Good conversation, good views, and a perfect birthday gift.

I called Eric on the telephone at 9 on Sunday morning. I clearly had waked him up but he didn’t care. He groggily said he’d be ready shortly. As I waited for Eric I looked at a map of Washington, pondering our destination. The options were endless. We had ventured to Dash Point and Gig Harbor on some of our previous Sundays but today I was feeling a little more adventurous. Seattle via back roads? Or shell out the cash to take the ferry to Vashon? Olympia perhaps? I couldn’t make up my mind. Eric would have to be consulted. After a time Eric knocked on my door looking rather disheveled. He had just rolled out of bed but he looked eager to get going.

As we drove out of campus we discussed our options. Without even thinking of why, I said “What about Port Townsend?” I knew only that it was supposed to be a pleasant place and that it was at least an hour drive. I felt like taking a good drive and Eric was up for a longer trip. I handed him the map to figure out how to get there. We picked our route, Highway 16 to 3 to 19 to 20 if I recall, and we were going. It was a perfect day to get away.
The beautiful thing about exploring with Eric is that life instantly becomes simple. Any preoccupations disappeared as we crossed the Tacoma Narrows Bridge. By the time we make the Gig Harbor exit, the stereo is off and we are deep in conversation. We talk about everything from our grand plans of acquiring a sailboat in the next academic year to the fundamentals of human experience to religion. We both agreed the drive was a perfect way to use a Sunday morning.

When we arrived we both needed food. We cruised the quaint main drag and a restaurant called the Lighthouse Café caught our eye. We parked the car and went in to check it out. It reminded me of my grandmothers’ basement. The place was cluttered with bizarre decorations like little glass trees and faux-indian hatchets. They all had price tags but I had a feeling they were rarely purchased. We got our food to go and ate at a picnic table on the water. The burger and chowder was fairly generic but that’s exactly what I was in the mood for.

After lunch we wandered down to the pier. The air was cool but the sun felt warm on my neck. I stared out across the water and thought of my siblings. Knowing that this was the same ocean my sister saw every day on her commute to work in New York and that this was the same ocean my brother saw from his apartment window in Morocco was very comforting. As someone who comes from a landlocked state, the ocean is still absolutely fascinating to me. We lingered on the pier for some time watching sailboats silently glide across the glassy water.

Eric had spied some watchtower to investigate sometime in our wandering. I decided that I would search for a birthday present for my girlfriend Elizabeth while he went to check it out. While I shopped I thought of Elizabeth and I pondered why I was lucky enough to be with such a tolerant, understanding and kind person. I always feel a lot of pressure to get good gifts, especially for someone like Elizabeth. It needed to be something practical yet unique. I went back to check out all of the strange items for sale in the café but nothing seemed to fit. I finally wandered into an outdoor store and found what I hoped would be the perfect gift. It was a vintage Patagonia fleece that was a sort of day-glow pink. Most people would think it was heinous however my outdoorsy-chic girlfriend would love it (hopefully). With that I went to locate Eric.

I moseyed up the hill towards his tower and looked out over the tops of the buildings and Puget Sound. It was an extraordinary sight. It didn’t surprise me when I found Eric chatting up a random homeowner who was in the middle of mowing their lawn. Eric seemed to have a genuine love of humanity and got to know as many people as possible no matter what situation he found himself in. I walked up and a kind woman named Linda introduced herself. She was the president of the historical society in the area and she gave us a brief rundown of the history of the area as well as a few tips of sights to see around the town. Not wanting to take too much of her time we thanked her and moved on with far more ideas of things to see than we could possibly fit into our day.

After some time exploring the time came to return to Tacoma. It had been another perfect day with another perfect destination. Eric and I walked back to the car and discussed what we had missed and what to explore the next time we were in town. We took off to go back to our lives at school. As my friend Eric slept beside me on the drive back I looked out over the green pastures and knew that I had yet another perfect Sunday.