Different Worlds...

Several years ago, when my dad first started writing to me about Jim,

I was living in a Chinese city of 15 million...

After travelling to nearly 30 countries,including seven years of teaching,

and playing,

around four Asian nations...

I finally returned back HOME to the great Pacific Northwest

and can confidently say after so many years of

gypsy wandering- That there truly are such a rare place in the world,

you can be lucky enough

to look out your living room window

and catch as spectacular view as this... A late fall sunset, complimented by a rising full moon

over a nearby volcano basked in twilight alpen glow,

shadowy foothills and a rugged island archipelago.

We relish the enchanting, quiet beauty surrounding the

sleepy little island town we now call

'Home Sweeeet Home"...
~~~

"Three things cannot be long hidden,

the sun, the moon and the truth." -Buddha

Stormy Salish Seas...

This time of the dark, drizzly year in the Pacific Northwest, when we're not out pushing ourselves to the limits- paddling, hiking, biking or 'boarding around our favorite Northwest island waterways and mountain trails...Goretexed-up, with cameras & binoculars in hand, we'll head out to a nearby vantage point, eagerly anticipating the arrival of the next big storm front. As the first clouds roll in over the surrounding Olympic & Cascade peaks and cat paws dance across the San Juan waters & Admiralty Straits...We'll stare out at these familiar, white-capped, wind blown waterways, darkened on these blustery days & even more threatening with wicked rip currents, winds and tides colliding explosively..., Rosario Strait can offer some of the gnarliest, inland waters in the Puget Sound, when ocean-size swells are blown in by these 'big wind' fronts and collide with the currents in narrow channels and around the countless island reefs and rips...
Looking across at the dark shades discoloring our normally enchanting marine playground will humble us with memories of paddling out there on similar days, when the weather has changed quickly & 'caught us'~ as the San Juan waters are notorious forCrossing channels to get home in unexpectedly 'extreme' conditions- We've paddled through white-out fog, gale force winds, wicked walls of waves, dodging lightening strikes, sideways rain, snow and darkness ....

** Inspiring famous storm survivor & casualty tales from others in film & books such as
"I Shouldn't be Alive!" & "Deep Waters" **...while a hop, skip and an island away the Surfs up in Admiralty Inlet!

On the west side of Whidbey island, you'll find a beach popular on stormy days with the cold water lovin', PNW Surfers & SUPer's - for the potential Wave Ridin' swells which can occasionally occur here...

And for some on the water Storm Chasin' while keepin' the

Risk Factor at a minimum= take a ride on the small & notoriously unreliable

Pt Townsend - Keystone ferry
This quirky, smallest of the WA state ferries, often cancels runs when the stars do not align between the seasonal storms, strong winds, big tides, and near-reef landing. Once in a while this normally 30 minute ride in rough seas turns into more than an hour and a half crossing-!! We've hooted & hollered all the way across, while standing on the car deck , enjoying 6+ foot seas slappin' our silly faces!

~~~~

Happy Storm Chasin' around

North Puget Sounds

Fidalgo & Whidbey islands

~Rain shadow protected - prime views of up to 3 different mountain ranges!- endless free family fun! - year round- LAND BASED, whale-watch viewing of Orcas, Minkes, Grays & Humpback whales on miles of public clifftop & beachside trails in state & city parks... come explore while getting your stroll on, ride on, surf on, fly on, sail on, ___ on!