Places to Go, People to Meet: Back to Orcas

click photo for panarama

Cheryl and I had planned on going to Portland for a music festival last weekend, but after we got back from our day trip to Fairhaven via Chuckanut Drive last month, we were so enamored with our beautiful Pacific Northwest coastline, that we totally changed our plan and decided to go back to Orcas Island instead for some island relaxation. This time, instead of just eating at the Doe Bay Café, we stayed in a cabin at the Doe Bay Resort. "Resort" is an odd choice of wording for this place but I'd be hard-pressed to come up with a better one. "Camp-o-rama" is the only thing that comes to mind and that might look funny on the signage. Doe Bay Resort is a spectacular piece of property on the east side of Orcas Island. You get off the ferry, drive along a winding country road, through the town of Eastsound, past horse pastures, through Moran State Park, past Cascade Lake, and end up on a bluff with cabins, campsites, yurts, geodesic domes, a fine-dining restaurant, a beautiful "spa" with three soaking tubs overlooking the water (clothing optional; I opted to wear a swimsuit), a small general store, a communal kitchen, warm showers, and clean bathrooms.

our little cabin in the woods

Our cabin was called Lower Satva and it was at the end of a U-shaped dirt road with campsites on either side and just one other cabin if you didn't count the Upper Satva cabin, which was connected to ours, duplex-style. We never saw the inhabitants of Upper Satva, but we are fairly certain that they were a family of clog-dancers who were traveling with a herd of Clydesdales. The cabins are tiny, primitive wood structures (no bathrooms or kitchens but two nice beds, a futon, and a small table) and Upper and Lower Satva each had lofts. The stairs up the loft were planks that made a RACKET when you climbed up, and the Upper Satva folks seemed to come and go late at night and spent an inordinate amount of time clomping up and down the stairs and moving furniture in a manner which made it sound like we were next door to Santa's workshop. I swear they were building furniture in there at 11pm both nights. I didn't really mind that much, though. My only goal for the weekend was to catch up on my New Yorkers, and I accomplished that; the first night in bed tucked up in my little loft, and the second day first sitting out on the bluff and reading during the moments when I could tear myself away from the view. And while we said the word "hike" a few times, we didn't actually take one. We had dinner at the Café the first night and at a spectacular pizza at Hogstone's Wood Oven in Eastsound the second night. I made my coffee and breakfast in the communal kitchen both mornings and then sat on the bluff looking at the sailboats moored off Doe Bay; we hit the soaking tubs both nights before going to bed - it was a gorgeous weekend.