1/ Zach, trying to stay warm in the rain w/ Corndog + Coffee 2/ Picnic Table at our Hiker-Biker Campsite on Whidbey Island
SEATTLE--Friday June 21:
If the Southwest was Life Affirming because it’s possible to survive there;
the Northwest is Life Affirming because life thrives here:
The Southwest was dusty and reflective, dry and hot; the Northwest is a cool and moist, a green light-sink. It’s all shadows and moss and dappled sunlight streaming through branches. It’s sweaters and tea and silver-gray skies. It’s bookstores and rain and Doc Martins. If the Southwest was Copperheads and Dust-Devils; the Northwest is Eagles and Salmon and rain.
If the Southwest was hot sun baking the tent in the morning; the Northwest is condensation in the tent in the morning. If the Southwest was the perfect Taco and a turquoise earring; then the Northwest is the perfect Espresso and a plaid button-up shirt. If the Southwest air smelled of Poderosa Linen and melting tar; then the Nortwest smells of musky dirt and roadside berries the size of your thumb. The Southwest was a Toyota Tacoma with a Cap On, gray hair, and biking 60 miles without a water-stop; the Northwest is a Cadet-Blue Volvo, pink hair, and biking 70 miles in the pouring rain.
The desert left me parched and thirsty and here I feel no need to drink. I love both environs in their way, but water WATER WATER, it’s the stuff of life. I’m a Northern girl. I like moisture. I feel relieved to be in a place like this.