“I don’t want to go,” was how it began.

Our friends, Lolly and Skip, had invited us to come visit them on Lopez Island.

Knowing that magical things existed there (like this sign!),  I urged my oldest daughter and youngest nephew to come along.

Queenie reluctantly agreed, while Hart protested wildly. “I hate ferries!” he whined repeatedly. “I’m so frightened of them.”

We clucked in sympathy, then shoved him aboard.

Atop the ferry, after approximately three seconds of wide-eyed, stiff-limbed panic, Hart spotted birds out the window, and from there on out it was smooth sailing.

I’ve decided that ‘Ferry Folk’ heading outbound are merry folk indeed, and it’s easy to see why. Everyone is, at that very moment, ‘getting away from it all’. On board, no inter-couple navigation is required. Grandma Moses puzzles beckon atop tabletops. Out the window float fancy boats, bobbing blue waves, the shimmering Sound all around.

Eventually Lopez Island appears, equally blithe. If you have to be somewhere at 5 O’clock, this is not too shabby!

Besides their bewitching house sign, Casa Cross was full of happy things – roaming deer; painted totem poles; overflowing crab pots; luminescent sea glass; even ladder ball, already set up on the lawn. After lunch we headed to Shark Reef Sanctuary for a leisurely walk. (Please note I said ‘walk’, not hike.  This one’s flat! And shaded! And short!)   There, among dappled woods, Lolly told me that we were approaching the exact spot where she imagined a sunset picnic for two, someday, one day.  Upon arrival I saw her vision perfectly. Wouldn’t this be an epic setting for a sunset sip-and-dip, perched right here, on the edge of the blue-fringed world?

Lingering in such loveliness, we saw seals sunning themselves across the channel, while Hart happily clambored up and down the path’s many boulders. Humans sunbathed on the blackened rocks, too, while the tide surged majestically between us and San Juan Island.

After this short but beautiful sojourn, we stopped on “(S)Lopez Island”s main street for ice cream. We then returned to Casa Cross for freshly caught crab and gin and tonics on the deck. Wowza!

We all need friends like this!

Near dusk our delightful day-away came to an end. Walking back onto the ferry beneath the twilight pale, Hart beamed. “This was a great vacation!” he pronounced. “Can we come back tomorrow, pleeease?”

My rating: Get yourself in touch with Skip and Lolly ASAP! Or better yet, strap a collapsible table onto your partner’s back, load up that wine and cheese, and start walking! This is one destination you can’t oversell – it’s like a tiny, private Greek Isle, only much closer to home, and without all the lamb. (Crabs abound, though!)

Stu says…

This is me on our next hike:

Flutie will have to carry the chairs and wine.

When our first-born son was four years old, we took him to the San Diego Zoo.  He was captivated by the…can you guess? (No, not the pandas, not the polar bears, not the elephants) …the drainage system!  He spent the day running from one drain to the next, never looking nor caring about any animal of any sort.  Shark Reef Sanctuary is my San Diego Zoo. While it’s stunningly beautiful, I will readily admit that I was fascinated by the wooden walkways.  I have been daydreaming about building such walkways around our property, and the one’s at Shark Reef are very well designed.  They have grippy material (like composite roof shingles) nailed to the boards so that they are not slippery in the rain, and the walkways rest on plastic drain pipes that give a little with each step.  It’s a delight walking on these, and I can’t wait to try the same at home!

On a similarly boring note, be sure to disable data roaming on your mobile phone when you come to Lopez Island.  You are very close to Canada, here, and your phone may switch to the Canadian networks without warning and charge you zillions of dollars for foreign data.  (Sneaky Canadians!)

Thank you, Lolly and Skip, for a delightful day away!