4th of july, Doe Bay style

Hey everybody. It's been a busy few days. Friday I hitched into town to get grocerys and it was the easiest thing ever. On the way into town I got picked up in about 5 minutes and got a ride all the way into town. It was crazy it Eastsound, as it was just packed with tourits. Getting back was even easier, as I got picked up in less then 5 minutes and got that ride with them all the way to Doe Bay by a couple of people from Eugene, OR who where staying at the resort. I had met them in the spa the previous day and they recongized me. I take back what I say about tourists not picking up hitchhkers, although they could've been an exception since one, they already kind of knew me and two, they were from Eugene, so yeah.

Yesterday I worked the breakfast/lunch shift and since it was busy i actually got to work the whole shift instead of being sent home early. It was one of the WWOOFer's last day so that night we had a going away party at the garden manager's house. We played frisbee in the yard, which was a lot of fun, until I had an allergy attack in which I broke out in hives and my eyes swelled shut. I took a shower when I got back to Doe Bay and took some allergy meds. My eyes where still puffy in the morning so I looked like I had been a fight. Despite the puffy eyes it was a good morning. After the lunch shift was over I took apart the sprayer in the dish pit to try and fix it. Whenever the dishwasher would go into a rinse cycle and the spryer was in use the spryer wouldn't turn off. I figured it was a combination of a lack of water pressure with the rinse cycle going and a sticky valve in the sprayer head. I dismantled the head and cleaned all the junk out of it and it was good to go, plus there's better pressure from the sprayer head.

After I finished my shift around 4:45 I contumplated what to do for the evening. A few people where going to eastsound for the celebrations and fireworks there, some talked about hiking mt. constitution (which I doubt they actally went) and a few were talking about a staff bonfire. Earlier in the day we had found this outside wood burning stove which had a open face but was also enclosed and had a chimny. We had a lot of wood available and we made a fire. Sunday is half priced wine night at the cafe for staff members. Several people brought wine, myself incluided and we gatherd chairs and stumps and gathered around the fire. It was pretty sweet and almost all of the residential staff were there with the exception of the cafe staff who had to work, but even they made it up to the woods before the night was over. It was a blast. There weren't any fireworks at doe bay, except for a few of the neighbors. It was a lot of fun around the fire/woodstove and drinking, singing and playing guitars. About 18 girls and 4 guys so it was a pretty good ratio and a fun way to spend a night. Not the steriotypical fourth of july, but certenly a fun one, doe bay style. Well I'm off to bed, I don't have to work until 5 tomorrow, which is why I'm up so late, but I'm tired. Good night. Peace and love.

-Chris

Just another lazy day in Doe Bay

So I'm going to keep this short tonight, as I'm tired and want to go to bed. Today was my first of two days off in a row here at the resort. Orginaly I had planned to go into town early this morning to run some errands but I decide that it was more important that I sleep in instead. I'll go Wednesday morning instead. I got up just in time for the staff brunch which is a Tuesday morning tradition. It was a smaller gathering as there were only about 8 of us there but it gave us a chance to meet the new WWOOFer. He just moved to tent city so I'm no longer the only guy out here. He's from seattle and is here for two months. He seems like a pretty nice guy. After brunch I sat out in the sun by the bluff overlooking the water and read some Kurt Vonnegut. I did that for most of the afternoon. It's a great way to spend an afternoon. For dinner I fried myself up some potetoes and a couple of pieces of black cod that I had scored from the cafe during my shift Monday night. The cafe is closed this week Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday is pizza night and the fish wouldn't have lasted until Friday so they were given to me and they were delicious. Tuesday is also softball night here at the resort. Tonight there were only 5 of us who went but usually it's much more. It's held at the fields just north of Eastsound. We had a pick up game with a bunch of guys there and it was really fun. I had a couple of hits a few good plays out in left field. When we got back to Doe Bay I hit the soaking tubs and met some people from Bellingham there. After I got out I went to the staff kitchen to socialize until my hair dried and then planned to go to bed early. I ended up staying until a little after 2 am. It was a lot of fun, we played games, ate popcorn and just enjoyed each others company. I really like the rest of the staff here. I'm planing on coming back to Bellingham next Tuesday and then heading back to the island Wednesday so if anybody wants to hang out Tuesday night I'm down. Anyway I'm off to bed now as morning comes early. Hope you have a good night. Peace and love.

-Chris

My adeventure with hitchhiking

So let me start off with saying that normally I don't hitchhike but everyone here kept telling me how easy it is and how everybody on the island does it so today I thought I'd give it a try. Plus I was really low on food and needed to go shopping. I left Doe Bay at 2:30 with my big backpacking pack and started walking toward town with my thumb out. A few cars went by but no luck. Some even smiled and waved but didn't stop. I was starting to get a little discouraged at this point. I remembered that the people who told me how easy hitching was were fairly attractive girls. I'm guessing that people are more likely to pick them up then a single guy. After about 20 minutes of walking and a couple dozen cars go by someone stops and picks me up. She was heading into town too and could take me the whole way there. Here name was kate and we got to talking and all the while I'm suddenly thinking that hitchhiking isn't all that bad. We got to town and I thanked her and went to find a store. I eventually did and loaded up with groceries and started to head home. They had warned me that getting back was a little harder since Doe Bay is out in the boonies. After about 3 minutes however I got picked up by a couple of guys going to cascade lake in Moran park to go fishing. They said they could only take me as far as the lake but I didn't mind, halfway home. After another 5 minutes I got a ride with a group of teenage girls going to Olga for the ice cream social. After saying goodbye to them I pressed on down the road and again was picked up by a couple of kind of sketchy guys in a beat up car. I thought to myself, well beggars can't be choosers and it was like 3 more miles to Doe Bay and the pack was getting heavy so I got in. There were no seatbelts and both guys were smoking and I was beginning to regret getting in the car. After only about half a mile down the road the driver noticed that he was almost out of gas and needed to go back to town to get more. He let me off and I got out, more then a little thankful to be out of there. I politly thanked the guys and again took up walking. Another 5 minutes later a car stops and I get a ride with them all the way home. I put my food away and luckly the perishable stuff was still cold and my eggs weren't broken. The bread was a little smooshed but I can live with that. I guess hitchhiking is a little bit of a right of passage here among the staff (along with going naked in the soaking tubs, but more on that later). Another thing I noticed is that only locals picked me up, no tourists. Anyway the battery on my phone is. About to die so I'm going to go charge it. While it's charging I'm going to go back down to the tubs. My hip is a little sore from sleeping on my side on my mat. I brought my thin backpacking mat and it's a little too thin.

So I'm back from the soaking tubs and the sanua and it felt really good. I think I was in for to long as my feet are all wrinkly and it hurts to walk. I just hope they don't crack. I decided to go into the tubs naked. Last night I wore a suit but tonight the spirt moved me to go in the buff. I wasn't the only one naked so it wasn't that awkward. It's sort of a right of passage for the staff to do so I hear and it's good to get it out of the way. Also now I don't have a wet suit to worry about. The power is out for the upper part of the resort which includes the staff kitchen. So I'm sitting here in the dark writing this. I hope it comes on soon otherwise all our food in the reefers are going to spoil. Anyway I'm off to bed, as I have the breakfast shift tomorrow. Have a good night. Peace and love.

-Chris

Greetings from Doe Bay!

I'm going to keep this short since I'm tired and my battery is dying fast. So I arived here in Doe Bay on Wednesday after having a picnic dinner on top of Mt. Constitution. The view was amazing (pictures are up on facebook). So I got settled in and set up my tent and orginized all my stuff. I got to meet some of the staff and saw who live where. It turns out I'm the only guy in tent city. The rest are cute hippie girls (this is going to be a fun summer). Thursday was my first day a work. I didn't start till 5 so I spent the day lying in the sun reading. I also met more of the staff. It was pizza night/open mic night so it was pretty busy. The shift went well and I got out at midnight and made 16 dollars in tips in addition to my pay. It was a good night.

Today I had off, so I slept in, read some more in the sun and hung out in the staff kitchen. After I made dinner for myself I went off to try out the clothing optional soaking tubs. I wore a swim suit but contimplated going naked. Maybe next time. I was surprised by the amount of naked people and most were quite good looking. All in all a good day

Tomorrow I'm going to try and hitch a ride to eastsound to go grocery shopping as I'm almost out of food and the food at the resort store is pretty pricey even with my discount. We'll see how it goes. Anyway I'm off to bed. Good night. Peace and love.

-Chris

And so it begins.

Well I'm off. We just got on the ferry and I mean we just got on. Even though we got there plenty early there was still a long line. We made it on with about 10 cars to spare. It would have sucked had we not made it since the next ferry isn't until later this evening. After a morning of packing and repacking and trying to remember all the stuff I'll need for the summer I think I got it all. I will be making a few trips back to bellingham this summer so I will be able to get stuff I may have forgotten. I just hope there's nothing too vital I forgot. We'll see when I unpack tonight :). I don't start work until tomorrow so we are going to spend the afternoon exploring the island a little. We are going to be going up mt. constitution, which is the highest peak in the san juans. I haven't been up there since I was little but I remember the view being amazing. I just relalized that I forgot my camera so I'll have to take pictures with mr droid here. I guess it's a moot point since I won't have computer accesss to upload them till I come back to town. Still it does take better pictures then my phone so I'll be sure to get it next time I'm home. I'll be sure to upload pictures to facebook. Well I'm going to sit back and enjoy the rest of the ride. We are almost to orcas anyway. Peace and love.

-Chris

I got the job!

I don't know how long I'm going to write this. I might just do it for the summer but I might continue on through going to school in Seattle at the Seattle Maritime Academy (I hope I get in). Or I might leave it up to you guys, if you want me to keep writing I will.

This weekend I went Orcas Island to visit Doe Bay resort and to apply for a job in the kitchen in the Doe Bay Cafe. I spent most of my time lying in the sun, exploring the resort and eating salmon berries (I love this time of year when the salmon berries are ripe). I worked my shift and got had a delicious breakfast out of it. I got the job; you are looking at the cafe’s newest dishwasher. As some of you may know I used to dish at Pastazza back in the day which I thoroughly enjoyed. I like being in the kitchen working around food, and the café has a great staff and a really cool atmosphere. I will be moving to Doe Bay for the summer living out of a tent in what is locally called tent city with some of the other staff members. This means a summer with no computer and no TV. I will have my phone, on which I will update this blog, so you can still get a hold of me if you want to call, text or email me. I foresee lots of reading, sitting by the beach in the sun, and hiking over the island this summer. Luckily there are lots of trails to explore so hopefully I won’t get bored.

A little about Doe Bay: it lies on the east end of the island, about a 40-50 minute drive (or 2.5 hour bike ride with lots of hills) from the ferry dock so I foresee lots of hitchhiking, bumming rides and biking this summer. There is supposedly a bus that runs over the island so hopefully I can take that too. That would make traveling to Eastsound to get groceries a lot easier. The resort is covered with cabins in which the guests stay. There are also yurts and campsites for people to stay in too so if anybody is thinking of visiting me this summer go ahead. They have a large garden which supplies fresh veggies to the cafe. Most of the food in the kitchen comes from either the garden or local farms in the islands, most of which is organic. I guess that Doe Bay is a poplar spot for weddings in the summer. That should be fun. It would be a cool place to get married.

I move out there the 23rd and start work the 24th. I’m going to try and spend my remaining time in Bellingham working on my requirements for the SMA to get my MMC. I will be making trips to Bellingham on my days off to visit family and friends and finish up my reqs for school. It’s going to be a fun summer. I’ll try and keep you updated on what I’m doing. Hope everybody is doing well. Peace.

-Chris