Besides hiking, fishing, wild life watching (the list goes on and on) Orcas Island offers up some amazing kayaking adventures. Driving back to our Airstream we spotted an incredible array of bright orange, blue and red kayaks and I couldn’t wait to check them all out. Apparently these kayaks are so sturdy and never tip over that couples have taken their wee little ones out with them.
Kayaks and our Airstream, what an adventure that will be! We can not wait :)
After our delicious breakfast of strawberry pancakes, we decided to take a stroll through beautiful Eastsound.
Eastsound is the main “hub” of Orcas island. This is where you will find adorable boutiques, book stores, garden and plant nurseries, unique toy stores for the kiddos, art stores and my favorite place to shop for fresh local ingredients —> Orcas Homegrown Market. If you ever come to Orcas, you will fall in love with this little town. We sure did.
Sometimes it is just the simplest things in life that can bring so much joy to a child’s life. In B’s case, this morning it was his bubbles. It is really such a heart warming experience to watch your child get so excited over bubbles. It makes me think to slow down in my own life and to try and enjoy these things too. Luckily he rubbed off on me and we both blew bubbles and had some funny laughs. I eventually made my way back into the Airstream as he continued blowing his bubbles so I could prepare breakfast.
I picked up the most beautiful and sweet deep red strawberries from our local market to prepare a strawberry pancake recipe I thought up. I was so happy that my recipe turned out exactly as I had hoped. It was again, simple and delicious and B and hubby ate every last morsel.
For the recipe, I used my blueberry pancake recipe I made while were on vacation in Tofino, BC. The recipe is here and the only difference was that instead of a handful of blueberries, I added a handful (and a little more) of sliced strawberries. I also sliced a vanilla bean pod open and scraped out the seeds and added that to the batter as well. I served it with hot maple syrup that I heated up in a small saucepan with more sliced strawberries. Delicious!
B was having such a good time playing on the beach searching for crabs and critters under the rocks all while running around and laughing. I knew he would be sleeping well that night. To keep him going in the meantime, I prepared a Mediterranean tuna salad wrap. This was super quick and easy to prepare and the flavors in this were amazing. Light (not too much mayonaise) and fresh and so flavorful. If you happen to make this, I hope you enjoy it as much as we did. I should mention that if you eat this outdoors on a beautiful sunny day, it may taste even better.
This is going to sound crazy, to some.
But after years of longing for a farm fresh egg, my dream has finally come true. Really.
We were driving along one of the most beautiful scenic drives on the San Juan Islands when I reached over and squeezed hubby’s arm (to use as my own steering wheel in case he didn’t abide) and declared him to: “Stop! Stop – Stop!!” Pointing excitedly to where he should pull off — this is what we saw — possibly the cutest Farm Stand I had ever seen (and I will surely capitalize “Farm Stand,” because to me, this was Heaven).
It was quiet here. It was peaceful here. It smelled of fresh flowers and the birds were singing and that funny rooster was, well, funny and curious.
Need I say more? Pictures certainly do speak 1,000 words and this one could quite possibly exceed that.
But why is it when your hubby is waiting for you while you shop, you can never relax and just enjoy yourself? He was waiting in the car and I was perspiring just waiting for his beckoning call of ‘hurry up honey,’ but this time, he got out. He got out of the car and was amazed too.
“Wow honey, this is really nice.”
I couldn’t have agreed more.
I could hardly wait to get back to the Airstream where I would prepare baked eggs . . .
What a special treat.
Grammy award winning artist Dave Matthews and his lovely wife along with their darling twin girls were spending their Mother’s Day at one of their favorite venues as we were in the San Juan Islands.
It would be just as you would imagine having your family and friends over for a Sunday afternoon BBQ with hot dogs, s’mores, fruit salad, etc. I hope we are not tarnishing his Rock Star image.
Finishing off the experience of a lifetime with a “Shallow Bay – Sucia Island Style” sunset, we said our good-bye’s awakening the next morning as if it were a dream.
We are spellbound and rocked by David Matthews. We took no photos in respect of David and Ashley’s friends, family and the Islands.