Here we are on the sandbar!
I feel a little bad: the driving directions to McMicken Island State Park, which is actually a marine state park only accessible by foot via sandbar at low tide (otherwise only accessible by boat), were a bit of a challenge to work out. I finally found what appeared to be a parking lot for the state park on Google Maps satellite view, a spot closest to where putting in regular directions to "McMicken Island State Park" would otherwise say to just park the car on what looked like the side of a road. I figured out the
coordinates to that spot to Jennifer, and she and Matthew met me there at about 2:00 this afternoon.
First of all,
the sign at the turn onto that street read HARSTINE ISLAND STATE PARK, not MCMICKEN ISLAND STATE PARK, the former not being labeled as such on any maps. Second, when I got to the parking lot—delayed about five minutes because I'd had to pull off to the side of the road and pee in the woods, I had to go so bad, in spite of already having peed
six times since leaving home at about 8 a.m.—Jennifer and Matthew were already there. And we found a trailhead and that did have "McMicken Island" and an arrow. So, clearly that was the way to go.
We had no idea how long a walk it actually was from there.
After walking a fair bit through wooded trail to the beach, down a few actual staircases, the above shot was basically the view southward along Harstine Island's eastern shore. McMicken Island is seen in the distance at center-left.
It must have take us half an hour to get down to the sandbar that we could cross over to the small island. That would suggest a mile and a half, except the varied and often very wet terrain of the beach was no doubt a factor. Looking up measurements of distance on Google Maps, as the crow flies it was 1.2 miles to the start of the sandbar, and another 0.2 miles across to McMicken Island—so, not far off: 1.4 miles. Jennifer had changed into boots for walking on the beach and by the time we spent just a few minutes hiking a short trail there, the boots were chafing her ankles and she was pretty sure she had blisters by the time we got back.
I felt kind of bad. I had not intended to make them walk such a distance just to get across the sandbar at low tide to McMicken Island. When I finally said I was good to start heading back, I said, "You guys have indulged me enough." Jennifer retorted, "Yes I have!" which made me laugh (as did she). The walk back was definitely more of a challenge, but we made it eventually.
We drove the roughly half hour from there to Shelton, where we went out to dinner, at a pizza place called County Line Fire. My pizza was delicious. Also, Jennifer covered dinner, even though I had budgeted for it. I realized later she probably did this because I had paid for all of us at Neko Cat Cafe when they came to Seattle to visit a couple of weeks ago. Still, I thanked her for dinner, saying I felt sort of bad after "dragging you through literal mud." By this point they both seemed totally cool with it though.
We drove our cars from there to Jennifer and Matthew's house in Union. This is an unusual visit as none of the kids are here–Hope has moved to Portland with her friend Josiah, and Chase and Ian have gone down to visit them. We've had a couple of our requisite drinks, and right now Jennifer and Matthew are watching TV while I write this post. Macbook Pro portability efficiency strikes again! I love having this laptop.
I should mention also, real quick, that before meeting Jennifer and Matthew on Harstine Island, I went to hang out with Claudia in Port Orchard for a couple of hours. I drove Shobhit to work first, which meant getting up rather early: his shift started at 8:30; we left at about 8 a.m. I got to the Fauntleroy ferry a solid hour early, before the 9:55 a.m. ferry, which stops at Vashon Island (where I'll be going for dinner with Tracy on Friday) before sailing on to Southworth. It's about a 20 minute drive from there to Port Orchard, and today I discovered the Southworth ferry is attractively cheap: vehicle & driver cost was only $13.90! (To go to Lopez Island cost $40.50. Seattle to Bremerton would be $17.90.)
Anyway, I got to Claudia's at 11:00 this morning, giving us two hours to hang out and catch up. She gave me a tour of the extensive yard work she's done, and thanked me for "pretending" to be interested. I'd have loved to hang out longer, but it was nearly another hour drive to McMicken Island State Park, so I had to leave there at 1:00. It was great to see Claudia as always, though—she even thanked me for going out of my way to make sure she stays in my life ("I don't do it for you!" I said, half facetiously—I have selfish motivations here!)—and I intend to come visit again soon sometime this year.
I guess I'll get back to actually visiting with the family hosting me right now.
