My Most Magical Place

After Bear Lake, we quickly made our way back up to the Northwest, where the weather had warmed considerably since we were last there just a month prior.

Our path from Bear Lake, Idaho to Anacortes, WA (where we get on a boat to the island) is well known by even little Elsie. We’ve driven it probably 13 or 14 times, so we have our favorite places to camp and eat.

Once we leave the long expanse of Southern Idaho and get over the Blue Mountains, we are all in a great mood because we have SO many favorite places along the Columbia River Gorge that we like to stay. This time we stayed at Deschutes River campground, where we have stayed four or five times I think. Wundebar! Seriously, though… one of the best drives in the world through that Columbia River Gorge and then up through Washington. We’ve also done a bunch of the other routes, like through Yakima, around the base of Mount Rainier, and even up through Montana and over, but we just keep coming back to the Gorge. Check out last year’s post for more photos if you aren’t convinced…

Anyway, we were all overly delighted to finally make it up to Anacortes and meet my dad on the dock. Blakely is my most magical place. It’s the one constant location I’ve had my whole life. My parents honeymooned there. I went up most summers of my childhood and all summer, every summer after my parents bought their own house there when I was in 7th grade. I worked in the marina every summer as a teenager. My friends came and visited and we had the most memorable times. When Jonah and I were dating, he came up and fell in love with the island too. He proposed to me there on New Years’ Eve 1999. We’ve only missed a couple summers up there because we just can’t stay away. We all love it, and I’m glad my kids have the same stars in their eyes for the place.

(FYI: Blakely is the sixth largest island (about 6.5 square miles) in the San Juan Islands near the ocean border between the U.S. and Canada. There are rarely more than five or six people who live there year round, but in the summer, the population can bloom to 60 or 100 or maybe more, but it doesn’t seem like it. The unique aspect of Blakely that keeps it so magical is that you can only access the island if you are a property owner or the guest of a property owner (and there are only 163 home sites and less than half of them actually have homes). There is no ferry service, only a marina and a small airstrip. Most of the homes are located on the north end of the island, with about 20(?) homesites on the far southern end. The rest is old, wonderful, tall, misty, mossy, magical, rich Northwest forest and two fresh water lakes with trout and bass. Despite the charm and uniqueness of the island, the homes are actually very affordable, though there is rarely much for sale. Everyone knows each other and there is an extended family feel to the community there. Most of the homes are in their original 1960s state, and most people drive classic old 4x4s. Some of us also drive ATVs around (like my sister and I, heck yeah!).)

I think Jonah got the kids out crabbing within 15 minutes of landfall. He didn’t have much success this year, and although it is a lot easier to throw the boat in the water up on Blakely, he was definitely missing the bounty of the Dungeness Spit in Sequim.

He had a few good crab though, so don’t feel too bad for us. Mmmmm. Fresh Dungeness crab…. nothing like it.

Po definitely caught the Blakely fever. No seatbelts?! Beaches?! Swimming?! Frogs?! Four wheeler rides?!?

HECK YES!!

Look at this friendly little butterfly that made friends with Po. Po did a good job being gentle so the butterfly fortunately survived the visit.

Here’s a great old photo my dad’s photo of us three kids out on the lake. I think he and my mom were pulling us behind the little aluminum dinghy with an electric fishing motor, for which I’m fairly impressed.

It was so great to have my dad around for almost the 10 days since he usually can only stay for the weekends because of work. The kids totally delight in his funny antics, and are always willing to join him for a dance party in the garage.

We were also lucky because my grandma Noni was at her house up there for the whole summer too (she lives and works in Reno the rest of the year). She lives in a darling house down on the water and runs her business from a little “lighthouse” loft in the second story. She’s a pilot and boat captain. She runs a mining company. She’s got the most incredible memory and all sorts of wonderful stories to tell of her amazing life thus far.  And she plays a mean game of Speed Solitaire.  What a cool grandma, eh? She was also the only one who had a TV to watch the Olympics on, so we spend a lot of time over there. There she is in the background, and in the foreground is Po “torturing” Noni’s dog Tikka. (Tikka was actually somewhat enamored with Po too, and they got along great.) Po still names her toys and dolls after Tikka.

Side note: Po’s current dolls’ names are Boobah, Bahbee, Bobby (another Blakely name… the name of the ghost on the upper island… she heard us telling ghost stories and liked the name I guess), and Tikka.

And then we were quadruple-y lucky because it was my great-grandma Meme’s 97th (right, Meme? Oh wait, or are you still 68?) Birthday! She came up to the island as well as Noni’s sister Pam and her husband Larry and their three sons (whom are around my age, so they are actually more my cousins than my dad’s. Sorry dad. We claim them down in this generation)

Here is Noni, Meme, and Pam (we did get a big picture of all the ladies there, but I look pretty crazy in it, so I will not be sharing it here….)

And all the guys-- Larry, Matt, Chad, Justin, and my dad… then Cam and Meme of course.

Meme is such a wonderful lady and a great example to us all. Besides being in amazing health and not even needing glasses (though she does have a little hearing aid, but don’t tell her I told you that), she is still just a fire cracker. She’ll stay up later than anyone else, after beating everyone in cards. She still looks the same as when I was born. She knows all my kids and has fun long conversations with them and even got caught carrying Po (heaviest baby ever) around the house. She still drives! She also still lived alone in her own home in Eastern Washington until two years ago because she wanted to be closer to Pam on this side of the Cascades, so she moved into a “cruise ship on land” Senior Condo building…  she said she really likes it, except that everyone is so old (actually, she’s the oldest one there!). She’s even the lady that gives tours to the potential new residents. What a lady. She’s always classy and kind and fun—she’s a great example to everyone of growing old with grace and pizzazz.

And here’s another picture of a picture of Noni and her three sons (my dad has on that great Supersonics shirt) and my late grandpa Papo.

Lots of fun memories made while hanging out at Noni’s…

Cam also had a great time running my dad’s excavator (in his wetsuit to boot).

But my dad still had to do the skilled work. Cam looked on and learned what he could so he can someday take the controls as the oldest Fegert grandson. Heavy equipment is a very, very important part of being a Fegert. In fact, the only artwork my dad ever made was a painting of a scraper.

And of course, we got in our time at the lake.

The little frogs were in full force, so even our non-swimmer Elsie had plenty to keep her occupied.

For as girly-girl as Elsie is, she really has taken after me in the non-squeemish department. She not only caught and released about 100 frogs all on her own, but she also took a couple frogs and baited her own fish hook which was even too gruesome for me. What a girl!

On one of the nights when my dad was down in Vegas for work, we “forced” Noni to come up to the Peak with us to watch the sunset. It’s always magical, and this was no exception.

And finally I got to the picture of my cousin Samantha. We were SO fortunate that she came up for the whole time while we were there!!! Sam’s 10 years younger than me and about three inches taller too. She’s just always been one of my favorite people in the whole world, and that’s not just because of our close relation. She’s always a delight and has the most inspiring outlook on life, even after all the hardships she’s had. She is so good with with my kids too, so it was fun to let them all have some good quality time together. She and Ana especially butt heads/get along/play lots of cards together.

Here’s Ana with her annual Blakely Peak Kill as Much Moss as Possible to Make a Teepee photo.

The kids also have some good friends to play with on the island, so it’s fun to reconnect with them. In fact, I think Cam and Siggy shot about 500 BBs while we were there.

One more shot of Po and Tikka.

Ana learning to drive (since all the roads are private, we don’t have to abide by any traffic laws. welcome to anarchy).

Po on the beach by the old house (we were staying at my dad’s new house, which is actually just the temporary house while the old house gets remodeled, which hasn’t actually started yet, but it should be done around 2019).

Purple starfish abound during low tide.

We tried to help my dad and his wife get a handle on the gardens over at the old house (partly to help out, partly because we love being outside over there), but after four days of weeding, it felt a little helpless. But, endless weeding is a Blakely tradition, so we were glad to keep the flame alive.

Ana insisted that she and Papa have a little grandaughter-Papa date on the four wheeler up to the peak.

My cousin Sam right before she had to leave the island and go back to Northern California for work and school. We miss her so much. We think she’s fit in perfect on Maui… especially with that fanny pack there. I don’t remember getting the memo that those are back in style, but Sloan has one too, so maybe I just need to get with it.

And no, we didn’t kayak off the island, but we did have some great kayak excursions, though I’ve yet to circumvent the island with Jonah. He does it every couple years, but I’m always too much of a weenie. I’m totally doing it next year though… you all need to hold me to it.

(My kids at the park back in Anacortes, waiting for me to get the cold diesel motor going in my car.)

It was so sad to leave the island, but we are ever grateful that we can always look forward to next year. Thanks again Dad, Roxanne, Noni and everyone else who hosted us!

And if my super long, incredibly wordy, overly mushy write-up about Blakely wasn’t enough, here are some of the past blog posts about it. I am not blind to the fact that I pretty much say almost the exact same things every year about our trip to Blakely, but just think of it as a tradition instead of a broken record.  Hopefully we will get to share it with you in person someday!

Blakely 2008

Blakely 2009

Blakely 2010

Blakely 2011