Summertime

For the last week, my husband and I spent our first week off together in three years. We escaped to the San Juan Islands off the Washington coast and stayed lakeside in a canvas cabin at the Lakedale Resort. The weather was perfect, the pace was slow and we returned truly relaxed.

My favorite stop was the Pelindaba Lavender Farm. 25 acres of lavender in full bloom and by some stroke of luck we had the place all to ourselves as the fog lifted in the morning.

Did you know that lavender only requires water in its first year while getting established and no fertilizer at all? And deer don't bother it. Of course, the bees love it too - what a great "crop" to grow!

One of the more surprising parts of our trip was to the town of Roche Harbor. Not only are the views breathtaking, but the town is so charming. After walking around the formal gardens, having lunch and stopping for ice cream it dawned on me.....we were in one big resort. Everyone had the same logo on their uniforms. It was like Disneyland for adults - with multi-million dollar boats in their marina!

I'm not really sure why it bothered me - no little tourist town could spend this much money on gardens and have every little storefront and restaurant occupied. Someone had bought this entire town and turned it into a destination - otherwise, it probably would have died when they stopped mining lime there decades ago. Regardless, we spent an entire afternoon there and really enjoyed ourselves.




And of course, my toes had fun too.