Friday, September 13, 2013

Washington (6): Please can this be my life.

Please can this be my life.

That's the phrase I kept saying to myself over and over again the entire time we were hanging out on Fidalgo & Whidbey Islands.



(Midwest folks - I know this whole Pacific Northwest thing is totally foreign to you. It was to me until very recently. So, picture if you will being in the state of Washington then driving a couple of hours northwest - almost to Canada - until you run out of land and hit a string of islands. That's where all this magic happened.)

As great fortune would have it, a dear friend of ours grew up on Fidalgo Island and has family that still lives there. A "wouldn't it be cool if?" turned into a "there's a cabin on the water where you could stay" and VOILA we had the perfect little PNW island retreat laid out before us.  No wi-fi, no TV, no frills. Just the scenery, the salty air, and the Four Schneiders.  Bliss.  Bliss.

It's the kind of place where in only a few minutes you feel your shoulders begin to relax. You realize you're breathing more deeply. Time starts to slow down. Quiet takes over. Then, crazy crazy crazy things happen like you look outside and there are TWO BALD EAGLES just chilling in a giant tree overlooking the cabin.




It's the kind of place that a girl like me from Xenia, Ohio knows exists but can hardly believe her eyes when she's standing there.

Under Deception Pass Bridge

The Bridge from the Beach

The kind of place where you're living in what feels like someone else's photo album because it's just a little too surreal that you're the one standing there with your family.

This whole state looks like the movie "Fern Gully" from my youth.



And, on this evening, in our first couple of hours on the islands that house Deception Pass State Park - it was the place where we all got a glimpse into what the next few days would hold.  Experiences none of had every experienced before. New sounds, new sights, new tastes. And lots and lots and lots of new memories.



This guy.





I'm sorry to say that the final fantastic dip of this day's light into the water was not captured on film. Instead, I put down the camera and took my spot right there on the log next to my three favorite people in the universe.



(Bald eages ya'll.  Bald eagles!)