Remember those times when you were a kid and all you wanted to do was be a grown-up? Remember those times you have as a grown-up when all you want to do is be a kid again and not have any responsibilities? And then there are those times when you feel like everything is as it should be and you are right where you're supposed to be. That's how our family trip a few weeks ago felt. I hadn't been to the San Juan area since I was four. But, during our trip--even though I was reminiscing about old memories--I was so happy in our moments just as they were happening. I am so happy to be at the age I am and be able to experience family vacations in a new way. Not as that ten year old who fought with her brother over whose side I was on in the backseat of the car (we still do that though) but as an adult. And, with the bonus of adding my husband and sister-in-law to the mix, it's like we have a family of six now.
With that said, I finally got around to going through our photos from our trip. It has been so much fun reliving the memories we made.
After a long drive we stopped in Burlington, Washington for the night and had dinner at the most amazing little place called Train Wreck. Everything there was so delicious. Colby had the fish tacos and, even after a week of trying fish tacos at numerous places throughout the trip, the ones here were Colby's favorite. We woke up early the next morning for our first ferry to Friday Harbor--after a six o'clock swim in the hotel pool (my brother and I love hotel pools).
More photos from the ferry.
We spent the morning in Friday Harbor walking around, eating, and browsing the little shops. After a tasty brunch at Downriggers we decided to drive to the historical American and English camps on the island. In between the drive from American Camp to English Camp, we found signs to a Lavender Festival at Pelindaba Farms. This was such a fun and spontaneous part of the day and we all loved it so much. They had lavender ice creams (chocolate, vanilla, and lemon), lavender lemonade, great music, and so many other fun things to check out. We continued our trek across the island and ended up on the other side at Roche Harbor where we stayed for the next two nights. Our first night there we decided to just make dinner in our condo and play bocce (photos of an epic bocce game here), drink wine, and talk and talk and talk--all while Colby played some great music for us on his banjo.
Monday morning we headed out on our kayaking adventure around some of the islands. This was one of my favorite parts of the entire trip--and that was not an easy decision to make. We found many, many starfish along the rocky shores, an egg yolk jelly fish, and some very vocal seals.
When we were back from our kayaking trip, we headed to the pool to relax and cool down. There are only a few restaurants in the Roche Harbor area, so we decided between them and ended up having dinner at Madrona. It was very tasty, and during dinner on their patio we were able to watch them lower the flag in the marina--a lovely tradition for the harbor. After dinner, we walked around the docks admiring the incredibly extravagant boats and watched while some adorable kids fished for various creatures in the water.
Tuesday, we got back on a ferry and headed out to Vancouver Island to spend the next few days in Victoria, British Colombia. More on that later...
