Adventuretime: Argosy Cruise to Tillicum Village

My friend Nathalie and I have a thing about making last-minute plans. Our mutual friend has a habit of making them and typically the plans go awry. We're used to our friend's way of socializing and we share the same views about it, so we trust each other whenever we make last-minute plans. This past Monday, I was taking my brother to the library when I got a call from her about going on a cruise in Seattle later that afternoon. 

Nathalie and I are huge Starbucks addicts.
I know, I know, for shame.

 Now, as much as I hang out with Nathalie, I almost never get to talk with her alone in person and the ride up to Seattle was the perfect opportunity. We got to the pier with plenty of time to spare, so of course we stopped for a Starbucks!
We found out right before leaving that the name of the vessel we were sailing on was the Goodtimes II. We thought it was appropriately named.
Since it was a lovely day, we sat in the front seats of the top deck's bow and caught some sun. Oh, fun fact, Nathalie and I were "twinning" that day - occasionally we wear the same sort of outfit, if not the same clothes. (I like to think of it as "tWinning.")
It happened to be a dinner cruise complete with a guided tour. A few other characters onboard also kept us entertained on the trip to Blake's Island, where Tillicum Village is located. Along the way, the tour guide mentioned that some pathways were made out of broken clam shells and thus, the word for clam also meant the word for path. Soon after arriving, we were offered a mug with clams in them whose shells we were expected to drop and crush, as a contribution to the pathway.
The inside of the lodge was huge! There were a few fire pits for baking the salmon we ended up eating for dinner. There was a great array of food - salad, stew, risotto, green beans, roasted tomatoes, fruit, molasses bread, and of course, salmon. They even served single apple pies with caramel for dessert! The salmon and molasses bread were absolutely DELICIOUS. Although they were out of the loaves of bread in the gift shop, Nathalie got the card of a lady who said she would leave as many loaves as we wanted at the pier in Seattle for us to pick up. That's going to be a thing!*

I loved that you could have a bit of everything -
but I think I went overboard (pun intended) on the salad.

The show itself was awesome. I only recorded some of it, because I wanted to get the full experience. One of my favorite stories told was of how birds got their songs. I will never overlook a wren again - it was the hero of the story. The masks that they used were ridiculously cool. Nathalie and I talked to one of the performers after the show and found out that each mask weighed around 40 pounds. I believe it! Some of them, like the one pictured have strings to snap the beaks together. The performer also explained the significance of a mask I was particularly interested in. He said the mask was a symbol of how there are the ancestors and living ancestors as well because the old ways have been passed on to the living elders.

A photographic summation of my trip.

The trip back was very relaxing - so much so that I started falling asleep! Fortunately it was a tad breezy and I ordered a nice, cold ginger ale to keep me awake. We wandered around the pier a bit to watch the sunset before heading home. To complete the evening we stopped and talked about our afternoon over piña colada flavored bubble tea.

Lemon and honey ginger ale is my favorite!
But so is Nathalie. 

Overall it was a lovely trip and I am so grateful I have a friend like Nathalie in my life. :)







*I forgot to mention: this phrase has been used more and more frequently. It's a weird shorthand for saying, "I like that this exists and I want it to happen to me."