Summer. We got away. Toward the smoke from fires in British Columbia and the Sourdough Mountain fire in the North Cascades, which closed Highway 20. Leaving Seattle, the Washington smoke blog was showing Winthrop, our destination, in solid red, with an AQI (air quality index) that had encouragingly dropped below 200—which means “Unhealthy!” The fires were still burning, no rain in sight. But we had a housesitter arriving to care for our cat, and we had hope.
I have friends who’ve gone to the same place every year for many years. Lyn’s family always went and still goes to Paw Paw Lake in Michigan, where I remember the water as clear, clean, and crisp from my time there. Debbie and Ken go to an island in Maine, sweeping the dust of winter away as they arrive. My dancing friend Thern remembers summering in their cabin on Thomas Lake in northern Minnesota. Jake’s family went south from Boston every year, to a cottage in Green Harbor a block from the beach.
When I was a kid, we went to the family farm near Crystal Lake in Illinois, where my aunt, uncle, and cousins lived year-round. We kids were there for days at a time, eating fresh-picked corn on the cob and riding the tracker with my Uncle John as he cut alfalfa to feed the cows.
Our own family getaway—2023 being our 17th—has moved from year to year. My mother was with us for the first four, three times near the windy beaches of Ocean Shores and once in the sun near Lake Chelan, where we bought her water shoes so she could step into the lake, so cold and stony-bottomed. She lay back in an inner tube with her granddaughter holding her hand. She didn’t stay long but she was happy, still so game, in her 80s.
Most of our destinations have been inside Washington State—Lake Chelan, Hood Canal, Ocean Shores, Plain, Gold Bar, Stanwood, and Whidbey Island. Occasionally we’ve gone farther afield, one year to Bend, OR; another to Park City, UT; another to Glenwood Springs, CO where we scattered my parents’ ashes.
Leaving for Winthrop this year, we packed 5 air cleaners and a pile of games, with the possibility that we’d spend the week indoors, shut away from the smoke. Happily, by the time we arrived, the AQI in Winthrop was lower than in Seattle, and it kept dropping. We walked the boardwalk, ate ice cream, swam in Pearrygin Lake—and played games, inside and out.
One week—short and quick—but long on memories. We’re home again now, waiting for rain and preparing for one more cruising getaway. Weather permitting.
Did you get away? Do tell!
Lovely post, Meg. Makes me homesick for Washington state. Cheers from Manila! Reni
thanks for writing. Nice to hear about you and your friends - brings up a bit of nostalgia - have not created vacations with adult children/family and in this life i have moved so much and "work" and immediate family times was my focus - so missing many friends - (next life i'll stay more connected with friends) . blessings be- and glad the smoke and fires had passed by the time of your vacation.