Now that I'm living in the state of Washington, summer has become my favorite season, as it was growing up in Ohio. I've been working on my new book about my childhood in Ohio, and remembering lazy summer days when I loved to lay on the grass and stare at the sky. For the past twenty-five years, though, I've lived in the Bahamas, Mexico, Belize, Guatemala and later in South Florida and New Orleans. When we sailed to Guatemala for hurricane season, it was so hot and humid that I lay down for two days after our arrival, unable to move; in Merida, Mexico, the only way we could go outside during the midday heat was to cling to the sides of buildings while advancing crab-like in narrow slices of shade; in New Orleans, I barely left my apartment in August.
A couple weeks ago, I drove with a friend to the Olympic Peninsula, which consists mostly of a national park with spectacular trails, a rain forest, and rugged beaches. It's across Puget Sound from Seattle, and at sunset, we sat on the porch of our cottage overlooking Puget Sound and gaped at Mount Rainier glowing red, and Seattle's sparkling skyline. It was a perfect summer escape.
I hope you've all had a chance to escape for a bit this summer. And as for capers, I hope you've had a few of those, too!
If you want to find out more about our sailing voyage when we left everything behind and sailed away to the Caribbean, go here.