Getting Away....

Tucked between the Washington mainland and Vancouver Island, Canada there is a series of islands, some belonging to Washington State and some to British Columbia. I read that the inland sea surrounding the islands has been proposed to be named the Salish Sea, after indigenous peoples who originally inhabited the area. It is known officially as Puget Sound, and is connected to the Pacific Ocean by The Strait of Juan de Fuca and The Strait of Georgia. The islands belonging to Washington State are known as The San Juan Islands, while those belonging to Canada are The Gulf Islands.

I grew up visiting the region because grandmother lived on Samish Island, which is actually attached to the Washington mainland by dikes. Samish Island is along the relatively shallow Samish Bay, where the lowest tides go way, way out exposing muddy, clam-rich tidal flats. At low tide my sisters and I would tag along as my grandmother and mother dug the big 'horseshoe clams', and sometimes we would find a feisty crab in the watery seaweed moats that separated the tidal flats. At night, if the tide was high I would look out across Samish Bay to Bellingham Bay and see the barges. When I was really little I would declare that the lights of Bellingham were China--after all, I had always understood that China was 'over the sea'. Before this became a 'moneyed area' and had a sea wall, the beach front had a series of funky little houses, the beach was strewn with driftwood logs, and winter high tides would flood the residents. We would dig steamer clams in the rocky, barnacle beach that existed at the wave line just before the first tidal flat, and play 'house' in the open ends of the driftwood logs--the clam shells were our dishes. The steamer clams are gone--I think the population and the seawall did them in--and my grandmother's house has long since been torn down and rebuilt by a cooperative of my cousins. I think the seawall has pretty much halted the winter high tide floods (along with the steamer clams). I guess the 'horseshoe clams' are still in the flats, but you have to have a permit to dig them these days. I still get my fix of the wonder of those islands though, because my sister settled in the San Juans several years ago, but her island isn't attached to the mainland by dikes--you have to take a ferry boat. (And we dug clams on her beach without a permit.)

The first week of July we had a wonderful get away to the San Juans to visit my sister/family. Our last visit was two years ago when we took Daniel's Boy Scout troop for a long weekend camp out, so this trip was very relaxing by comparison. Here is a run down of some of the fun...

Every July 3, Deer Harbor, on Orcas Island, has a big fireworks show observed mostly by mobs of boaters harbored in the bay there. Gene Hackman used to own 'Fawn Island', which is in the bay by Deer Harbor. The fireworks are launched from a barge out in the bay. My favorite part is boating through the channels to get to Deer Harbor. One narrow channel is known as 'Millionaire Row' and the boat speed limit through the channel is slow so crashing wakes don't rock and roll the Millionaires' docks, boats, and beaches.

My parents and my twin and her husband were a part of this get away, each of us staying at a different spot in the vicinity of my sister's house. We stayed on the boat....lovely. Lapping waves. The ebb and flow of the tide at our fingertips. A bald eagle. (I am finally, a week later, not 'rocking' anymore.) I have never 'stayed' on a boat, and this was fun.

The view from the boat at a lowish tide....

Early morning, coffee, dry cereal and....yes, the grammar book from which I will be teaching this year. (I have been boning up all summer. Maybe this year I'll equate adjectival clauses with seagulls and the quiet lapping of the ebbing tide.)

Digging for clams. My mom and I cleaned the dozen or so clams that the kids and I dug, and I made an olive oil/garlic/clam sauce for pasta. Many of the clams are chilling in my sister's freezer, waiting to become fritters or chowder.

Hiking is a must in the islands. You can hike up to high view points like this. Amazing.

On the 4th of July, my sister/family decorates their restored flat bed truck for the old fashioned parade through the village on their island. This year much of my family and my sister's in-laws partook of the festivities. The weather was warm, the parade was packed, and the evening fireworks were, again, launched from a barge out in the bay.

My mom, a five year cancer survivor....

It was a wonderful get away. We hiked, boated, played badminton, dusk volleyball (with my mid 70s parents joining in!!!!), dug for clams, cleaned/cooked clams, shopped in the village, tagged a wilderness trail for a future hiking trail, kayaked, saw a bald eagle, rode the ferries, boated between the islands, ran out of fuel in the tiny motorboat (in the channel between islands), had to row the tiny motorboat until we could get a cell signal in the middle of the channel, were rescued by my brother in law in his boat (out in the channel), hiked over a mountain, had to hitchhike after hiking over the mountain (because we couldn't get cell service to request a ride from my sister back to our car, which was still on the other side of the mountain), and visited my sister's in laws where they own/run the store on Shaw Island that was previously owned/run by nuns.

Badminton on the lawn...overlooking 'The Sound'....so lovely.

Oh, and on the l-o-n-g drive home, we learned that you can do crazy things with a Dasini water bottle if you tear the label off.......