When we last heard from our intrepid Substitute Innkeepers, Mark was heading to town to buy ice cream. I am sorry to say, the selection is… sub-par. He came home with Tillamook vanilla, which, well, Tillamook is a lovely Oregon institution, and I have been to the ice creamery and enjoyed it, and their cheese is very nice, but…no. This packaged ice cream will not do, and it wasn’t even very cheap.
So, we have one of our Mainland Agents on the case. She has seen ice cream makers at several secondhand stores in Anacortes, and will search for one before coming out for Thanksgiving next week. Who knew this would be the biggest challenge of island living?
Anyway, I digress. I was going to tell you about the terrifying thing that happened while we were eating our sub-par ice cream. We were in the living room, Mark had just lit the fire, I looked over his shoulder–and a huge black dog was staring in the front window.
Now, the Real Innkeepers have a black dog, but he went on vacation with them.
I went to the door; the dog was alone, and friendly, and soaking wet (it was a dark and stormy night). He had a collar but no tags. I tried to invite him in (as this is a pet-friendly inn), but he wasn’t interested. So we closed the door, leaving him outside–and he kept staring in the window, and scratching on the door, and whining…
Eventually we called the innkeepers, wondering if they knew the dog. Indeed they did; and a few phone calls later, the dog’s mommy was on her way over–from quite a distance, actually.
And I did finally manage to coax him in, and gave him some water and a biscuit or two. He was very polite and sat when I told him to, and all that, but was clearly confused about where he was (and probably about who we were). When his mommy got here, he was OH MY GOD SO HAPPY SO RELIEVED WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN OH MY GOD!
So that happened. All in all, one of my happier encounters with dogs I don’t know. One time I ended up entangled in a situation where someone was bit by a dog, and I just happened to be there. Next thing I know I got a call from a dog bite attorney, asking me if I would be willing to provide a statement and be available as a witness in the case. Frankly I felt bad for the dog because I know what can happen if they deem the dog aggressive or something, without really understanding or caring to understand dog behavior. It was with that in mind that I declined wholeheartedly. They never contacted me again.
And then today, the sun came out, and I said MARK WE ARE GOING FOR A HIKE I DON’T CARE WHAT YOU SAY. He tried to derail me with brilliant theories about how we should drive around the island instead, or it’s going to be even sunnier tomorrow, or I don’t even know what, but I was having none of it, so hiking we went.
A short distance from the inn is this lovely trailhead, that takes you very quickly up to some marvelous views. It’s kind of hard to tell from this picture, but in the immediate distance is the last part of Orcas Island, just past Massacre Bay; the next land after that is San Juan Island; the little scrap of land in the very distance (that you almost can’t see in the picture but you totally can in real life) is Canada. Victoria, specifically.
And yes, it was a truly gorgeous day.
Here’s the marina we see part of from the inn’s front windows:
The moss was so gorgeous.
I put most of these photos on Facebook as well, but here I can actually explain what they are. Yeah, I am no good at Facebook. But hey.
Oh and Mark thoroughly enjoyed the hike of course. He took like eight thousand photos.
Yes, that’s his phone in his hand, ready to take another picture.
And that’s today’s Remote Island News!