I still didn't feel like sleeping at that point, so I tried to get on the wireless internet at the motel but it was still down. There was some yarn at Island Wools that I had just loved. It's Malabrigo Arroyo in the colorway Azules. And. I. Loved. It. I want to marry it. Seriously. But it's my own caveat that when you buy yarn on vacation there needs to be a pattern you are buying it for. This keeps me from buying one skein of beautiful yarn that ends up sitting in the stash because there's not enough yarn to knit it into something I would use or want. It just sits there in it's cubby and I go in and love it occasionally and then do an extensive Ravelry search for the perfect pattern only to put it back, dejected again. But I had seen a pattern I wanted to knit, I just needed to get online and see what the yardage and weight requirements were. I ended up getting online at the ferry terminal later that day (paying only $7.50 for some peace of mind). So the most beautiful yarn in the world will be knit into Lintilla.
We got up around our "wake up call" time only because we were awake and not because any call came. Whatever. We watched the news as we ran around and they said that the storm that had caused the blackout on the 13th had a record number of lightning strikes in the Seattle area in one 24 hour period, somewhere around 1000 strikes. The day was supposed to be free of nasty weather and the high temps were projected to be near 80 out on the islands, which is pretty warm! We made it to the terminal in plenty of time and got our spot on the 9 AM ferry. This time we were parked on another outside spot, so we had a good view...of fog. We spent some time in the car and then went up to get some coffee. The cleaning people had not refilled our coffee stash the previous day, leaving us only with decaf, which is not acceptable for caffeine deprived people. Eventually the fog lifted and it was lovely when we reached Friday Harbor.
After some searching we found their farmer's market. It was a great little market with fresh fruits and vegetables, honey, fresh pasta, bakery items and more available! We got a couple of pastries and I thought about getting some ravioli, but felt it would probably go bad before we ate it. We drove out to the San Juan Vineyards tasting room next. They have a great selection of wines, lots from grapes grown in the Yakima Valley, and we tasted a red and a white that we each got a bottle of. There was a cute little church on the property and a huge area that would be perfect for a wedding reception, complete with vineyards in the background.
We moved on next to find the San Juan Island Distillery. They make their own gin, which I LOVE, plus hard ciders and other spirits. We got there too early for tasting, but I wasn't leaving without a bottle of gin so I got that and another mix of their spirits called Red Sky at Night. Mom got two different hard ciders, now that she knew how much she likes them. We headed over towards the lavender farm on the island and saw the turn off to a state park, English Camp. Deciding the dogs probably needed a walk we drove in a parked. Just a short walk down was a recreation of the English Camp that was stationed there during the time that Britain and the United States shared the island until the water boundary between the nations could be settled. They had re-enactors, a couple of buildings and an English garden. Mom picked up an informational brochure and talked to a park ranger a bit about the history of the place and then we walked around to give the dogs some good time out of the car.
Continuing on to the Pelindaba Lavender farm we got to see lots of the back-country of the island, which was wonderfully rural. There were acres of lavender around the visitor center of the farm, along with some interesting art and beautiful original buildings. We, of course, picked up some lotion, bubble bath and something they call Hydrosol, which is a by-product of the distilling of the lavender essential oil process. It is a really good organic cleaner, especially for jewelry. Thinking of all the pieces I wear all the time I got some to try it out. Their lotion was the best lotion I got on the trip! Not oily and really full of lavender fragrance.
We drove back to Friday Harbor and got in line for our ferry back and then walked into town again. I made it to Island Wools to pick up the yarn I couldn't live without and then we got ice cream cones again. We didn't leave too much time to wait for our ferry this time, since we knew how it worked from yesterday. In all the downtime we had on the trip I did manage to make some headway on the shawl that I was working on back in North Carolina.
We saw so many boats on this trip, sailing back and forth on the ferries, that I think that is something I would love to do. I could stand to live the life of sailing from place to place, marina to marina, seeing lots of the world from the ocean. The sailboats especially enthralled me...
On July 15th we mercifully headed home. The previous year we had thought about how close we were to Monroe on the way home, where Aunt Norma lives. She is not really my Aunt, but a relative nonetheless, one of my grandmother's cousins. They were always a part of our extended family and with so few of us left, we felt it was important to keep those connections up. We've always sent birthday and Christmas presents her way and it was a treat to get to meet her. She was born the same day and year as my grandmother and celebrated her 90th birthday this year. I knitted a pair of fingerless mittens for her in lavender, since it was my grammy's favorite color I thought it might be her's too. We met her at her apartment and she took us out for lunch. She suffers from essential tremors, which isn't Parkinson's disease, but does cause her hands and head to shake uncontrollably. She manages very well and it was a great time reminiscing. And I managed to not take a single picture of the event...
We were happy to get back home. And happy to not see a single vacation in August on our calendar. It's not like we didn't stay ridiculously busy as you shall see...
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