No, I Didn't See an Orca

 I know it might be old news, but I had a wonderful vacation with friends at Orcas Island at the beginning of the month. So instead of going into great detail of our vacation, I decided I'd list my top favorites during the week. 

Ferry ride-The ferry ride to Orcas created a wonderful transition from the busy world to the quiet life of the island. I loved that we gathered together chattily catching up, anticipating our week together.

Location-I can't say enough about how beautiful the landscape is on Orcas Island. I didn't do any running, but walked down the road from where we were staying, and  stopped long enough to admire a beautiful farm scene with a old rustic barn, long, waving grasses, with the sun hitting it all in just the right light. Beautiful.

Food-I just had the thought that I didn't really do much cooking during this week-so out of the ordinary for me. I did free the steamed clams from their shells for Paul's Famouser Clam Chowder ( I don't want to infringe on trademark slogans). I was spoiled rotten with our in-house meals-pulled pork sandwiches, Greek lamb, tri-tip steak. The dinner fairy was good to me.

Our meals out as a group included visits to two great restaurants.  We had a great Thai dinner at Thai Sisters Cafe, and ended our last evening out at Lu-Lu's Pasta Rustica. Either restaurant I would send friends to enjoy wonderful dinners. It was also amazing that they could seat all thirteen of us at each place. 

Friends-Spending a week with three families can be challenging, but with such a quality group of folks, the upside of sharing a vacation outweigh the logistics of figuring out the itinerary for the day.

(Notice those young fellows in the garden in their leather skirts.)
Romance- Due to those great friends, Paul and I were able to head into town by ourselves a couple of times. My favorite spot ended up being Kathyrn Taylor Chocolates. It's a fabulous chocolate shop in Eastsound that I absolutely enjoyed (only a couple of chocolates and mochas). The shop was about as big as my living room, with wonderful woodworking, and with the smell of the chocolates (I'm sorry that I don't have scratch and stiff on my blog)!

Nick and Kate-a most unusual encounter with hitchhikers (no Kate, I won't tell your mom). These were the kind of hitchhikers you spend the day with and then invite to dinner. A nice young couple from Brooklyn, and other points on the globe.

Here is some of our group, with Nick and Kate admiring Evander's new tie-dye socks we purchased for the sake of art.

Turtleback Mountain- I had finally stopped sleeping and was ready for some adventure. We went on a group hike on Turtleback Mountain.The majority of the group made it to about where this picture was taken. Five of us continued up and over-over a six mile hike. I'd never hiked that far, and absolutely loved it! Perhaps I'll take up hiking when I retire.