Heading North. A Ferry Ride to Another Time

“You can’t make old friends.” — Kenny Rogers

We left Portland and continued our trek north on Interstate 5. The Winona Rider had never been to Washington so we were excited to cross the border and bag a new state. Lisa and I compete to see who gets into a new state first, usually by sticking our hand toward the windshield at the border, therefore having a body part enter the state first. As we approach the border I distract Lisa by pointing a random something-or-other and then stick my hand out to enter the state first. She looks at me with pity and shakes her head.

Vashon Island sits in the middle of Puget Sound between Tacoma and Seattle. An old friend of ours, Kevin Hoffberg and his wife Eddy live on Vashon Island. When we drew up our route for this trip, I reached out to Kevin to see if we might stop by for a visit. He enthusiastically invited us to stay the night with them and we enthusiastically accepted.

Kevin and I met over 20 years ago. I had just started my job at Wells Fargo and I needed to develop a mortgage growth strategy for the West Coast. Wells was then a distant third in market share. Our goal was to get to number one but that would need discipline and a good plan. Someone told me Kevin was a great consultant and could help. We met and almost immediately developed a connection. From that point on, Kevin and I worked together on bigger and bigger projects. His brilliance helped refine the knowledge and expertise of the Wells team and his ability to articulate the key issues and strategies to address them was unrivaled. We often met at High Tech Burrito for our meetings. That’s why, to this day, we never say we need to catch up. We simply say we need to grab a burrito.

Our relationship goes beyond a professional one, however. We have seen each others’ kids grow up, we have spent time with our spouses, we have gone through career changes, and life changes. We trust each other without question. In short, we have a long and rewarding history together. Lisa and I were looking forward to seeing Kevin and Eddy.

Now, Vashon Island, with about 10,000 residents, has no bridges. It is a relatively rural island (one might call it rural chic, however) and the people who live there want to keep it that way. So, the only way to get to Vashon is via ferry. Kevin texted me the ferry schedule and said to simply drive up pay the fare and drive on. The Winona Rider’s first boat ride!

We arrived at the line to get on the ferry at 1:15 to catch the 1:40 ferry. As we pulled up to the toll booth, the woman in the booth looks at our van, shakes her head, looks at me and says, “This van can’t get on.” “Um, ever?” I replied. I know I had checked the length of vehicles that could ride and we should have been fine. “We’re at low tide,” she said and that meant a vehicle of our length and clearance couldn’t get down the ramp without bottoming out. You see, the further north you go, the greater the tidal variation. Being in Seattle, tides go up and down a lot. That means the ramp onto the ferry was angled steeply down and 1:40 and the nose of our van would go straight into the floor of the ferry. “OK, when can we go?” I asked. “The tide will be up far enough for the 3:40 ferry. Come back then,” she responded. As I pulled out of the line and turned around, I hoped this wasn’t one of those Wizard of Oz “Come back later” moments.

Lisa and I went into the town of Ruston for lunch and then hung out at Point Defiance Park to see their gardens, run the dogs at their dog park, and stretch our legs.

Once 3:00 rolled around we drove back to the ferry entrance. The woman who sent up away before gladly took our money and sent us into the ferry line. Soon we started loading and a guy directed us onto the ferry.

Kevin and Eddy bought an old five-acre farm in 2012. The farm had been owned by a Japanese family for nearly 100 years. When they were sent to an internment camp during World War II a local farmer watched over it for them. The place is oozing with history. It also needed a lot of work.

We arrived at the Hoffberg property after a beautiful drive through Vashon Island. Kevin and Eddy greeted us with hugs, Sophie and Ralphie enthusiastically greeted Kevin and Eddy, and soon we were off on a tour of this magnificent place.

No matter how long you’ve known someone, there is always more to learn about them. Kevin, a business consultant, and Eddy an accomplished artist, also are quite capable farmers (they are adamant this is a “hobby farm”), carpenters, mechanics, gardeners, beekeepers, furniture makers, bakers, and overall fix-it people. Much of the renovation of the original home, and construction of outbuildings has been done by Kevin, Eddy, or both. I had no idea. And, the fact that I have no talent for any of these things made this discovery all the more impressive.

The property has many apple trees that Kevin and Eddy use to make cider. It also has pear trees, buckwheat, lavender, beehives, any vegetable you can name, a wood shop, art studio, flowers of all variety, tractors, an ATV, and even an area where people can glamp (luxury camping). The property is simply beautiful.

We had a delicious dinner on their patio. For dessert we had Eddy’s homemade biscotti with Vin Santo, an Italian dessert wine that, I am embarrassed to say, had never had. It was delicious.

Kevin somehow remembered we were fans of the Golden State Warriors so he ushered us into the house to watch the fourth quarter of game six — one that the Warriors would win to take the championship. We cheered them on, turned off the TV, gabbed for a while longer then went out to watch the sunset. The days are very long this far north so sunset is quite late. In the morning we had a delicious breakfast of egg salad on homemade sourdough toast. We also got to sample honey from the bees out back (delicious).

Our conversations continued apace in the morning. Too soon, we had to leave before the tide went down and we couldn’t get off the island. As we said goodbye, I’ll confess to having a bit of a tear in my eye. You see, old friends are woven into the fabric of our lives. They are irreplaceable. Lisa and I are fortunate enough to have many old friends. The past two nights we were able to visit with two of them — Jon and Sallie Cohen, then Kevin and Eddy. We’re less than a week into the trip and it’s already created many memories.

If you have a chance today, reach out to one of your old friends and say hello. You will both be glad you did.