After we left Orcas Island last Labor Day, we heard that teenager Colton Harris-Moore was hiding all over the island, breaking into businesses, leaving the barefoot mark that gained him the “Barefoot Bandit” moniker, and learning to fly other people’s airplanes.  Now he’s in federal prison, having been finally caught in the Bahamas.  I think he should have stayed here and figured a way to blend in with island life on this beautiful San Juan archipelago in Washington state.  But that’s another man’s journey, another’s Weekend Walk.

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Much of the essence of the Pacific Northwest, for me, is here among these islands in Puget Sound, and I am looking forward to our annual trip to Orcas Island this Labor Day weekend.  (Puget Sound and surrounding waters, by the way, are now officially re-named the “Salish Sea” in a return to native usage.) In the midst of summer heat waves and urban smog, I am longing for the sweet scent of autumn that arrives early to the forests, farms, and beaches of northern islands by the sea.  For several years I have taken this journey with the destination being YMCA Family Camp on the northwest corner of the island.  YMCA’s Camp Orkila (“or-KYE-la”) has been a tradition for Seattle-area youngsters for over 100 years.  The open-to-all opportunity for adults to go there with family and friends at the end of the season is a treat not to be missed.   

Sometimes great inn-to-inn walks need only one great inn.

Maine's Chebeague Island Inn's menu,  front porch and beds are all worth walking (or paddling) to. And it’s a great base camp for round-the-island walks, or island-hopping treks around Portland's Casco Bay.

From the porch, the sunset views over Casco Bay are unparalleled. If the fog rolls in, head inside to the enormous Great Room and warm yourself by the stone fireplace in overstuffed chairs, where your favorite cocktail is available day or night... “Dinner,” one of the long time island residents told me, “is back!” Judging by the extensive menu of fresh greens, locally raised venison, duck, and grass-fed beef, I’d have to agree.

Upstairs are 21 guest rooms appointed with Maine-made wrought iron Queen beds, Montauk Italian hand-stitched linens, Cuddledown comforters, and heavenly lemon verbena room amenities from L’Occitane in Paris. Many have ocean views while others look out over spectacular gardens. The bathrooms – some private, some shared – are gleaming white tiled sanctuaries. Depending on the day or the direction of the wind, Charlie the Ghost might make an appearance by rattling the wind chimes or creaking open a door.

Here’s my advice: bring nothing but your sneakers, a hat, a bathing suit and your wallet. Walk the perimeter, take in the coastal views and centuries’ old history, stop into the local Historic Society, play golf, or just sit on the Chebeague Island Inn porch after lunch and take a nap.

 College Hill in Providence is littered with libraries, from the Athenaeum, to the Hay Library, to the Rhode Island Historical Society, and as I wandered through the exhibits of sixteenth-century books about America at the refreshingly cool John Carter Brown Library, I contemplated the many books that I have used to research my project on the Post Road.  The publication of a new book, The King's Best Highway: The Lost History of the Boston Post Road, the Route That Made America by Eric Jaffe, gives me an opportunity both to review the literature on the Post Road and to give the reader a rundown of books that I have used in my project in the event that I have sparked an interest in King Philip, the Boston Jazz scene in the 1950s, or roadside weeds.