On the ferry, we drank a couple of Red Hook ESB's, read the NYT, chatted, and took in the beautiful view of water and islands. It's about a 40 minute ride out to Lopez Island, on a route wending it's way through the narrowgreen and blue channels of the San Juans.
On arrival in Lopez (or on any island) it's best to pull off the side of the road after you get off the ferry and let the cars go past first. All ferry terminals (except Shaw) have a steep, long climb out and it sucks to be honked at or buzzed for hosing up traffic. So we pulled over and ate some 'yogurt' covered raisins. Delicious, but I doubt that sweet, chocolatey coating has any relation to yogurt. But you know, it says yogurt on the package, so I can chalk it into the healthy food category, right?The ride from the ferry terminal to Spencer Spit State Park is surreally beautiful. The air smells like sea and pine baked in the sun, the shoulders of the roads draped in wildflowers. There are neon green fields, robin's egg blue sky, and lots of quirky mailboxes. There were hawks hunting the green fields, and one flew down just a few feet above us, close enough to startle me. What there is not a lot of is cars. We were politely passed by just three on our 14 mile ride to the park. The route isn't flat, but is rolling enough to be exciting (all that speeding down!) without being exhausting. After a beer on the ferry, I was glad not to exert myself too much. This is a vacation after all. Though it had been raining in Anacortes, just a few miles away, it was sunny and warm on Lopez, which gets just 13-23 inches of rain a year, making it a fairly safe bet for spring and early summer camping.
Spencer Spit is a historical homestead site that sits on a spit jutting out into the Lopez Sound. There are about 5 campsites right on the beach, and several more discretely tucked into the woods above, including one hike-biker site on the beach and six in the woods. The hiker-biker sites are non-reservable, first come first serve, and cost only $10 per night. At most state parks the hiker biker site is one large camp site with a central, shared picnic and fire pit area. At Spencer Spit, they are very private, individual sites, with a shared picnic table and fire pit. We had the entire hiker biker area to ourselves the first night, and were joined the second night by a couple who was touring from Port Angeles all the way up to BC. They were so quiet and shy, or else exhausted, that if we hadn't happened to see them roll down the dirt road toward the back of the camp, we would never have known they were there. Overall, in fact, the park is very quiet and peaceful, in sharp contrast to many state parks that feature blasting car stereos, the roaring engines of RV's, and packs of screaming children.
After finding our site in the woods (the one on the beach having been snatched up by an earlier arriving bicyclist), we went about making it cozy. One of the many beauties of bike camping is that setting up camp takes a grand total of maybe 15 minutes. You just can't bring all that much stuff with you, so all there is to set up is the tent. You throw your pad and sleeping bag in, and maybe fire up the camp stove for some afternoon coffee. After that, the day is yours. Alex settled into the tent for a nap, and I meandered down to the beach to breathe the fresh, salty air. I wrote in my journal and ended up taking an accidental nap on a huge, white driftwood log in the sun. The log had a wide, smooth groove that I felt swaddled in, with the sun warm on my face and the breeze blowing over me. It was an excellent nap. I was awoken by a very happy golden retriever out for a walk.
That night, we warmed up a pouch of paneer curry and made some 5 minute brown rice. It was deliciously warm and spicy, and hit the spot in the way that food does when you've had exercise and fresh air all day. We sat around by the campfire and talked, about nothing much in particular, just enjoying each other's company. We let the fire burn until just a little after it got fully dark, which wasn't until about 10. Then we retired to our tent, and slept very well thank you very much.
A couple of locals on the ferry had tipped us off that the farmer's market in Lopez Village was this morning, so after a hot oatmeal breakfast and coffee, we pedaled off into town. The ride was easy and the farmer's market was lovely. It was a real farmer's market, with the actual farmers and their goods, not tons of useless junk for tourists. We bought ingredients for hobo stew, and incredible spicy pork tacos from Adios Tacos for lunch. It started raining, so we pedaled over to Isabel's Coffee for some Americanos and newspaper reading, and eavesdropping on local gossip. After an hour or so, the rain slackened to a drizzle and we set off to circumnavigate the island by bike, which is a total of about a 30 mile ride over rolling hills, with a few steeper climbs. The views were just as fantastic as the ride on the previous day, green fields, old farm houses, and sheep scattered about. We stopped for a hike out to Shark Reef Preserve, and snacked on salmon berries, explored tide pools, and watched boats getting pushed through the channel by currents to fierce that most of the boats were making good time and not even running their engines. Later in the ride, we stopped at a tiny general store and got oranges and nuts for snacks, which we ate leaning on the bike rack outside.
Back at camp, we walked down to the beach with the fancy beer we had picked up at the store, and watched a lovely sunset over the sound and islands. That evening, we settled in around the fire with our hobo stew, and more curry, and stayed up late hanging out with each other.
The next morning, we slept in, then walked down to the beach with our coffee. Then we packed up and headed back to the ferry, then reversed our ride to Mount Vernon, caught the Amtrak home, and schlepped our bikes up Yesler street home.
I went to work on Monday, and it was a rude push back into the real world. The families I was working with were absolutely lovely, but there was a real lack of team work with the providers and it ended up with me being so frustrated I actually teared up in the OR. Also, I worked 14.5 hrs, instead of 12.
Yesterday, my first of two days off, all I did was make a hair appointment and consume a lot of refined carbohydrates. Today, I vow to do better. And I have! I've eaten reasonable things and written on this blog, so accomplishments can already be checked off. I still have to do about a bajillion other things, including exercising so that I don't lose my mind, and cleaning the raw, rotting fish fillet out of the fridge. But, I'm off to a better start.
Miscellaneous other pictures from Lopez
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