Orcas Island

9/17-9/19
Oh what a beautiful island! I absolutely adored Orcas. It was much bigger than Lopez and was more driving than I anticipated, but beautiful driving. I got on the ferry at Anacortes with my car! I was pretty nervous, they really pack us all in there! But it was a fun ride, no issues. It started raining as soon as I got off the ferry. I keep giving myself little pep talks when it gets a bit dodgy..."Okay, Abby. You got this." Camping in the crazy wind and rain definitely called for a few pep talks.

I drove over to Doe Bay Resort after a nice cup of coffee and arrived to find my site was on the edge of the cliff over the water! It was SO cool! But absolutely the worst weather to have the spot in. I highly recommend the Sea Sparkles campsite to anyone going over to Doe Bay in nice weather. I moved my spot a bit further into the trees and headed towards the East Sound for a bowl of clam chowder. It was chilly and rainy, so a good bowl of a soup was perfect. After dinner, I headed back to Doe Bay and went to the spa! Anyone who gets a campsite at Doe Bay has access to the saunas and tubs, full kitchen, showers, real bathrooms, etc. It's pretty awesome! I soaked for a while and walked over to the campsite and had a great night's sleep.

I woke up and drank some good coffee then headed to a vinyasa flow class at the Doe Bay yoga studio. It was good to move in a different way. I have been doing a lot of hiking, walking, biking, crouching, driving, etc. It was great to just stretch a bit. Afterwards, I headed towards Outer Excursions to go on a whale watching tour for the afternoon. I splurged pretty hard on Orcas Island, but it was totally worth it. That whale watching tour was one that I don't think I'll ever forget. I had NO CLUE how big orcas were, but they were the size of our boat. Which was a big boat!! We saw seals, stellar sea lions, and orcas. The sea lions made a VERY weird noise and were fighting and biting each other.

The whole trip was about 4 hours and it was magical. It was absolute peace to be out in the middle of the water and hear the orcas blow water out of their blow holes and puff to the surface. I was amazed the entire time.

I met a couple who live in Asheville on the boat, Kristen and Bob Smith. They live over on Norwood which is next to our old house on Gracelyn. I'll have to stop in and say hi when I get home. We had a great time together, and enjoyed being with fellow southerners.

After the orcas, I headed back to town and ate some dinner. I then went to the spa and warmed up before bed.

I arrived in Seattle yesterday to stay with Caroline Boland, my good friend Cat's sister. She works at Amazon, so we went to a screening of Transparent season 4 last night. I love that show! After the screening, we went to dinner with a few friends of mine from middle and high school, Ashley Bush and Bre Connaughton. We had a good time, enjoyed catching up and seeing Seattle.

I had a phone call with my old school's boss to discuss a potential job, so that was weighing pretty heavily throughout the San Juans. Depending on the direction the school chooses with how to staff, I could have a special education teaching job available immediately. However, after speaking with them about it, it sounds as if they are looking for a younger grades teacher. There's still a possibility that they could need an older grades teacher, but it's not as immediate of a need. After the phone call yesterday morning, I felt a sense of relief. I feel lonely sometimes and miss home a lot, but I'm not ready to head home yet. I am almost halfway today and am feeling nervous and excited to continue. It's been about 10,000 miles and 2 months of traveling, so far.

Thursday:
I hung around Seattle all afternoon after doing

some homework at Caroline and Ian’s I took the bus down to Pike Place Market and walked around. It was SO cool! It had lots of vendors and booths selling all kinds of things. I just wandered around, smelled spices, ate samples, and checked it all out! I walked over to the Seattle Art Museum and enjoyed an afternoon of Northwest tribal art exhibits. It was actually really cool to put Seattle and the Puget Sound into context.
After the art museum, I went back to the market for a delicious grilled cheese sandwich from some famous cheese people over there. It was rather delicious and I watched cheese curds get made. Kind of gross, actually. Haha. By this time, I wandered around Seattle a bit longer and then met up with Caroline for a glass of wine before our big night at the baseball game. It was so nice to catch up with her, she’s always been my friend’s big sister, so having the opportunity to get to know her independently is really nice. We went to the Mariner’s game later in the evening which was cool! Not the COOLEST baseball stadium ever, but the greenest for sure. They didn’t even have trash cans, it was all compost/recycle. And no straws to save their whales! Anyway, the Mariners lost realllllly badly, but Caroline and I had a great time!