When: April 2016
Where: Ebey’s Landing
With: my parents
What: walking
Accompaniment: Stonefist by Health
Whidbey Island is a place I feel I could live, every time I visit. There’s a vibe to the place that just feels right, even though I’ve frankly explored very little of the island and spent little time there.
Whatever it is, I keep coming back to Ebey’s Landing. I first came here on a field trip in college, exploring Washington’s different ecosystems, and I’ve been making my way back every couple years over the last decade plus. On the coast of the island, looking across the Sound to the Olympics on a clear day, the trail follows the windswept bluff, then drops down to the rocky beach. I’ve never even walked the whole loop, but it’s a special place to me.
Over the years, there are a handful of places I’ve visited where I’ve gotten this sense, I could live here. Even if I know there are practical impediments, like winter weather, politics, and distance, that mean I probably wouldn’t actually want to live there. Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Montreal in Quebec, Delphi in Greece, Göreme in Turkey, Arthur’s Pass in New Zealand. It’s kind of fun, if sometimes tinged with melancholy for lives not lived, to know that there are many places you could feel at home in the world. I’m not sure what causes this affinity to places we know only for hours or days at a time, but I won’t deny the feeling, no matter how true or false it is.
Where’s somewhere you felt at home right away?
Share your story in the comments!
