Orcas Island

Dean and I took a much-needed weekend vacation with just ourselves up to the San Juan Islands.

 Taking the ferry is always kind of fun, and the only way to get there unless you take your own boat.  It was also $60 one way, but fortunately no charge the other way.  There was certainly no "fast food" on the island, and we paid a lot for some fine fare.  If we go back with the kids, we'll spend more time at the local grocery store.

 We hit up the farmer's market on Saturday at lunch time and had some Ecuadorian and other ethnic food, super yum!

The community theater happened to be putting on 7 short plays at once, so for $5 a head, we partook.  The acting was pretty good, the story lines were okay.

 The view from Constitution Peak was amazing, but it's kinda like trying to take a picture of the Grand Canyon.  We also went kayaking for an hour, and apparently did several miles in that hour, and found some starfish.  Dean grabbed one from the water.  They are really hard all the time - not just when they are dead. 

 We hiked to some lovely waterfalls, and even got a bit lost trying to find our way back to the parking lot on all the trails.  We stayed in a pet-friendly B&B, which meant we got to listen to people taking their dogs in and out at all hours of the night and morning.  Otherwise it was lovely, and we even lucked out with some gluten-free waffles because of another gluten-free guest.

 We ended up missing the ferry fairly closely each way and had to wait around 3+ hours each time for the next one.  That would have been beyond awful with the kids, but on our own we were able to nap in the car, frolick along the shore and watch other ferries come and go, read, and enjoy the peace!

 We were happy to be reunited with the little people though, and are very grateful to Dee and David for taking care of them for three days so we could do this!

There's my darling enjoying a breezy nap above the water while waiting for our return ferry.