My admin assistant ordered me to go to the San Juans for the weekend.
She was right. I've been very, very stressed out. I had to go to an event in Seattle last night, so I got up early this morning, made some coffee, jumped in the car and headed for Anacortes.
Mostly today I read and slept. 3-hour nap this afternoon. It's one of those things where you don't realize exactly how far off from normal you are until you extract yourself from the situation.
Washington State Ferries is running a weird ferry schedule in the San Juans this winter. Normally they run essentially the same schedule every day with only minor variations, and it's pretty close to the same year round, though the winter is slow season and they cut back a little. Well, this year they cut back a lot -- thanks to our good friend Tim Eyman and his assault on transportation funding in this state. No Anacortes/Sydney ferry during the winter, and no inter-island ferry either (leaving the inter-island ferry parked all weekend right outside my window). Since they are running fewer ferries, they alternate between "express" and "all stop" routes -- either going directly between Friday Harbor and Anacortes, or stopping at every single island. Which means that the ferry either takes 65 minutes or two and a half hours. Looks like I may be getting up early tomorrow morinng so that I can catch an express...
I really like Friday Harbor this time of year. It's a complete ghost town. Almost all locals. I was walking down the street this afternoon when a nice couple asked me where the Starbucks was. I chuckled and explained that there wasn't one, though there were 3-4 very nice coffee shops that make a great espresso... they said that the map very clearly showed a Starbucks. They pulled it out and handed it to me, pointing to where it was supposed to be. I looked at the map... it said "Stairway." We all got a nice laugh out of that and they went off happy in search of one of the local coffee shops.
Everyone smiles and is friendly here. I wish more people were like that in Seattle. This is the hardest time of year in Seattle; the days are so short (though thankfully getting longer) and the skies are so dark and grey. Even the people who aren't suffering from Seasonal Affective Disorder are moody. Including me, if I trust my admin (and I do).
10:57:43 PM  ; ;
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