Island Tour

Ha, ha, my ship! thou mightest well be taken now for the sea-chariot of the sun. Ho, ho! all ye nations before my prow, I bring the sun to ye! Yoke on the further billows... I drive the sea!
-- Herman Melville (Captain Ahab, in Moby-Dick)

Saturday, March 18, 2000
One year ago: Launch

Last night, Jack had wanted to set the alarm! which seemed contrary to a relaxing weekend spirit, but I was OK with it. It turned out that we woke up in time to shower before breakfast anyway. We were too warm (and too groggy to open the window), I needed meds, and Jack's back didn't like the bed too much.

We were the only couple at breakfast, so the inkeepers served us. Another couple had supposedly stayed in the suite across the hall, but we never saw or heard them. Fruit, juice, coffee, french toast, italian rice pudding (some kind of risotto) -- a feast! Jack saw a hummingbird at the outside feeder, but I wasn't quick enought to turn around. The innkeepers have a lot of bird feeders (the regular kind) at a tree outside the dining room, and it's amusing to watch the traffic there and try to identify what birds you see there.

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We decided to drive up the island and see what we'd see. We had some tourist maps to give us ideas, but no definite plans. Through some side-road excursions, we got to the Meerkirk gardens. What a beautiful place! It started as the home (estate, almost) of some dedicated gardeners and plant breeders, who left it to the care of the Seattle Rhododendron Society. We were early for the main flowering, but there were some varieties blooming, and a plant sale. Since it was "my weekend" we walked all around, into the secret garden, the heritage garden, and up a valley where they were digging for a Himalayan rhodie area "with indumented and tomented foliage". That means fuzzy leaves! "Time to maturity: twenty years" the sign said. Gardeners need to be patient, sometimes. We were almost blown away by the wind. I'd like to have a garden again, sometime! Jack kindly said that if he ever got some property, I could garden there. Nice of him, huh?

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We continued north along the spine of the island. After missing the Greenbank Loganberry farm (we were misled by some signage), we got to where we could turn off for the Port Townsend ferry. Jack suggested we could park on this side and walk on to the ferry, and fool around in Port Townsend for a while. We'd last visited that town not too long ago, but I was interested in going again.

The wind was gusting strongly as we waited for the next crossing. I whispered to Jack that the small waiting room was amazingly full of men! Jack went to wait outside, and got into conversation with another passenger. It turned out that there was a men's conference happening nearby, which was why the XY chromosome count was so high.

I stood on the other side of the building (out of the wind) and studied the sign giving information about Ebey's Landing, the Historical District. I was surprised to find that we were soaking in it!

The ferry ride was the roughest I've ever had. I didn't get seasick, but that boat was rocking! Both Jack and I were really getting hungry, despite the peppered jerky we'd been chawing on while we waited. (I was able to eat it despite my bad tooth by chewing on the other side.) We landed, then started walking up the street in a drizzle. It's a good thing that Port Townsend (the downtown part) isn't really that big, and the ferry landing is right there. We found a restaurant that blended imperceptibly into a remainder book store, which was an ideal setup for us! We wandered among the stacks while waiting for a table. I bought Cryptonomicon (because Jack can't find his copy; otherwise I would have borrowed his) and Jack bought a book about a woman living with Amazonian natives.

Lunch was good! I had chowder in a sourdough bread bowl, which for once was suitable for my poor mouth. I'd been dipping into Jack's book about the Amazon while we waited for our food, and was talking to him about the time my father spent in the Amazon during World War II. "You really miss your dad, don't you," said Jack. "Of course I do!" I said, a quick rush of tears to my eyes, but laughing. "I miss both my parents."

We did some browsing in the shops. I went into a few shops I might not have gone into except for the "my weekend" factor, but didn't buy anything else. Jack ended up with a hat to keep the rain off. I asked several times if he wanted to get to the auto memorabilia store, but he declined -- no way to carry anything large, and maybe he didn't want to be tempted. We had time for mochas and some chocolate. But it's really not a good idea to drink a mocha and eat chocolate at the same time -- the chocolate flavor of the mocha is wasted, overpowered! The chocolate was extra good: a ginger-flavored truffle and Bailey's Irish Cream fudge, small pieces of both.

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We got back to the ferry dock with some time to wait, so we sat on a bench with some of the same people we'd met on the way over. Jack traded guitar stories and stereo speaker geekery with some guys. When they got into "recone-ing" and tweeters, I exchanged a wink with the man sitting on the other side of me. Neither of us were into that area of techno stuff.

The crossing was much smoother going the other way. We were experiencing all sorts of weather today! We saw a rainbow from the ferry, and it was sunny and less windy by the time we landed. There was one more thing to explore right there -- Fort Casey. This state park is one of the old gun forts that never fired a shot. The huge gun emplacements are still in place, with ladders and dark rooms still in good shape, and two big guns (the same type that were there originally) that had been brought in from the Philipines. The fort was oddly deserted. Jack thought it would be a good place to film the science fiction show his Bellingham buddies want to do.

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After taking a break on our return to the Villa -- Jack played his guitar in our room while I read for a bit -- we were ready for dinner after our busy day. I'd seen a poster or a listing in the paper that there was an Art Walk in the village of Langley tonight, so I'd suggested we go back there for dinner again tonight. All the galleries that we'd peeped in the windows of, yesterday, were open, with free beverages and snacks. We started at one end of town and worked our way to the other, stopping in print shops (but I disapprove of the practice of taking fine old books and breaking them down to sell the engravings seperately), glass shops, artist's cooperative galleries, and nasty new-age fake Indian shops. Jack was really tempted by a blown-glass chili pepper, and the smaller size was only about thirty dollars! The large size, about two feet long, was significantly more expensive, I guess because it's much more difficult to blow glass that much bigger. But he refrained from buying, saying he really didn't have an appropriate place for breakable art in his house.

We ended up at the pizzeria. After a substantial, somewhat fancy dinner last night, we were ready for a casual meal tonight. We were both thirsty, dehydrated from the long windy day, so we sucked down lemonade and water, and constantly called for refills. The pizza place was small and busy, but we got our pizza eventually.

Even though there were more couples at the Villa tonight (so many that our hosts asked me to park in their own driveway to leave more room for other guests), we didn't see anyone when we got back. We relaxed in the living room, reading and listening to music. It was so nice to slump on the leather couch, Jack's arm around my shoulder, and be quiet together. Tiramisu makes a great nightcap!