Boating on Lake Washington

Running isn’t the only thing Bo and I love doing when we travel to new cities. If we’re visiting a city which revolves around water, we do our best to get out and enjoy it. I love that Bo grew up on the water and therefore knows how to handle just about any boat we’ve ever come across. His favorite is sailing but a power boat comes in a close second.

Yesterday while we enjoyed a day of wine tasting in Woodinville we decided that based on the weekend’s weather, we had to take advantage of the sunshine and rent a boat. However, multiple phone calls during our 30 minute car ride resulted in lots of “already rented” responses and a grim outlook.

It wasn’t until this morning that Bo realized that Craigslist may be a good option. While this sounded crazy to us at first, it ended up being the best option. There were multiple boats available and a few phone calls later Bo secured a open bow lake boat that we could rent for 6 hours, including a two person tube and full tank of gas! The owner offered to meet us at the Magnuson Boat Launch, about 20 minutes from Queen Anne at noon.

We spent the next six hours exploring Lake Washington. We checked out Bill Gates home in Medina, gazed at the beautiful homes on Mercer Island, enjoyed breathtaking views of Mt. Rainier, daydreamed about climbing Kilimanjaro one day, sipped, ate, and spent time in the two person tube.

After an hour we broke into our picnic lunch, because everything is better on the water! We brought sandwich makings, pretzels, pita chips, hummus, along with a few cool beverages!

After lunch we used all our energy to hold on for our life on the double tube while Ryan and Bo drove Amy and I around the lake. We spent about 45 minutes screaming for our life as the cold water splashed around us and we jumped through other boat’s wake.

It was so much fun! We took the boys around for a swing before we all decided it was time to soak up some rays and enjoy the music.

The below deck is Bill Gates and leads to his 66,000 square foot estate! They even have a tram like track that can take people from the dock up the steep hill to the house!

But, our favorite dock of the day was the one that had two separate benches, one for the Democrats and one for the Republicans! Clearly this is one passionate household.

Days like this make me wish we had easier access to relaxing days on the water. But, as Amy said, the best boat to have is a friend’s boat. Until we are in an area where friends have boats, I guess we’ll have to stick to renting them!

Hope you’re enjoying your Labor Day weekend. If you have tomorrow off, how are you enjoying the 3rd day of the weekend?