The 4th of July is an awesome time to be in the San Juan Islands. We have a long tradition of gathering at my grandparents' cabin, meeting up with old friends, and trying our best to set things on fire come the celebratory night. I hadn't been able to make the event in about 10 years, so we figured it was about time to show our faces.
Leaving Ashland at 6 in the morning allowed us to bypass the I-5 traffic in both Portland and the Seattle corridor (no easy feat, by any means), but it did make for an extremely long day. And there's nothing like driving 9 hours to have to make various little errand stops at the end of your trip: ice, fresh produce, booze, etc. Then arriving at the marina, only to find that your ride has run out of gas in the middle of Rosario Strait. It was a long day, and setting foot on Frost Island never felt so good.
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| The parentals providing instruction on the proper dish-washing techniques |
The rain followed us in, despite my mother's constant complaint of "it wasn't supposed to rain!". And rain it did, but we managed to spend a fairly dry night in the tipi. As long as you pulled your sleeping bag over your head so the drips didn't hit you directly, you were fine. Morning dawned gray and early with the arrival of Posey, the 14-month-old black lab from the neighbors. Soon her and Luna were going at it, and we watched 8 black feet wearing a moat around the base of the tipi. The two of them romped for six hours straight in the pouring rain, and were back at it again by evening.
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| Our fine digs, with Posey standing guard |
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| Belated birthday presents! Thanks, MB |
The rain that heralded our arrival left with my parents (go figure), blown inland by a strong wind. The Luna ear meter clocked it at about 25 knots. The weather was gorgeous for the rest of the trip.
This gave us a chance to help out around the place. Carl got to play with a chainsaw and restock the wood shed while I helped split and chop kindling. We also hiked around the island, exploring all the little nooks and crannies.
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| Carl clearing some dead timber by hand |
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| The view from the top of the hill |
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| Bubba hearts tipis |
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| Nap time! |
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| The continental congress reassembling a self-inflating life vest |
On the 4th of July my aunt Ruth somehow convinced me to join a friend in participating in the 5K fun run over on Lopez Island. At 7:30 we were motoring over, and at 8:30 we were off. It was a motley assortment of competitive weekenders, casual walkers, and a whole bunch of kids. We got passed by one little girl who couldn't have been more than 7. It must have been the bright pink shoes.
That afternoon Carl and I took the furry kids tidepooling. While they were exploring the waters we found all sorts of cool things left behind by the tide: four different kinds of crabs, sea urchins, tiny sea stars, neon green shrimp, sea cucumbers, and little eel-like fish called gunnels. Luna must be part seal because she was happy as a clam bobbing around in the water and was reluctant to come to shore.
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| Life is good |
The festivities that night were boisterous as always. The fireworks display wasn't as good as some years, but we did manage to set some stuff on fire. Luna joined Posey inside with a mutual distaste for explosions; Bubba didn't even seem phased.
After 4 glorious days of running amok on the island it was time to leave. I'm not sure who was more disappointed, us or the dogs. Luna wouldn't even get on the boat until we were all loaded up threatening to desert her.
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| Bon voyage! |
We split the drive up by stopping that night in Portland, then continued home the next day. One perk of the long trip: Walla walla onion rings at Burgerville!
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| Mmmmm.....crunchy greasy salty sweet goodness |
