On Island Time: A Traveler’s Atlas

Description

Dream of escaping to an island, for the slower pace and stunning views? This illustrated love letter to the Pacific Northwest’s iconic islands–focusing on Puget Sound, the San Juans, and Canada’s Gulf Islands and Vancouver Island–charms and educates travelers, locals, and armchair adventurers alike.

A PACIFIC NORTHWEST BESTSELLER!

Kick back, relax, and get On Island Time. This quirky illustrated travel guide showcases the hidden delights, natural wonders, and singular history of Washington and British Columbia’s islands, from the author of bestselling The Best Coast, A Road Trip Atlas: Illustrated Adventures Along the West Coast’s Historic Highways. Get ready to visit:

PUGET SOUND
Bainbridge
Vashon-Maury
Whidbey
The South Sound

SAN JUAN ISLANDS
Fidalgo
San Juan
Orcas
Lopez

BRITISH COLUMBIA
Vancouver Island
The Gulf Islands
The Sunshine Coast

Featuring hundreds of illustrations and hand-drawn maps, On Island Time is bursting with ideas aplenty for island-hopping excursions, like the best place for pie and steamed mussels on Whidbey Island, the most picturesque hikes in the San Juans, and the town on Vancouver Island to visit for salmon angling. Chock-full of unusual facts, hidden history, and roadside attractions, On Island Time celebrates a slower lifestyle that is diverse, fascinating, and altogether magical.PRAISE FOR CHANDLER O’LEARY:

“O’Leary’s guide offers the best of both worlds by taking you off the beaten path without missing out on any bucket-list attractions.”
—Seattle TimesCHANDLER O’LEARY is an illustrator and lettering artist, and a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design. She is the author of The Best Coast: A Road Trip Atlas and co-author of Dead Feminists: Historic Heroines in Living Color as well as the creator of the illustrated travel blog Drawn the Road Again. She lives in Tacoma, WA, and spends every spare moment traveling America’s winding back roads, sketchbook in hand.Dear Reader,

I have lived and worked in the Pacific Northwest since 2008, after many years of wandering and relocating around the United States and elsewhere. Though I have, at last, found my permanent home, I can’t seem to stop behaving like a perpetual tourist. I go exploring as often as possible. I work daily to expand my “mental map.” I document what I see, hear, and taste in my sketchbooks. I try not to take my surroundings for granted. Applying the principles of my former nomadic life has grown and deepened my love for the Salish Sea.
 
Though it’s hard to play favorites in this beautiful corner of the world, my heart belongs to the islands. My small home studio in Tacoma, Washington, overlooks Commencement Bay and Maury Island, and on summer nights a pair of lighthouses flashes through my open windows, casting a faint glow onto my bedroom walls. For me, the islands represent a constant dance of home and away. I visit often enough to feel a sense of stewardship, yet my mainlander status keeps the islands just unfamiliar enough never to lose their getaway feeling. Instead of the coffee shop, the ferry is often my “third place,” where I go to clear my head or work out new ideas–there’s always a saltwater view and plenty of fresh air. I have the good fortune to spend time on San Juan Island every year, filling sketchbooks, creating my own writing retreats, or simply relaxing with my family. When my son was born in 2019, the islands seemed like the perfect place to introduce him to his home region and the joys of travel. He rode his first ferry at two months old, and some of his earliest outings included visiting Vashon and Fox Islands to comb the beaches or look for banana slugs.
     
My son has not been the only audience for my island enthusiasm. This book has been brewing in my mind for many years. Every time I played tour guide to a visitor, or jotted down a note in my sketchbook, or recounted a story to a friend, I was unconsciously planning these pages. Once I began the formal research and drafting process for the book, it didn’t take long to realize that what I was really crafting was a love letter. Learning to see the islands with fresh eyes, revisiting old favorites, and discovering new ones gave me the chance to attempt translating the experience for someone else–you.
     
My wish is that in some small way, this book may have succeeded on that front. If you are reading this somewhere far from the Salish Sea, I hope these pages entice you to come here and discover this place for yourself. If you are a local like me, perhaps you’ll still find something new to explore, or a perspective that hadn’t occurred to you before. This book is only a dim reflection of reality, but if it can serve as a gateway to the real thing, I’ll be prouder than I can express. I hope it will inspire you to fall in love with the islands as I have.
 
–Chandler O’LearyCN

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