Since our last blog, Michael and I have accomplished a few things. We relocated to north-central West Virginia, he started and finished law school, and we got married, and I changed jobs – twice – just to name a few. What we haven’t done a whole lot of, though, is leave! Needless to say, our travel wings had been clipped for a while, but we have finally found an opportunity to break away for a somewhat extended (two week) stay in the stunning San Juan archipelago of Washington’s Pacific Northwest.
We flew direct from Baltimore to Seattle and then drove from there to here, Lopez Island. How did you do that, you ask? Well, I have made it clear in the past that the majority of our travels would have not been possible if not for the generosity of others. This trip is no exception: We are “borrowing” the home and car of one of Michael’s law professors; our bikes from his (dare I say favorite?) librarian’s family nearby. We’ll be visiting Bellingham and doing a hike on Sunday courtesy of our friends Maria and Tad; it is clear that in general, we get by almost solely on others’ kindness.
This place is serious about a few things, which will likely be emerging themes on this blog: its food, its flowers, and its views. The eating scene here is no joke – on an island of a little over 2200 people (well, make that 2202, now), there are farms around quite literally every turn. Wild roses add natural barriers to man-made fences, and the landscape, rolling and bucolic, is nothing is not pastoral.
We did bring some groceries (sand to the beach, really) from the mainland as we didn’t know if anything would be open/available upon our arrival. In the next few blogs, I’ll fill in the gaps on our latest adventures of shellfish farming, strawberry picking, and my first visit to the Lopez Island farmers market. In the meantime, feel free to visit the Pacific Northwest set on my Flickr page, where I’ll be posting pics (almost) daily. I hope you’ll check back with us and feel free to share your travel tips or cooking ideas! I have the feeling I’ll be working a lot with the largely unfamiliar clams and lamb and salmon – oh my!
