Northwest: Lummi Island

July 4th, 2012

If you ferry to Lummi Island on a perfectly sunny summer morning, bike around for a few hours, explore numerous beaches, stop at a party for some pulled pork sandwiches and bike around a little more, I guarantee you will have yourself a nice little day. On the 4th of July, Ellen and I decided to go join at least 800 of our closest island dwelling inhabitants and explore a quiet and beautiful island less than a 30 minute drive and ferry away from Bellingham. Lummi Island is definitely the little step child of the San Juan's. But no one has ever said being a little step child is such a bad thing. 

Lummi Island: The Ferry

The Whatcom Chief

July 4th

I've ridden plenty of ferries. Mostly to Bainbridge island, sometimes to San Juan Island, occasionally to Whidbey Island, a few times to Port Townsend, here and there on random other voyages and once from Italy to Greece and back. Based on these past experiences, I knew ferry trips take some time. Maybe a half hour, maybe a little longer. Perhaps even 23 hours if you're crossing the Mediterranean en route to one of Europe's most financially troubled countries.  So imagine my surprise when we successfully navigated the harsh waters between Gooseberry Point & Lummi Island in under 8 minutes. Seriously, imagine my surprise! Whatever you imagined, it's not as surprised as I really was. A jaw droppingly quick trip.  So quick in fact, the USADA is dropping their doping case against Lance Armstrong to instead go after the Whatcom Chief. See what I mean?!? The trip was so quick I didn't even have enough time to come up with a better punch line for that ill-fated attempt at a performance enhancing drug joke. 

It's Morphin Time!

When I was young I hated waking up. Waking up didn't make any sense to me. The thought of rolling out of a perfectly comfortable and warm situation wasn't appealing in the least. In my life, things didn't always go my way. So when things were going my way, for example when I was enjoying being in bed sleeping, why would I voluntarily want to end that. My parents tried to instill in me a passion for waking up. They said "the early bird gets the worm". They sang "Good morning, good morning, good morning, it's time to rise and shine" repetitively in a high pitchy note. They threw things at me from a far to try and ruin the beautiful state of hibernation my body had realized. But I resisted. My will to sleep and be happy was found to be stronger than my parents could have ever imagined. Nothing could pull me free from the loving embrace of my comforter cover and twin size plush mattress. Nothing ... except, for the Power Rangers. Oh those Power Rangers. The most gloriously gifted and talented fighting squadron this side of the A-Team. These teen-ish aged special people, with help from their gack faced, tube dwelling leader Zordon, united to form a uniquely entertaining product ripe for viewership from young kids whose minds were still maturing and developing. Yet for reasons beyond me, the people who chose to air the greatest show ever decided 7am was a desirable time slot. 7am! That was 2 and a half hours before Carl Cozier Elementary School began each day. Who engages in child friendly ninja warrior combat prior to the lunch hour? The Power Rangers, that's who. So on those frightfully dark and chilly winter mornings when new episodes of the Power Rangers were set to air on Fox Kids, somehow my brother was able to do what my parents could only dream of. He summoned the inner strength necessary to coerce me to remove myself from my cocoon of peace and happiness and stumble down to the living room couch. With crusted shut eyes, sloppy morning breath and hair that resembled the underbelly of a wet dog, I watched the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers save the town of Angel Grove day after day, week after week. The putty patrol, Lord Zed and Rita Repulsa were no match for Zordon and his squadron of colorful spandex laden teens. Spandex laden teens who to this day remain one of the few reasons I ever voluntarily woke up hours before I had too.

On an unrelated note, here is a picture I took that I've thought about taking for a while now. I finally made it up to the Alabama Hill overpass before the sun officially went down. I don't love this picture. It's alright. There is much room for improvement. Hopefully I will be able to make those improvements soon.

For Old Times Sake

I've been purging my old computer of all its last files. I had my little Dell since my senior year of high school. For those keeping track at home, I used the Dell for almost 6 years. That's a long time in computer years. Especially for a Dell that wasn't that great to begin with. Still, there were a lot of old files tucked away in that machine. Even a few papers from my college writing class. By college writing class I mean the class I took to prepare me for college writing when I was still in high school. I wrote those papers before I even knew what college was like. Now I am almost two years removed from my last college class. I guess all that means is that its time to go back to school and further my education... Anyway, these are a few pictures I came across while rummaging through previously mentioned old files. They aren't really that old. I think from last spring and summer. In descending order, Pike Place, the San Juan Islands, Squalicum Harbor.