Of Ferries and Starbucks and Tea on the High

Once upon a time we went on vacation.

And then, unfortunately, we came home...where work immediately started spinning out of control, we had no groceries for days, we couldn't fall asleep at night or wake up in the morning, and it took me nearly a month just to look through our pictures on the computer to figure out what to tell you about.

It was worth it, though, I promise.

We’re not really sure why we decided to go to Seattle/the Pacific Northwest on our vacation this year, except that it turns out we have a lot of good friends there—one in particular, Krystal, who we suddenly realized we must. go. see. before she moves to Portugal for the foreseeable future (where, of course, we will have to go see her again). Plus, I had this inexplicable desire to rehabilitate Seattle in the eyes of Jason, who wasn’t terribly impressed when we spent a few hours there a few years ago (understandably. It was cold, we parked in a sketchy neighborhood, and let’s face it, we were there for a funeral).

Seattle in June was much more fun, though honestly we didn’t spend much time actually in Seattle. We had breakfast with my K-12 friend Janae and her two youngest (and kicked ourselves for forgetting to take pictures), had coffee at a Starbucks conception store, where they don’t dress in green and do serve wine, and then walked around the pier area for a few minutes before catching a ferry to Bainbridge Island.

Let me pause for just a moment to say a word about Krystal, who is one of my favorite people in the whole world. Since this blog is all post-marriage, you don’t get to know her very well, but she played the very significant role in my life of being the friend in my life when I met Jason. In fact, she met Jason first—and when she decided we needed to go to the Starbucks conception store because she thought it would be a good story for Jason to tell later, I laughed out loud, because she was spot on. She joined us on vacation, and we had such a good time (and laughed a lot). I feel so lucky to be her friend I could just pinch myself.

Anyway, on Bainbridge Island the most dramatic section of our vacation started when we got in the car after lunch, right on time according to our schedule that said it would take 90 minutes to get the ferry to Victoria, BC…and the GPS announced that it would take two hours. I feel like that story is probably better in person, but let’s just say that Jason still twitches and jumps into sprinting position every time he hears a ferry horn blow.

We did make it to Victoria as planned, where the weather was delightful and we stayed in a great suite with its own kitchen and made elaborate breakfasts every morning (dragon fruit was on the menu, just because).

We spent a good part of the first full day at Buchart Gardens, which was absolutely lovely—spring has come really late to the Northwest, so while it was 95 degrees here, the tulips were still out in the gardens and we were perfectly comfortable in jeans. So nice. That night we ate at a fantastic French restaurant, Bon Rouge, where everything was perfect.

Thursday dawned a little cloudy, but we still rented bikes and took a ride along the coast, and by the time we got to our turnaround point the sun was out again. Such a nice way to spend the morning.

Thursday afternoon was my highlight—High Tea at the Empress Hotel. Everyone who knew we were going to Victoria said that I of all people had to do this one thing there, so we did. I think both Jason and I were very glad to have Krystal with us—she and I could get delighted together, and he could enjoy his tea and scones…and sleep…in peace.

Our nice walk back to the hotel involved peeking into a few pubs to see how the Canucks hockey game in the Stanley Cup play-offs was progressing (not good) and an attempt to find some other weird fruit for breakfast the next day (we settled on...chocolate croissants).

Friday we ferried back to Port Angelos and drove down to drop Krystal back off at the ferry to Seattle, then drove south to Olympia, where we got to see Telfer, Andrea, and Cate again and meet Baby Jane. See what a fun week of hanging out with friends we had? We love to eat out with Telfer and Andrea, who love food like we do and have introduced us to some of our best restaurant experiences, and Acqua Via didn’t disappoint. The next morning Andrea took us to their fabulous farmer’s market, for coffee (where Jason, of course, told all about the Starbucks concept store), and for a walk along the waterfront. In the afternoon Andrea took me to one of her favorite shops, Compass Rose. I've been wishing they had a DC outpost ever since. We had such a good time with them, as always.

The only downside to a trip to the west coast is the horrific time change, accompanied, of course, by a red eye flight. We got back at about 10 am Sunday morning and went promptly to bed until 4 pm. I honestly think it is harder to adjust to this change than flying home from Europe.

I notice as I read back here that I’ve used the word “nice” to describe a lot of things on this trip, and, looking back, that seems about perfect. It was a vacation for drinking hot beverages, walking slowly, and enjoying really great conversation, which is just what we needed.