Orcas Equinox Vacay

Spring is Springing!

 Oregon grape in one of our hedgerows

Ian and I flew up to Orcas Friday on Kenmore Air, in one of their Dehavilland Beaver seaplanes, with discount tickets purchased last September. We left from South Lake Union (10-minute taxi from our house) and arrived one hour later at West Sound Marina (10 minute walk to our land). 

We really had a vacation on Orcas this last weekend. We couldn't bring our usual ton of tools, giant cooler, or nonagenarian dog, so it was a pretty easy-going time. Burke the Builder loaned us an '89 Toyota Land Cruiser with 265,000 miles on it (4 of his 5 children learned to drive in this vehicle), which was the perfect island car. He left it parked at the West Sound Marina with the keys dangling on the wiper switch. 1989 was the last year for the old-style, truly utilitarian Land Cruiser, which turned into a luxury SUV in 1990. This old blue automatic model was still happy to be out and about, starting forward or backward, whichever we asked, up hill or down, the moment we let off on the brake. We hadn't planned on having wheels, which would've made our visit very different. As it was, we took a 6-mile hike on Turtleback Mountain; ate restaurant food instead of emergency ramen stocked in the Dacha; and even made it out to the Doe Bay Resort Cafe for the first time ever, which is about as far as you can get on Orcas from our place, for breakfast on Sunday. 

In all, we had an utterly delightful time, and great weather for our flights. The one problem with a one-hour commute instead of a 4-hour one is that the buffer between country idyll and urban jungle is way too small. Arriving back in Seattle was a shock to the system, and not a totally pleasant one. 

I've posted many more pictures from our weekend away here.

Happy Spring!

Flowering plum