Seals and Acrobats

Day 4: Lopez Island. Perfect weather. More food heaven. Not being dumb, we stayed. It's saturday, so farmer's market has its weekly opportunity to show that all an island needs is one of everything. One coffee roaster, one uber baker dude, one copper tinkerer, one butcher man or butcher lady. You got everything you need. We rode south to shark reef cove with local tomatoes, goat cheese, basil, and fermented rye bread. Bikes ditched, we hiked out to the reef through old growth forest and soupy 11am fog. Out at the tidepools, harbor seals rested in this weird yoga pose where their head and feet were clear off the ground, some swam, little miny harbor seals scooted about like little sea sausages, the fog waxed and waned until whole other islands appeared out of the mist, and our lunch ingredients assembled themselves into certfiable sandwiches of the gods. The Samish Indians of this area might have regarded this sandwich. Rounded out by marion berries from another organic farm along the road. (This is how it works: the cupboard is loaded, you just fill the coffee can with the appropriate amount. It's like a tip jar gig for farmers.) In the afternoon we sped up the pace, pedaled to the south-eastern tip of the island, then back in time to watch the Wanatchee Youth Circus' 6pm outside performance in Lopez village (see photo). The acrobats were 3 to 18. A four year-old walked the tightrope (with spotting). A ten year-old got her foot stuck in a looped piece of rope halfway through her routine and the pre-recorded music ended before she could be coached free. Two very long minutes elapsed. It was an instruction in grace. There were more thrills than an actual polished circus performance and this led to an exciting but perhaps more queasy and white-knuckled audience experience than normal. Afterwards I checked out the circus' unusual jerry-rigged instruments. I sounded like an accidental Ed Hamell joke when i asked if i could photograph their organ. More camping at the Spit.