a very fantastical weekend

carmen had a birthday, and a friend of hers (a stranger to me) and i set out on the six-hour trek to celebrate her birthday. i can't adequately describe the great time that i had, i can only say that i haven't had this much fun in months, easy.

on the drive up, we stopped at a "greasy spoon" (the theme of the weekend) somewhere early in washington. the tomato bisque that i ordered was ruined by a quarter pound of bacon, and so i spent nearly ten dollars on iceberg lettuce. we arrived in bellingham late thursday evening and met a man named david who looked like a character from mad max, and who had apparently beat the crap out of some guy with his checkbook.

friday: breakfast (i love love love eating breakfast) at a place that had vegetarian biscuits and gravy. carmen showed us her secret beach, and we stole driftwood. this was followed by a hike at mount baker - beautiful. we met up with carmen's bellingham buddies later on and wandered the streets some more, then i left early to go to bed.

saturday: coffee, packed the car, and went out to wait for a ferry that would take us to san juan island. the ferry was reported to be expensive, maybe even $35, but all three of our mouths dropped open when the cashier told us $75 for the trip. the ferry was fun. (i can do cartwheels and handstands while on a ferry... yessss.) we landed at san juan and found a camping spot on a lake, then had dinner at a seafood restaurant. we ran into a couple who recognized us from the boat and asked us if we were in the band playing later on in the evening. back at camp, we had a fire and marshmallows and chocolate and watched our asian neighbor repeatedly get the line of his fishing pole caught in the bushes as he tried to cast into the lake. all that day and that evening we had watched him relentlessly whip that thing back and forth, and it became the trip's running joke. matt and carmen went to bed as soon as it got dark, and i stayed out by the fire to watch the stars. and... i saw a fox!

sunday: awakened at 4:50 by birds and bugs and sunshine and... that damned fishing pole. all three of us woke up at almost exactly the same time and i whispered to carmen, 'they're having church without us.' we ate pancakes for breakfast, and tea, and i had a hotdog, too. we rented a metal rowboat with a flat bottom that was blown all over the lake by the wind. we took the ferry back to washington, parted ways with carmen, and drove back to portland. the drive was entertaining both coming and going, stuffed with stories and music and laughing and carrot sticks.

in summary: greasy food, lots of driving, outside to see the sun, i saw a fox!