Perspective

I remember the first time that I saw the shore of San Juan from a boat. I squinted to try to get a closer image of the houses that I had only seen from driveways in my car. How different everything looked from the water! Homes with docks and boat moorings and front patios on the water side seemed to have a secret life on the side that faced the Salish Sea. Long and winding wooded driveways visible from the interior of the island led to sparkling shiny homes with boats at the ready to escape to Canada’s Gulf Islands or over to Fisherman’s Bay on Lopez with the crab pot for a dinner on the deck. Looking up, I could see homes on hilltops that would have spectacular views of the Olympic Mountains and passing pods of whales, little kayaks, even me, a spec looking to the sky. I remembered this time recently when a real estate client who lived on a boat told me how different San Juan seemed to her from a car. She had no idea of the lovely farmland on the interior, no feeling for the difference between topography and climate on the north verses the south end of the island. She marveled at the limited amount of traffic and the friendly drivers. Thee two huge National Parks were amazing resources. She felt that what had seemed like a small port was actually a large, varied island with many choices of residence. She thought that this was where she should stay.