Labor Day
I forget sometimes that the island here is a vacation get-away still, even after the resorts were shuttered, sold and torn down. Even Cama Beach State Park with its dozens of refurbished cabins has closed them to habitation, maybe the last hurrah from the Resort Era when salmon were still plentiful and Camano was a fishing destination. Now folks come to their cottages or stay with family and friends, walk the beach and kayak the shorelines.
Today, though, Labor Day, the yearly Exodus begins. Range Rovers pulling trailers with dirt bikes, SUV’s with kayaks shoved onto roof racks, cars loaded with rubber rafts, coolers, paddle boards, grills and the kids — they all pack it in, head back to jobs and school, bid adieu to our sunsets, our clamming and crabbing, our desolate beaches, and drive off into their last island sunset for another year. Boats that have moored offshore get hauled in, trailered up behind trucks and driven back to a winter drydock, crab pots piled, buoys stashed, off they go, adios, vaya con dios!
For nine months we get our peace and quiet back. Walking the beaches below I won’t find my fellow hikers tomorrow. Old footprints in the sand will be gone by morning, just me and the herons now, seagulls barking, eagles overhead, hardly a boat out in the Saratoga Straits. Call me selfish but c’mon, I shared all summer with the motorcycles, the jetskis, the family reunions, the 4th of July bombardments, the traffic …. Just give me a few months of tranquillity, the least an old codger can ask.
And sure, I know these folks leaving are returning to 40 hour weeks in jobs they probably hate back in congested cities but we can’t all live in Paradise, can we? Adam and Eve didn’t have tourism, airbnb’s, VRBO’s, timeshare condos, did they? So it seems like an okay compromise to me, let a few folks share this place for a few days, weeks, months. But then they’ve got to leave. Labor Day is check out time. Seems fair to me.
Tags: Cama Beach Resort, End of Summer, Exodus from the South End, Labor Day Exodus