Theres a man on the train today who reminds me of my Gopaw. He's wearing a seamens hat, an OD green jacket, and some well loved deck shoes or topsiders
He has a whit beard, and glasses on the end of his nose and he's reading the paper (a real paper) and drinking cranberry juice and snacking on what looks like a bran muffin
I remember my grandpa in exactly the same state only we were taking the ferry to friday island
We would drive to anacortes
Catch the ferry to san juan island/friday harbor
Then walk down this ramp to a small floating dock where all the locals parked their boats, we'd get in "the alligator boat" which was almost always a beast to get started, i learned later in life these are called John boats..very low slung, flat bottomed, tin boat. There was usually a lot of us, so sometimes 2 or 3 trips would have to be made to the island. Friday Island
The house was an enormous A frame with an entire tree as the main beam..the end of the tree was carved into a happy bird totem whose wings spanned out over the deck
The deck was built AROUND another big tree which grew straight through, and far up
In front of the house was a small floating dock w a roller ramp, the kind designed so it can change angles steep to flat as the tide moved in and out, and the dock up and down
There was also a small cove that was ours
And in the center of the small cove was a rock that poked out of the water w a medium totem pole on it Gopaw had carved
We used to try and climb up to the totem when the tide would go waay out and the base of the rock was exposed
The house was an amazing island house. I remember hot cocoa in red mugs, a giant teak table w a lazy susan on it we used to spin stuff on,
The whole front of the house was windows peering out through the trees to friday harbor, it was perched high so right out the windows, you just saw water
I remember a sign in the bathroom i thought was HILARIOUS as a child
Something about 'here on the isle of sun and fun we never flush for number one'
The island had no cars..only golf carts
We walked as the golf cart was long out of service by the time we were old enough
We ate crab at least a couple times when there..had a crab feast for dinner..the crab and melted butter and discarded shells spinning around the table all rich and funky smelling
It was super toasty in there w a big fireplace
The island was heavily treed, the ground was mostly pine needles and the salt air smell was in everything
I remember being on the ferry, the weather was frequently horrible when we went to the island..i remember being so excited..i LOVED the island. Loved sleeping in the same room with all of my cousins
Loved my grandpa..how heroic he was in my eyes captaining the fussy alligator boat back and forth to ferry all the grandkids to the house, he knew how to do EVERYTHING, and would frequently aid us in our grand schemes to catch a million shrimp or crabs. Anyway..my hands are cramping!
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