There’s a time in your travels when your clothes are wrinkled, they stink, you can’t eat out for one more meal, you miss your bed and long a bit for home. That was today. The homesickness bug hit both Steven and I at the same time. We moped around. We read our books and wrote in our hotel room. But then we realized that we were on an island and there was not the time to be moping. So I decided to do would any reasonable person would do, find a hippie and ask where the cool non touristy spots on this island are. Luckily one such folk happened to be working at the front desk. Having felt deflated by my island hopes and getting no sleep thanks to the karaoke at the bar across the street and the bar brawl literally outside my window, I dragged myself to the front desk of the hotel with dark circles and bags under my eyes. I told the lady that I came to the island to hike, bike, and see wildlife and I am not dealing well with the tourist/bar fanfare. She smiled, pulled out a map and put her thumb down. She said, “See my thumb?” I nodded. “That is covering the tourist section of this island. Everything else is the island.” She grabbed a pen and started circling places to visit like Fourth of July Beach, Jackel’s Lagoon, Grandma’s Bay, and Eagle Cove. She continued by explaining the best places to skinny dip should it strike my fancy. With new found hope Steven and set off in our car to see the most fantastic view of the sun setting with Mt. Baker in the distance. Having left Friday Harbor behind it was unbelievable to think that most tourists would not leave the kitchy downtown entertainment to explore the natural wonders of the actual island. We first headed towards Fourth of July Beach, what was supposed to be one of the most beautiful beaches on the island. Unfortunately, when we got there we found the parking lot overrun by what I’m sure were rabid foxes. Out of nowhere they had surrounded our car. Steven was all for hopping out and going to the beach still; he was sure they would be afraid of him. I convinced him otherwise though, and we set off to the next beach. The sun setting around the islands with the mountains in the distance was a beautiful site. We arrived at the next beach, South Beach, and proceeded to walk along it as the sun set. Of course, the foxes had followed us, but by this point we were already walking so we just picked up some rocks in case they got too close. After watching the sun set, we headed back to the hotel.

PS-You know you’ve been on vacation too long when you begin to be asked directions to places by other people, and worse, you know the answers.

Off to make the most of our trip,

Hippie appreciating Libby and Hippie smelling Steven