orcas island

i have three things to say about my trip to orcas island. no wait, four.

the first two are somewhat banal, so i'll get them out of the way. first is that orcas brought me my first viewing of a bald eagle in its natural habitat. these birds are just so beautiful. i don't know if it has anything to do with being force fed images of bald eagles my whole life or if it's just that they are so amazing. i guess i've always had a thing for large predatory birds (no, not that kind of thing!). this bird was flying around a mountain lake from tree to tree while looking for fish. it had an impressive wing span of about 5 feet or more and the sound of it's wings beating echoed across the stillness of the lake. i was enraptured. it felt like an honor to watch.

second was simply the view of all the san juan islands, the olympic mountains and mt. baker from the top of orcas island. i probably sat up there for hours watching the fog roll in in the evenings and burn off in the mornings. it was one of my favorite places on the trip ... but then i always liked sweeping views from above.

okay, now the good stuff ...

the proposal
i was on the ferry on the way to orcas island, sitting inside on the top deck looking out at the islands as we sailed to our destination. there weren't too many people outside on the outer deck of the ship, but there was this one couple who were in my peripheral vision. he was wearing a navy blue jacket, blue jeans, sneakers and a red baseball cap and had that city hipster look about him. she had thick curly brown hair and was wearing some comfortable hiker clothes and looked like a maturing ex-hippy. they were both probably in their mid-twenties.

as i was staring out the window i noticed the guy kneel down on one knee and look up at her nervously. he then withdrew a small black box from his jacket and her eyes lit up in shock and disbelief as he revealed the ring inside. they didn't move for what felt like minutes, but then he stood up and they exchanged some words and her shock became smiling and giggling and shyness and she just kept covering her mouth and stepping back and forth. he was very rigid and nervous and leaned in for a couple of awkward kisses, missing a few times and connecting with an eye or nose.

after a few more minutes like this, they settled out of the nervousness a bit and i watched them slow and gaze into each others eyes, i could see from her eyes just how totally in love she was with him. he relaxed as well and when they kissed, they connected which, of course, was followed by more jubilant laughing and squirming. then, they started to become aware of the other people around them and got a little more shy about it all and sat on a bench to call their parents. i think, though, that i was the only person aware of what was going on. everyone else seemed too wrapped up in what they were doing.

i planned on finding them when the boat docked to say congratulations and to thank them for inadvertantly allowing me to witness their engagement, but i couldn't find them. for me, it was the highlight of my day and i wish them a long and happy marriage.

defeated
on my second day on the island, i decided to do some moutain biking. several of the trails were not open for biking because it was high season on the island and the park service didn't want hikers and bikers colliding on trails in the middle of nowhere, because, really .. that's just a mess to clean up.

so what was available was a collection of trails in the southern portion of the park that were less frequented by ... anyone! after riding some of the more accessible trails, i decided to embark on this longer, more remote journey. i like a challenge. much to my chagrin, i quickly learned why no one hikes these trails. i began on a pleasant dirt trail in some sparsely populated woods and soon found myself going further and futher downhill, through impossible switchbacks and rooted paths ... next thing i know i'm careening through spiky plants and nettles and boucing over rocks and roots that were viturally invisible due to the trail being so overgrown. at one point, i stop to figure out where the hell i am and look down to find this giant spider on my chest just kinda looking up at me like, "HEY buddy! I spent all night on that web! Fuck you!" ... but before i could translate its sinister look, i did the sissy dance and wiped him the hell off of me!

then i noticed just how torn up i was from all the thorns and such. eventually, i found the bottom of the trail and rode haphazardly over hill and dale to finally encounter that which i was most worried about ... the trail back up.

now whoever thought this was a good biking trail was certainly on crack. i don't care if you are the lance armstrong of mountiain biking, but you can't ride up a 70 degree angle trail covered in roots, loose boulders and looser dirt. it's just not fun. so, i relented ... sweaty, smelly, bruised and bloody ... to walking the mile or so uphill back to the lake where i flopped down with no grace whatsoever and sighed a sigh of defeat.

damn you orcas island! damn you all to hell!!