My husband, 4-year-old and I took a road trip up North to visit our friend, C. We made a move back from Maui last March after living there for a year, and with it came a lot of transition and new roles. I went from being a stay-at-home mom for over three years to working two part-time jobs, launching Freshly Grown and starting Holistic Nutrition school, my husband went from a relaxed job in Maui to becoming a General Manager of a local restaurant in downtown Portland, and my Little went from being at home with me to enrolling in a Montessori pre-school half-day, five days a week. To top it off, after we moved back from Maui, we moved three times before we settled back into our house. This little respite was much needed, to say the least.
Onto more relaxing things…we had no agenda for our little trip. We slept a lot, hung out and tried to go with the flow (like the fact that we forgot our passports so we could go to Canada, oops). C took our little man overnight while my hubs (Kyle) and I headed a little farther North. Location: an area called Fairhaven in Bellingham, Washington. It was lovely. We stayed at a local B&B owned by ‘Aunt Betty’ and had a fabulous day meandering through all of the quaint, local shops in historic Fairhaven. Aunt Betty was fantastic, she was so hospitable and had a huge smile that came all the way from her heart to her beaming face. She wanted to do everything to make your stay feel like home. And we did. She even catered to the fact that I eat gluten-free and made me Lemon-Ricotta Gluten-Free Pancakes for breakfast! Wonderful. When we first arrived, we chatted for a bit and I remember her telling us that her husband had built the house 13 years prior, but only recently, since last June or so, had they turned it into a B&B. I was really impressed when she said that because I saw so many five-star reviews all the way down the Google search for their B&B. Well done Aunt Betty. You deserve it. If you’re ever in Bellingham, Washington, look up Viewmont Manor and tell Aunt Betty Kyle and Rama (rayma) say hi.
Highlights from our trip through pictures…
My old stomping grounds and the first co-op I’d ever experienced. I moved up to this area a few years after my cancer treatment and it was during this time I made some major shifts in the way I looked at and bought food. I shopped at the Co-op a lot as well as a local, outdoor farmer’s produce stand nearby. I was about 22. Those were the days. 🙂
Free Soil Workshop. Love this.
‘Mama, can I get this? It’s organic.’ (Yep, he said that.)
‘No, Love, we’re gonna’ go get real juice from the juice bar.’ (And yep, I actually said that. Ha! I am that Mom. Don’t judge.)
Nothing like running out of toothpaste on vacay. No worries…Tom’s to the rescue. But, which one?
Onto the food area where we ate awesome food to our heart’s content and my little guy got to be silly. 🙂 Even though I do eat meat, I love all of the Veg, Vegan and Gluten-free options…and their completely affordable juice bar. $2.95 for a 12 oz?? Unheard of.
Mmm…juice. #1 Apple-Ginger-Carrot #2 Beet-Parsley-Carrot-Celery
Until next time Skagit Valley Co-op
Onto the fishing town of La Conner where we hung out with our friend, C…
…and had treats. Cashew Sea Salted Caramel w/Dark Chocolate. This definitely happened.
…and counted tree rings
…and went into this store just to smell the air. Aaah, lavender.
…and ate at this not-so-great restaurant, but we had a good time anyway (see my husband’s face)
Viewmont Manor + Aunt Betty. I told you she smiled all the way from her ♥
Beautiful breakfast. Lemon-Ricotta Gluten-Free Pancakes, Irish Oat Groats & Fruit
[gmc_recipe 4041]
Our garden view (definitely inspired us for our own backyard & garden)
Welcome to Fairhaven.
Such a cute area. So many local shops. I think we went into almost every one.
Antiquing (this was my favorite shop besides the bookstore)
Bronzed baby shoes
Such narrow feet
The Barber Shop
The Bookstore
I found a book for J on sale about a bear who gets put in jail because he refuses to pay his taxes to a system that believes in slavery. His an adventurous, outdoor bear and just because he gets put in jail, doesn’t stop him from having outdoor adventures…Based on Henry David Thoreau. ♥
♥ Henry Climbs a Mountain ♥
I always have to stop off at the cookbook aisle anytime I’m at a bookstore. You know you do it, too 🙂
Our last stop before heading back to our little guy was this coffee shop overlooking the water. Wood’s Coffee. I would sit here every day and blog and work if I could (that’s my hubs walking in).
It has an upstairs with a lookout window and binoculars, so we enjoyed coffee and looked at birds and ducks and ships. Almost nerdy, but mostly fun and relaxing. It was such a restful trip, we came back recharged and ready to hit life head on once again.
Thanks for stopping by Freshly Grown. I hope you found a little R&R on this page today.
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Hey Rama, I’m going to Bellingham at the end of April, so I’ll check out the B&B. Thanks! (I remember your days up north. Phone calls while I was in San Anton kept me up-to-date on your fantastic time there.)
Definitely check it out 🙂 Yeah, those were some good times. You in San Ant. and me up there was a lifetime ago, although sometimes it feels like yesterday.
I came to your site through Melanie Snyder West referral. I adore her and through your post I totally see why she recommended you! Great post, definitely looking for some R&R in our life too- thanks for some inspiration! Funny how those simple, quiet times were taken for granted and now all my husband and I crave is for a little piece of that!
T
Tana, so nice to ‘meet’ you. Melanie haven’t gotten to spend a ton of time together because of distance, but our hubs were college best friends. She is awesome, the little we’ve gotten to hang out and so encouraging! Wish she lived closer 🙂 Glad she referred you over my way, welcome!! Did you read ‘My Story’ by chance? A little of why I launched Freshly Grown in the first place and I had one of those divine encounters that I was supposed to do this if you know what I mean 🙂 Cancer ended up being one of my greatest gifts and my heart is to educate folks to make the best food choices they can with the resources they have. Working on revamping this site in the future to make it more user-friendly, but I also work part-time and have my little man (he’s 4) and take clients on the side and go to school for Holistic Nutrition 🙂 So, there’s all of that. Thank you for stopping by and commenting, means the world to me. If I can help in anyway in your family’s journey of health, don’t hesitate to drop me a line. It’s my joy and my passion. And yes, rest and relaxation never felt so good. You don’t even know how much you need/miss it until you have those moments back again. Aaah…peace. -R