Reflections on #tentlife

i lived in a tent for five months

Today I left San Juan island for the summer and it felt very final. Summers like this drag on forever, from early May then a breakneck pace from July to September, barely time to breathe— then they come to a screeching halt. 

It seemed like fall was miles away just a week ago— then Leah left for the summer. Leah left, Andy and I guided one last trip together and it was dark so early, and it felt like summer but it also didn’t, and when we got back it was time to leave. 

There are parts of the San Juans I really love— the way the red madrona trees spiral towards the sun, the bright sea stars decorating the seawall, the sound of orcas breathing, the slick bodies of harbor porpoises, the tidal currents rushing around the islands turning the whole ocean into a turbulent river. But there are other parts I don’t. 

moments from the last trip of the summer

I don’t love San Juan island itself the way I loved Bayfield, Wisconsin, or Grand Marais or Two Harbors. I’m a midwest girl, and I really do belong along Lake Superior. Those people are my people. 

I don’t love island life in general— everything is relaxed in a way that I am simply not. I get up early and like to get things done. I like efficiency and (despite being a “dirty hippie vagabond” lol) am pretty driven. 

Oh, and I lived in a tent all summer, an REI Wonderland 6 person with the porch attachment from the beginning of May until yesterday.

Here’s how it went:

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