A few weekends ago I was instructed to pack an overnight bag for a mysterious short adventure. My only clue: there were no showers where we were going. (Very mysterious, no?)

Although the clue would seemingly point to camping, I know J isn't a huge fan. And that would require more gear than we were venturing out with. I was a little flummoxed.

Out of the city we went. The drive wasn't long, but was packed with subterfuge, including an unnecessary bridge crossing and some impressive doubling back. (For awhile I was sure that J had neglected to look up directions, but he assures me it was all part of the plan.) We passed through a deserted-looking military base(?), and then turned onto a very twisty and pothole-filled dirt road, ending up at a working marina...

It was a collection of floating homes, discarded concrete pilings, rocks and seagulls. Old cabin cruisers were disintegrating into piles of parts and material around the edges of the parking lot. There was a fair amount of interesting stuff to poke around and take pictures of, but after an hour I wondered what the heck we were doing there, exactly.

I didn't have long to wait before the Plan was revealed.

* we learned this tugboat was recently towed in from parts north and will probably will be dismantled for scrap