It was a Sunday afternoon and Laura was still in South Carolina. Later in the evening the Swinnomish Yacht Club would be holding a lighted boat parade along the waterfront of La Conner. I decided I’d check it out.
I wasn’t sure how crowded it would be so I headed over to La Connor a bit early. I wandered through a couple of the shops, but that got to be exhausting wearing a boot so I found a nice spot with an available martini. Eventually I made my way to the Swinnomish Channel waterfront and found a good spot to await the parade.
There was some question as to when this thing actually began, so it seemed like it took a long time for it to get underway. Eventually it did. There was a burst of fireworks from the marina further north and the boats started making their way down the channel.
Apparently the theme for this year was National Lampoon’s “Christmas Vacation.” That would have been OK, but it seemed that every boat that passed had someone shouting “The shitter’s full!” While funny in the context of the movie, it got old VERY fast and kind of killed any kind of Christmas spirit.
Despite the crude shouting the lights were pretty, especially when reflecting on the water of the channel. I think this would have been more fun it Laura had been here to join me.
I made my way back through the crowds to the main street of La Connor. Finding a place to eat was a challenge but I finally found a place, then headed on back home. It was an interesting evening, but it would have been much more fun if there had been someone with me.
The lights on the boats were beautiful. I wish Laura had been with you, too.