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Tuesday, September 3, 2013

San Juan Islands and Seattle June 2013

When I tell people I am heading to the San Juan Islands, they think I am talking about going off to The Strait of Juan de Fuca  is a body of water just Northwest of Seattle.
exotic tropical islands. In reality I am heading to the Great Northwest United States. The San Juan Islands are located in the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

To get to the San Juan Islands I flew to Seattle, drove an hour and a half to Anacortes, took a 45 minute ferry to Friday Harbor.

My nephew "Z" has recently moved to Seattle so he will be joining us on our visit to the San Juan Islands. We arrived at Friday Harbor late afternoon, our ride was a little late picking us up, so I walked around the bustling town or Friday Harbor, while
"Z" and Margarite sat on a park bench and people watched.

We are visiting Rusti needs no oil Van Rooy and Towering William Van Rooy, together they have combined experience of over 160 years, but you would think it was closer to 100. We know Rusti needs no oil Van Rooy and Towering William Van Rooy from our friend we met in St Johns Virgin Island, Usain Bob and Marisol. The Van Rooys are Marisol's parents.

Rusti needs no oil Van Rooy finally showed up, giving us some lame excuse about Towering William Van Rooy having to fax some paper work to the state to put a property claim on some land on the island.

We later found out this excuse was the truth, Washington recently legalized Marijuana, state officials are concerned about the drug cartels starting to import marijuana from Mexico and South America. To alleviate these concerns they are allowing Washington State residents to stake claims to public lands as long as they promise to grow high quality marijuana and sell the marijuana at a fair price.

The economic boom this will bring to Washington State might be greater than what Pennsylvania is going through with natural gas and hydraulic fracking.

The Van Rooy's live in Roach Harbor, about a 20 minute drive from Friday Harbor. They live in a very beautiful condo complex right on the bay overlooking Roach Harbor.

Once we arrived, Towering William Van Rooy put "Z" and I to work moving his sea kayak down to the dock. We were glad to do this as we would be using the sea kayak during our stay.

We had, had a long day of traveling, after a fantastic dinner prepared by Rusti needs no oil Van Rooy we were ready for bed, but that was NOT going to happen. We found out that both Rusti needs no oil Wizard players and insist their guest play ever night after dinner. We reluctantly agreed, not knowing the game would last into the wee morning hours. After only a few hours sleep, I got up early to enjoy a beautiful morning run. The air temperature was about 60 degrees with a fine rain. The landscape was lush and green, not a whole lot of wild life. The deer were plentiful, and not scared in the least, you could run right up to them.
Van Rooy and Towering William Van Rooy are champion

After breakfast we went for a walking tour of English Camp. This is where Towering William Van Rooy revealed his plan to become the dominate marijuana grower in Washington, State. To stay under the radar of the larger growers that are trying to get into this market such as, Del Monti, Dole, even ConAgra, Towering William Van Rooy is starting on San Juan Island. We learned that Washington State is only allowing small farmers to stake claims, farmers doing less than $500,000 per year. The idea is, help the small guy, not the multi-national company. Towering William Van Rooy's idea, is once he get his first grow plot going, he will stake
more claims one in each of his 45 grand children names, this will insure the state does not find out his long term plan of being one huge pot farmer.

English Camp is where the British set up their encampment during the Pig War, yes we use to fight wars over pigs. The views across the bay were spectacular as we're the flower gardens. We had lunch at Roach Harbor which started with homemade doughnuts.

After lunch we went out on Tahoma, which is the Van Rooy's motor yacht. The name Tahoma is the original Indian name for Mt Rainer the tallest mountain in Washington. The Van Rooy's are of the
belief we should only speak American if we are truly Americans, thus when ever possible the speak and write in the American Indian tongue.

We were hoping to see whales while out on Tahoma. Though no whales, we did enjoy a great afternoon out on the water where we enjoyed great food, great company,
and beautiful views, including Sea Lions, and Dolphins.

After our whale watching adventure we had another great dinner prepared by Rusti needs no oil Van Rooy, and then another late night of Wizard.

Today would be our last full day in the San Juan Islands. We got up early and took the kayak out to get a close up view of the area. First it was Margarite and I, with Towering William Van Rooy and "Z" following in the Boston Whaler. Once I tired of paddling, "Z" and I switched places.

That afternoon "Z", Margarite, and I took the jalopy into Friday Harbor to see some of the sites. One of the highlights was the Whale Museum, other things to see in Friday Harbor are, artist studios, and the local farmers market, I wonder if Towering William Van Rooy will sell his products at the farmers market once his farm is in full production.

On the drive back to Roach Harbor we saw Bald Eagles both full grown and eaglets. There is a local that feeds them at 3:30, we happen by at the
exact right time.

After dinner at a local restaurant we had another late night of Wizard. In the morning we would took the early ferry back to the main land.

What a beautiful morning. We took the scenic ride back to Seattle stopping at local markets on the way. Cherries are in season so we stopped and picked up a few
pounds. Our plan was to stay with "Z" for a few days before heading east.

After hearing about Towering William Van Rooy's new farming venture I decided I would look into it. It was getting harder and harder to make a living at on line Poker as the United States Government was continuing to crack down on the poker sites. Being a pot grower seemed like easy money.

Margarite and I had some friends that lived in Seattle, Curt and Lisa Leo. We had not seen them
in many years so we arranged to have dinner together. It was great to catch up. One interesting thing was "Z" could not decided if he wanted a beer or a margarita, so he ordered both. The waiter put the beer right inside the margarita, bottle and all.

Today we would spend some time touring downtown Seattle. "Z" lives in a high rise penthouse. The penthouse overlooks the water on Pikes Place Market.
one side, and the cityscape on the other. He is just a few blocks from

As I continued to ponder my idea of getting into the legal pot trade I remembered that Music Man now lived in Seattle and was involved in the legal pot trade. I had met Music Man while rafting in Hells Canyon.

I gave Music Man a call and we decided to meet at the Chihuly Garden and Glass Museum. Music Man was dating Alyssa and she was apprenticing at the museum.

Before heading over to the museum we had a little competition. "Z" claimed you could not cook a French omelet in a standard pan, you had to use a non-stick pan. Margarite took this as a challenge and the Seattle Omelet Cook Off was born. The winner, you decided?

After the cook off we met Music Man and Alyssa at the Chihuly Garden and Glass museum. While our discussions on the pot business were disappointing, seeing the museum was fantastic.

Music Man explained to me that Washington was going to tax recreational pot so high, that the legal business would lose out o the illegal trade. While this was disappointing I am not giving up on this idea.

Well it is off to my next adventure, Lake Placid Ironman,

Cheers,

DUG




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