The Rambling Writer Takes a Detour to the San Juan Islands

Join Thor and me on a getaway through the beautiful Salish Sea and the islands of my native Pacific Northwest.

NOTE: I’ll return to my latest Greek Islands journey in next week’s blog post as Thor and I explore the sacred island of Delos. But, meanwhile, a very different island!

Seemingly out of the blue, a former Paleontology colleague of Thor’s contacted him, years after Thor had lost touch with him. Seems that Norm had retired from academia and made a bold move to work for years at Microsoft. Now he and his wife Susan had retired and bought their dream home halfway up the mountain on Orcas Island. And they wanted us to come stay for a few days. Some of my fondest early memories are of family camping trips on Orcas Island, and I’ve always loved taking the Washington State ferries through the San Juan Islands, so off we sailed!

You may notice the low clouds and mist. Even August in the Pacific Northwest can involve cool rain, and our three day trip featured alternating sunshine, clouds, and one real downpour. At least this year we are not breathing wildfire smoke, as we did for weeks last year!

The Coast Salish natives plied these waters in their canoes and thrived on the bounty of sea and land. Then European explorers led by George Vancouver “discovered” the islands in 1791, and a Spanish expedition named the islands the San Juans. By 1859, Washington State and the British on Vancouver Island were tussling over border boundaries, and the tension erupted in the notorious Pig War (triggered by a pig that was shot). No human casualties involved, and eventually the borders were settled. In 2009 (U.S.) and 2010 (Canada), Puget Sound and the Straits of Georgia and Juan de Fuca were officially renamed the Salish Sea.

Above is the ferry dock on our destination island, Orcas. These are huge ships, and the docks are equipped with heavy-duty pilings to absorb impact. The captains mostly bring in the ferries to a very gentle docking, then foot passengers and cars are offloaded efficiently.

Orcas Island is a horseshoe-shaped 57 square miles of mostly steep, rocky shoreline, with some pebble and sand beaches, and lots of rocky islets fringing it.

Thor and I set off to meet Norm and Susan in East Sound, the biggest town. Here’s Main Street:

The hustle and bustle of tourism is fairly subdued here, though it is big business for the locals. Artsy gift shops abound. Norm and Thor seemed to pick right up where they had left off 30 years earlier. They were a big hit at a fossil shop, where they made the rounds correcting the posted ages of several fossils and enlightening the owner about details. She loved it, to the relief of Susan and me….

We followed Norm and Sue in their car past a shallow bay at low tide, as they informed us that even with Thor’s petulant Siri, we would never find their house halfway up the mountain without guidance.

After many twists and turns, and encounters with more deer along the road than I’ve ever seen in my life, we followed ever-narrower dirt roads through fir forest to their secluded aerie above the Salish Sea.

I should have taken more photos of the stunning architecture, but like a zombie, I kept wandering back out to the patio to gaze at the view over the islands toward the mainland and Mt. Baker in the distance. With Norm’s telescope, we could almost see our neighborhood near Bellingham Bay. I did get a photo of his giant horn speakers in the living room. The word “hobby” doesn’t quite capture his passion for designing and building tube amplifiers (along left wall).

Susan’s passion is gourmet cooking, and she treated us to a delightful “light” lunch (and later dinner, after a tour of the surrounding forest).

Susan and Norm are clearly having the time of their lives after making the leap from their careers in the hectic Seattle area to the tranquility of the island and close proximity to hiking, fishing, and nature. They are gracious hosts, and put us instantly at ease. Our lively conversations flowed through a range of topics from geology and fossils (of course), zero population growth, gourmet cooking, biology, teaching techniques, wildfire safety, personnel counseling, travel, childhood memories of the islands, and more.

Since I still can’t walk far with my healing hip injury, I shooed Thor and our hosts off for a hike around the subalpine Twin Lakes just uphill from their house, while I lounged on the patio and listened to the profound silence, watching the afternoon light shift over the islands and sea below. Ahhh….

The next day, we were off for a tour of the east side and Moran State Park, 5252 acres of forest adjacent to their property. Robert Moran, a former mayor of Seattle, had donated the park land in 1911. We drove to the top of Mt. Constitution within the park, at 2600 feet the highest point in the San Juans.

In the photo below are Twin Lakes, and the green roof of Norm and Susan’s house to the left, near the edge of the steeply treed slope.

At the top is a stone observation tower built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1936. We all agreed that our country could use another CCC movement to put people to work and repair/build infrastructure, though today the politicos in power would probably denigrate such helpful projects as “evil socialism.”

We enjoyed a delightful swim in the closest of the Twin Lakes, then relaxed to enjoy sunset over the sea, and another delicious Susan meal. The next day, we drove to Doe Bay, a former hippie enclave and hot springs retreat that has expanded into a large but still rustic resort frequently hosting music events. As a former hippie myself, I felt at home there, and with the many friendly does coming to check for treats.

This street sign captures the vibe.

The deer population, with no natural predators, is growing. Apparently there are quite a few of these unusual piebald deer.

Our visit seemed to fly by, and it was time to head back to the ferry landing. I’d wanted sunny photos of the many gorgeous madrona trees on the island (they love to hug shorelines), but had to settle for a cloudy shot that doesn’t show off their vivid orange bark.

On the ferry back to Anacortes on the mainland, some tourists said they had seen “whales,” and that they were black and white, which must have been Orcas, or “killer whales.” If so (there was some confusion), it was a lucky sighting, as the pods have been declining lately. One of my favorite memories is of taking a canoe out with two of my brothers-in-law when I was in my twenties, off San Juan Island. We pulled into a small, rocky cove for a picnic on a rock outcrop, and a pod of Orcas swam into the cove and started leaping and frolicking almost within touching distance. A truly magical experience with these magnificent creatures!

As the ferry pulled into the Anacortes dock, Thor spotted these cormorant “condos” where they were messily nesting among the structure, seemingly oblivious to all the noise and traffic around them.

And now Thor and I have a lovely memento of the trip, an inlaid bowl fashioned of island madrona wood to hold our marble beach pebbles from the Greek islands. Full circle! See you next week back on Delos.

*****

You will find The Rambling Writer’s blog posts here every Saturday. Sara’s latest novel from Book View Cafe is available in print and ebook: The Ariadne Connection.  It’s a near-future thriller set in the Greek islands. “Technology triggers a deadly new plague. Can a healer find the cure?”  The novel has received the Chanticleer Global Thriller Grand Prize and the Cygnus Award for Speculative Fiction. Sara has recently returned from another research trip in Greece and is back at work on the sequel, The Ariadne Disconnect. Sign up for her quarterly email newsletter at www.sarastamey.com