicted, and of course assembling all of 7 brothers and sisters and and their families at a defined point in space at the same time was nearly as unique of an occurrence as the conjunction of all planets in the solar system (of course not counting Pluto).  But when it all aligns, it is a good sign.  Indeed it was good.

Growing up in a family of seven kids, I think one thing that all learned for certain, was not to schedule anything too tight and allow for lots of moving parts to spin on their own axis, and somehow, it will mostly work.  With this dynamic in play, and with the aid of cell phones and unlimited texting plans, everybody kind of arrived about the right time and managed to get themselves north of Seattle and find a roost.  Sally was located at Sea-Tac airport, grabbed a ride with Mike and landed at Cathy and Eric's among her nephews and nieces, Zach, Connor and Emma.  Bill traveled without his lovely wife this time and also ended up in Mike's rental car.  With Sally dropped off, Bill and Mike checked into a shared room in Mt. Vernon.  Tom and Esther arrived with their sons, and had arrangements out on Fidalgo Island.

The Suneson's were invited by brother Bob and Ann to settle in with them and the dogs for the duration.  Our arrival was greeted enthusiastically by Robert, Katy Ann and Hannah, even though our arrival meant we were displacing them from their rooms.  We offered to let the kids keep their own beds and set up the tent and sleep out on the lawn next to Bob's mobile chicken coop, newly stocked and industrially wired to keep the raccoons and coyotes at bay.

I thought it would be a hoot each night as we went to bed inside our tent to have Ann call out into the dark yard, "Who's there?" and then Robert could rosin up the bow and fiddle (though he much prefers the violin) and Bob could come in on the horn section, as we all sang, "Ain't Nobody Here but Us Chickens".  A very silly idea.  Any how, as we all know, tomorrow is a busy day, we got things to do, eggs to lay...

But if we were chickens, we would be sure to get great care from Katy Ann, as she is masterful a taking care of all the animals around the place.

Actually, tomorrow would be a busy day, but we did not have to wait until then to be busy.  As soon as I shut off the ignition, Hannah was leading Aunt Sue and the rest of us into the woods and showing us all of her best berry-picking spots.  We were in luck, some wild raspberries, a few huckleberries, black caps and salmon berries (known to Hannah as "rug" berries because they taste like licking a rug).  With berries picked and consumed, we marched back down the trail to unpack for a few days stay.  Even though we were not chickens, we were well cared for by the great hospitality of Ann, all the kids and Bob, who made sure we started each day with as many of his hot cakes as we could eat.

First order of business now that everybody was within two counties of each other was to consolidate the family at the traditional picnic reunion dinner at Rosario Beach.  At least five generations of the Cook Family have sat upon the Rosario Beach logs and caught up with one another.

Rosario Beach - Preferred Location for Cook Family Reunion
The feast is Spread while the Sun Shines (briefly)

Grant (foreground) selects a skipping stone to impress young cousins

While 3 Cook sister representing Washington, New York & Texas
talk with those in from Minnesota
It's a Wonder we all make it!

The 3 Cook sister chat with sister-in-law Esther and her two sons



Three of the Cook brothers sit in silence on the
Rosario back beach logs as the fog rolls in



Another day, another excursion and a chance to act like tourist for those now from New York, Texas, Arizona and Minnesota and a chance to act like they did not really grow up around here and took all of this for granted. 

A ferry ride - just because it is a ferry ride, to Guemes Island.  A cool thing to do if you're a Washington State tourist. Dock, get off, stroll around, have an island lunch and then catch a ride back on the local ferry.

Pedestrian Passengers on Guemes Ferry
Includes Sue & MN Cooks on the port side

Some of the Cook Clan watch carefully for a sea level rise;
Finally concluding tide & time wait for no man





Grant walks the littoral zone of Guemes Island

 

Food taste better
with an island sea breeze just beyond the railing
It better - because island lunches are so expensive

Sue and Brother Tom
Discuss Deep Thoughts & Wonder where Grant got off to

Inga had summer school in Eugene where she was knocking out a required math course, but once she finished for the week, she was eager to join the family reunion.  She boarded an earlier Amtrak Train in Eugene and rode it up to Seattle and then transferred to a bus that got her as close as the Mt. Vernon, WA Amtrak Station.  We picked her up there and brought her to the reunion festivities.  She could only stay a day before it was back on the train (50 minutes late) to the University of Oregon.

Inga joins the reunion and hangs out on the Anacortes Beach with cousins Matthew and David