That's Life on Orcas Island

With an endless number of gorgeous views, beautiful inns, and stunningly irresistible photo opportunities, visitors flock from around the world to experience summers on Orcas Island. Although the winter, spring and fall months have an equally inspiring beauty, only a brave handful of locals call the island home all year long.

It's easy, once you're here for a while, to let the veil come down around, sheltering you from the very existence of the rest of the world. No fast food, no Walmart or chain restaurants. The streets are lined with an array of local restaurants and eccentric retail stores, and there isn't a single traffic light anywhere on the island. Many people come to the San Juan islands seeking an a pacific northwest paradise. Orcas Island offers just that. For those strong enough to endure the long, dark and rainy winters, the island becomes the type of place where every face is that of someone you know - and for me, it seems as though everybody knows my name.

I have the type of job that offers a steady stream of local traffic, and although I haven't been here long - I have heard the island referred to as many different things to different people. For some, it's the peace they had been seeking in their lives. Some call it Atlantis or Avalon. Others feel sucked into a vortex of boredom, depression or daily drinking, sometimes referring to the island as Orcatraz. Still to others, Orcas Island is a beautiful vacation island; a pacific northwest gem - where the forest meets the ocean, and the island views reach the setting sun.

One way or another, the island life seems to grow on you. The answer to every question seems to be, "That's life on the island." If you're here long enough, you begin to realize the island, along with it's inhabitants, seem to exist in a world of their own - a place few people are brave enough (or lucky enough) to experience island's true, year-round beauty. Those who do make to the lofty status of being a local also earn the right to call themselves an islander.