Living with BEES

For the first time in 20+ years, we did not host Thanksgiving. We instead took See See and headed off to Orcas Island.

Day 1: Waited for See See to finish up her show, Frozen Jr., so we could get our 5 hour drive going. We stopped and had McDonalds and shocked See See when we told her there was no fast food on the island. We made good time and stayed at the Ship Harbor Inn in Anacortes, which is actually off of the ferry road so we could just head down the hill to the ferry in the morning. It had a really yummy continental breakfast and we pretty much had the place to ourselves.

The view of the ferry terminal from our hotel room.

Day 2: After a delicious continental breakfast, we packed up and headed down to the ferry. While waiting for the ferry, See See entertained us by trying to teach us modern slang. She had fun on her first ferry ride and taught us a few phone camera tricks! We couldn't check in until 4 so we drove around and showed See See where we stayed this summer and ended up at our favorite restaurant, White Horse Pub. We had great food and See See learned how to play pool.

View from our hotel room in the morning

Waiting for the ferry, learning slang

We're off!

Breezy!

Modeling using the breeze coming up the stairs

Camera trick fun

Well hello there!

See See's first game of pool

View from the deck of the house

The Huckleberry House

Day 3: We hopped another ferry, this time without the car, to go to Friday Harbor on San Juan Island. We stayed for a couple of hours and walked around the town. We stopped at a used bookstore and an "arcade" (it had one video game, one pinball machine, one basketball throwing game and one air hockey table). Then we had lunch. All the fresh air and walking wore See See out and she fell asleep while waiting for her food. On the way back, she decided it was too cold to stand outside on the ferry, so she opted to take her nasty tasting motion sickness pills. She said they taste like sweet, earthy dirt.

Waiting for the ferry. You can see it across the way at Shaw Island

Off to Friday Harbor

Entering Friday Harbor

Lunch nap

Friday Harbor

Before medicine

After medicine

Day 4: We had a wind advisory and they were right! It was a constant wind storm all day. We lost power in the early morning, but didn't really affect us as we were still sleeping. We wanted to go the Island Hoppin Brewery and refill our growler. We let See See have the morning off, so she stayed home and off we went. We drove around some places we'd not seen before and saw some awesome Texas longhorns! We enjoyed our time at the brewery and chatted with one of the owners and a few locals. We learned that if you live on the island, you own and carry a chainsaw with you so you're always prepared to take care of downed trees. We tasted all the yummy beers on tap, chose one to fill the growler with, then headed back. Our plan was to head out later to go to Orcas Island Pottery and then Island Pie for our favorite pizza, but then the power went out again! We played some games and hung out until it came back on and then proceeded with our plans. See See enjoyed the tree house at Orcas Island Pottery and we each picked out a piece to take home. We literally had the entire place to ourselves. It was surreal after this summer's crowds. We drove down to Deer Harbor for some pizza, but alas, it was closed. So we headed back to Eastsound to have pizza at Portofino's, which is also delicious.

Wowzers!

Power outage Uno

Orcas Island Pottery. In the summer, there are tables and tables of pottery outside

Orcas Island Pottery

The tree house

Our chosen pieces

See See decided to take artistic shots at Portofino's

The view outside Portofino's. We also had this place to ourselves. It was like our own private Island on this day!

Day 5: Happy Thanksgiving! We hung out at the house until about 2pm. We then headed up the mountain to treat See See to the views from atop Mt. Constitution, the highest point in the San Juan Islands. Um, highest point, freezing temps, and wind. We felt the views were worth it, pretty sure the teen felt otherwise, but even with our love of the view, we didn't last more than 20 minutes. It was COLD! We then headed to Rosario Resort and the Moran Mansion where we had reservations for Thanksgiving dinner. Since we were early, we toured the museum (another teen favorite activity...NOT) and were fortunate enough to be able to hear Christopher Peacock play the pipe organ. He has a fun show he does most days in the summer and once a week in the off season, but he was there and someone convinced him to play a song. We chatted with him and told him we enjoyed his music so much we kept picking up his cds for the car. He asked if See See also listened to his music. We told him only if we're listening although she did enjoy the Phantom of the Opera medley and if he ever learned anything from Pirates of the Caribbean, she'd listen all the time. He then told us about Gerard Butler's recent visit to the resort and how he had no idea that Gerard was the Phantom in the movie. He said Gerard was a kind person, who treated the staff well. Always nice to hear about celebrities being kind. We made our way down to dinner which was a lovely buffet although a little too fancy for See See's taste as they didn't have mashed potatoes, just roasted ones and then mashed parsnips (which I loved thoroughly). Her words were, "What kind of Thanksgiving dinner doesn't have mashed potatoes?!?!" Steven wholeheartedly concurred. lol But the dessert buffet and the sparkling cider helped make it up to her. However, this adventure has shown us that we probably shouldn't skip hosting again for a while. She missed mashed potatoes and Papa's turkey. And making Thanksgiving dinner is a way better bargain than eating out, but it was an experience and a memory. :) After dinner we were so stuffed that we walked around the empty town of Eastsound and let Steven take a few artsy nighttime pics.

Panoramic view

Huddle together for warmth!

The Tower

Mt. Baker

At the top of the tower. Steven and See See are inside staying warm and secretly taking pics of me. Did I mention the wind?

Halfway down the mountain

Christopher Peacock playing the pipe organ

Best part of Thanksgiving dinner!

White Horse Pub

This is an amazing sight as this grocery store is always full!

Day 6: Time to go home. We packed up and visited North Beach one more time before heading to the ferry. Sad to go, but look forward to when we can return. We actually and surprisingly hit no traffic on the way home even though it was Black Friday. See See managed to snag a couple of shots of the Space Needle as we passed through Seattle. And she happily got McDonalds again. That girl is going to turn into a chicken nugget!