Run Away
(Big sigh)
I ran away last weekend. I really needed it, too. Lira and I are alike in that. In Chicago for too long, and I start percieving people as 'Others'. So I went looking for some place that was on the low end of population. Had to have trees. Someplace where I could cocoon myself in self-imposed isolation and quiet.
After a month of searching for something either cheap enough to fly to or close enough to drive to, I decided on Washington Island, Wi. Yes, an island. In Wisconsin. It was pretty bizarre getting there. I drove through typical Wisconsin farmland, and then suddenly near the end in Door County, it became this dot-by-dot nostalgic-feeling ports of harbor towns. Lake Michigan could very well be called an ocean up there, with all those ships still sunk at the bottom. Marinas and boats, amazing little towns above. Wisconsin is the state where I feel Home, but this was not the Wisconsin I know!
To get to the island, I had to put my car on a ferry. I had an urge to sit there on the top viewing platform and just laugh. But there were people there. And the island is small. I did not want to be pointed out as the crazy laughing lady from the ferry.
Washington Island was perfect. I could pick out locals because they waved if I happened to actually pass their car on the road, and they smiled and said hello if I came across them in person. It became mostly Wisconsin again on the island. Sometimes I saw the lake, but mostly it was farms and trees. Lots and lots of trees :)
The plan was to stay in a hotel as I don't have access to my camping gear, but I ended up only being able to camp. No other vacancies! It was a scramble to buy what I needed, but I got myself a hammock and new self-inflating mattress out of it, and the new tent turned out to be pretty nice.
There is something oddly empowering about successfully making a fire for yourself at night. No matter what I've accomplish in my day job or at home, having a fire spark to life by my own intention and effort filled me with more pride than I'd felt in too long. I saw a quote the other day "Don't fashion me into a maiden that needs saving from the dragon. I am the dragon, and I will eat you whole." This was something of what I felt watching that fire grow: so many people upset that I would camp or road trip alone......oh, but I can get a fire going. Going back to basics, here, and I so needed it. Lira was there, smiling and sharing my pride. "They need acid in their bellies or spells, but women create all on their own." I'd taken the boys camping outside of Mount Rushmore a few years ago and a boy had wandered into our campsite one night and just stared at me. He couldn't figure out what I was doing. 'I'm starting a fire,' I told him. Just arranging the wood, shredding some newspaper, and, ok, maybe whispering a prayer. Which is not how his dad does it. His dad just pours a whole lot of lighter fluid on the wood and then lights it. I'm not a survivalist, so my method isn't super-skilled or complicated, but that was pretty hysterical. Hence the chapter where Lira needed to start one on her own, without the natural-born firestarter's or the magically-inclined demon's help.
I woke up in the middle of the night and would step out of my tent and stare up at the stars. That far north, and it was almost like Montana. Swirls and stars and I'm pretty sure I was able to find Venus there. The moon was waning and it was quiet and there were trees.
This was my kitchen and my window view. And I ate my meals with this tree. She had carvings on her trunk and some bark peeled away. There was trash spewed around from the people before me, and cigarrettes left on the ground. She was my watching
Dryad
. 
From this island, I took a second ferry to Rock Island State Park. Yes, another island! In Wisconsin! The whole endeavor further reiterated my old thought that I need to live on an island. That's probably where I belong. I spent over three hours hiking the perimeter. I did not go adequately prepared. I forgot how the water speaks and how- like a siren- invites you for a swim. The water was so clear it was nearly invisible. And cool, not shivery cold, but invitingly cool and lovely. I waded in to my knees and stood there for a long time, really, really wanting to keep going.
But the last ferry out was at four, and there was more to see.
Or find. I looked up at one point and was shocked to find myself in RMOS, in the place where Blaze was found. It was exactly like I had envisioned it: evergreen trees with absolutely no green on the ground, which was made entirely of fallen needles and branches and was brown. Just as I had written. It felt like a web of branches. It bounced when you stepped and seemed to be suspended, as if a wrong step would send you crashing through a forgotten cavern.
And then, just ahead, the rest of the forest began again. Regular seasonal trees with sunlight streaming down and a boundary of green and life.
It was a great run-away. I even saw two snakes on that hike! Two! Which is part of my point system. The other is dragonflies, of course. I snap so many pictures of them. Think I'll put my pictures all together and add a gallery to the website because, well, dragonflies!. But here are two of my favorite from last weekend. Goodnight! 
I ran away last weekend. I really needed it, too. Lira and I are alike in that. In Chicago for too long, and I start percieving people as 'Others'. So I went looking for some place that was on the low end of population. Had to have trees. Someplace where I could cocoon myself in self-imposed isolation and quiet.
After a month of searching for something either cheap enough to fly to or close enough to drive to, I decided on Washington Island, Wi. Yes, an island. In Wisconsin. It was pretty bizarre getting there. I drove through typical Wisconsin farmland, and then suddenly near the end in Door County, it became this dot-by-dot nostalgic-feeling ports of harbor towns. Lake Michigan could very well be called an ocean up there, with all those ships still sunk at the bottom. Marinas and boats, amazing little towns above. Wisconsin is the state where I feel Home, but this was not the Wisconsin I know!
To get to the island, I had to put my car on a ferry. I had an urge to sit there on the top viewing platform and just laugh. But there were people there. And the island is small. I did not want to be pointed out as the crazy laughing lady from the ferry.
Washington Island was perfect. I could pick out locals because they waved if I happened to actually pass their car on the road, and they smiled and said hello if I came across them in person. It became mostly Wisconsin again on the island. Sometimes I saw the lake, but mostly it was farms and trees. Lots and lots of trees :)
The plan was to stay in a hotel as I don't have access to my camping gear, but I ended up only being able to camp. No other vacancies! It was a scramble to buy what I needed, but I got myself a hammock and new self-inflating mattress out of it, and the new tent turned out to be pretty nice. There is something oddly empowering about successfully making a fire for yourself at night. No matter what I've accomplish in my day job or at home, having a fire spark to life by my own intention and effort filled me with more pride than I'd felt in too long. I saw a quote the other day "Don't fashion me into a maiden that needs saving from the dragon. I am the dragon, and I will eat you whole." This was something of what I felt watching that fire grow: so many people upset that I would camp or road trip alone......oh, but I can get a fire going. Going back to basics, here, and I so needed it. Lira was there, smiling and sharing my pride. "They need acid in their bellies or spells, but women create all on their own." I'd taken the boys camping outside of Mount Rushmore a few years ago and a boy had wandered into our campsite one night and just stared at me. He couldn't figure out what I was doing. 'I'm starting a fire,' I told him. Just arranging the wood, shredding some newspaper, and, ok, maybe whispering a prayer. Which is not how his dad does it. His dad just pours a whole lot of lighter fluid on the wood and then lights it. I'm not a survivalist, so my method isn't super-skilled or complicated, but that was pretty hysterical. Hence the chapter where Lira needed to start one on her own, without the natural-born firestarter's or the magically-inclined demon's help.
I woke up in the middle of the night and would step out of my tent and stare up at the stars. That far north, and it was almost like Montana. Swirls and stars and I'm pretty sure I was able to find Venus there. The moon was waning and it was quiet and there were trees.
This was my kitchen and my window view. And I ate my meals with this tree. She had carvings on her trunk and some bark peeled away. There was trash spewed around from the people before me, and cigarrettes left on the ground. She was my watching
Dryad
. From this island, I took a second ferry to Rock Island State Park. Yes, another island! In Wisconsin! The whole endeavor further reiterated my old thought that I need to live on an island. That's probably where I belong. I spent over three hours hiking the perimeter. I did not go adequately prepared. I forgot how the water speaks and how- like a siren- invites you for a swim. The water was so clear it was nearly invisible. And cool, not shivery cold, but invitingly cool and lovely. I waded in to my knees and stood there for a long time, really, really wanting to keep going. But the last ferry out was at four, and there was more to see.
Or find. I looked up at one point and was shocked to find myself in RMOS, in the place where Blaze was found. It was exactly like I had envisioned it: evergreen trees with absolutely no green on the ground, which was made entirely of fallen needles and branches and was brown. Just as I had written. It felt like a web of branches. It bounced when you stepped and seemed to be suspended, as if a wrong step would send you crashing through a forgotten cavern.
And then, just ahead, the rest of the forest began again. Regular seasonal trees with sunlight streaming down and a boundary of green and life. It was a great run-away. I even saw two snakes on that hike! Two! Which is part of my point system. The other is dragonflies, of course. I snap so many pictures of them. Think I'll put my pictures all together and add a gallery to the website because, well, dragonflies!. But here are two of my favorite from last weekend. Goodnight!
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