Take That, Bellingham!

 I’ve been hoping to get a blip of the visiting tall ship the Lady Washington but haven’t been able to connect with her until tonight when my blipbuddy Mary Jo invited me to join her on the Lady for a cruise around Bellingham Bay.   So instead of a blip of her from a distance, I got a blip (and about 150 pictures) on her.  What a treat!  I had a wonderful time and learned a lot about the ship (see below for a little bit of her history)..  The crew was friendly and entertaining and we got to watch them climb the rigging and fire the guns. (An interesting tidbit: they're guns if they're on the ship and canon if they're on land). It was really special.  Thanks again, Mary Jo!!!  
 
The Lady Washington (named after Martha Washington) was built in 1780s and sailed as a merchant ship participating in the maritime fur trade with coastal Native Americans in the Pacific Northwest and in tea and porcelain across the pacific   The replica Lady Washington was built in 1989 for the Washington State Centennial celebration and is operated by a professional and volunteer crew.  She sails up and down the Pacific coast, regularly in pair with the Hawaiian Chieftain, educating students in the history of merchant trading.  She’s 89 feet long, 210 tons heavy with 4,442 square feet of sail and six miles of rigging. 
 
The pictures in Extras are of the very intimidating rigging, one of the Captain and one of Mary Jo and me.