Luxury Cruise

OK, it's not exactly a luxury cruise this morning on the M.V. Spokane (I never have figured out what the "M" is for; the "V" is for "vessel," of course). For one thing, weather conditions aren't anything like what you see in the picture.

Mt. Rainier is not even remotely visible. The fog is as thick as seapoop. There are major flood watches out for the whole western half of the state, and we're expecting to catch the brunt of this current storm tonight and tomorrow. Plus, this is the 8:30 a.m. commuter run, not the languid hours of the golden afternoon the picture suggests.

Still, there's no cruise anywhere I'd rather be on than the eleven-dollar, half-hour Kingston-to-Edmonds run. The Spokane is not my favorite boat, but it'll have to do this morning.

And now we're under way. Through the rain and mist, the pines and firs lining the Kingston shoreline look unreal, as if they were painted on the windows by an 1890's French impressionist. I assume the pilot knows where he's going; the shoreline on the Seattle side is totally obscured, and the water is a bit rough.