ÿþ<html> <head> <title>Robison Wells</title> <body> <body background="/images/blog/blog background.gif"> <table class="home_table" cellspacing="18"> <tr> <td valign="top" colspan="2" align="center"><img src="/images/blog/blog header.gif"></td></tr> <tr> <td width="300" valign="top"> <table cellspacing="0"> <tr><td><a href="/"><img border="0" src="/images/blog/home.gif"></a></td> </tr> <tr><td><a href="/books.php"><img border="0" src="/images/blog/books.gif"></a></td></tr><tr><td><a href="/articles.php"><img border="0" src="/images/blog/articles.gif"></a></td></tr><tr><td><a href="/questions.php"><img border="0" src="/images/blog/questions.gif"></a></td></tr><tr><td><a href="/about.php"><img border="0"src="/images/blog/about.gif"></a></td></tr> <tr><td><a href="/links.php"><img border="0" src="/images/blog/links.gif"></a></td></tr> <table cellspacing="10"><table cellpadding="10"> <tr><td><img src="/images/sji/maus2.gif"></td></tr> <tr><td><img src="/images/sji/holly.gif"></td></tr> <tr><td><img src="/images/sji/roche.gif"></td></tr> <tr> </tr> <tr><td colspan="2"><br><br><br><br></td></tr> </table> </td> <td width="700" valign="top"> <div id="desc"> <br> <br> <br> </body> </html> <b><big><u>Travel Log: Fact-Finding in the San Juan Islands</u></big></b><bR><bR> <b><big>Day Four:</big></b><bR><bR> <dd> This morning I ditched the family, because they were crampin my style. I left the hotel at about 8:00am (though I don t really know whether that was Pacific time or Mountain), and I immediately headed off in the wrong direction. Like I said, I can t tell directions without landmarks, and using the water as a landmark (which I was doing) is a pretty moronic idea. (The sun was hidden by fog, so I couldn t use that as a landmark  besides, I d learned yesterday that the sun rises in the south-west here, so it can t be trusted. At least, I <i>swear</I> that was south-west.) <br><br> <dd> So, I headed south when I wanted to be heading north. Fortunately, the island is small, and you can t get too far off course. I turned around when I hit the water, and checked a map, and popped Jim Croce s Greatest Hits into the CD player.<br><bR> <dd> A raccoon scampered out in front of the car, and I almost ran him over. Fortunately, he was quick, despite being big and fat.<br><bR> <dd> I tried to stop at the Lime Kiln State Park, but they wanted to charge me five bucks for parking, and there was no way I was going to pay five bucks. So I continued on north toward Roche Harbor. I wanted to check the area around the Mausoleum (I mentioned that yesterday, remember?), so I wandered around on roads that said  Private Drive  Residents Only . I drove on several of these roads, and though I didn t see anyone get offended by my presence, I m sure someone did. Maybe it s because I was blasting  Bad Bad Leroy Brown .<bR><br> <dd> My next stop was a little foot trail above Roche Harbor, where I d been told (erroneously) that there were some lime kilns. I chased a deer around for a while, and hiked the whole loop, and went to the scenic overlook, and I discovered that the trail didn t really go anywhere, and there were no lime kilns, and the scenic overlook didn t give you much of a view of anything. Or maybe I just expect too much.<bR><bR> <dd> So I went down to the Lime Creek Café, and ate breakfast, and watched CNN. They were interviewing Orrin Hatch, which I thought was a huge coincidence because, like, he s from Utah, and I M from Utah, too! What a small world.<bR><bR> <dd> I chatted with the cashier, who gave me some useful info and a copy of the menu.<br><bR> <dd> Finally, I went to the Hotel De Haro again, for the purpose of asking one simple question. I had been told (erroneously again  and by the same spreader of lies) that the Hotel De Haro had no phones in the rooms, and I wanted to know where the nearest payphones would be, if you were a guest in the hotel.<br><bR> <dd> So I walked on in, and talked to the woman behind the desk, whose name was Berit because her parents were mean.<Br><br> <dd> ME: I have a question. The rooms don t have phones, right?<br> <dd> BERIT: Uh... I think they have phones... Yeah, they have phones.<bR> <dd> ME: Really? I d been told that they didn t.<bR> <dd> BERIT: They do have phones.<bR> <dd> ME: Do you mind if I go look in one of the rooms?<bR> <dd> BERIT: <i>[getting suspicious]</I> There s a payphone down here you can use.<bR><br> <dd> So I had to explain that I was not trying to make a phone call on the hotel s tab, and that I only wanted to look at the phone, not use it. I don t think she entirely believed me, but she let me upstairs anyway. I looked really quick and then hurried back downstairs, trying to prove that I was not up to something.<bR><br> <dd> In the afternoon, I went back to the hotel, and the rest of the family took the ferry over to Orcas Island. I made a couple of stops  one to the drugstore to buy a pair of nail clippers, because I was going insane, and another stop to the antique store below the hotel, because I wanted to ask a couple of questions and look around. The rest of the afternoon I spent writing.<bR><br> <dd> And then the family came home and we ate lasagna, and then we watched <i>Beauty and the Beast</i>, because Holly is the boss. She also sat backwards on a chair until it tipped over and she crashed to the floor and cried and cried. But she was fine.<bR><bR> <dd> And then I wrote all night, and I m pleased with the results.<bR><bR> <dd> Fewer pictures today: 64, I think, which puts me at 354 for the week.<br><bR> <br><br><br><br><u><small>All material on this site is copyrighted by Robison E. Wells, 2004.</small></u> </td> </tr> </table> <script src="http://www.google-analytics.com/urchin.js" type="text/javascript"> </script> <script type="text/javascript"> _uacct = "UA-668697-1"; urchinTracker(); </script> </body> </html>