The Blue Heron Bed & Breakfast, West Sound on Orcas Island

Former teachers, Carol and Bogdan have lovingly run the beautifully historic 1910 Blue Heron Bed & Breakfast in West Sound for the last ten years. Their motto is, “At the Blue Heron Bed & Breakfast, hospitality is our number one goal for your stay in our home. We want you to feel comfortable, welcomed, and relaxed. If you are traveling with your pet, we will make every effort possible to see that your stay is enjoyable for everyone.” They certainly fulfilled their goal. 

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Orcas Island – Day 1- Going to Mt. Constitution

There’s something unique about the San Juan Islands. Perhaps the islands should have been named “Peace and Serenity” as that is the feeling you have as you step onto the island. It’s as though all the stress and problems you arrive with, are immediately whisked away and you are embraced in a cozy blanket of calmness. People drive slower with no impatient drivers honking their horn. There are no traffic jams. The locals, as well as the visitors, have an unspoken law of friendliness with the “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” attitude.

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Anacortes and on to the San Juan Islands

Anacortes is called the “Gateway to the San Juan Islands” — that is exactly what it was for my daughter and me. Although we didn’t have a lot of time to explore the town before we had to be in line for our ferry to Orcas Island, we did find some very interesting things and had fantastic views of the islands. I know we will come back to this town on another day with more time to do some extended exploring!

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Our first stop was Cap Sante Park, gotten to by climbing a steep winding hill up to the park. The views were spectacular in all directions. To the west, we looked down on the town of Anacortes, the marinas and the San Juans in the distance.

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La Conner, Washington and the Surrounding Area

I’m back for two weeks of spring break in the state of Washington!!! Up to this point in my mini-vacation, I’d been cuddling with grandchildren and enjoying the time with my kids and their spouses. The weather was to be spectacular, so I decided to go wandering off by myself on a short road trip for a day; destination La Conner and the surrounding area. With crystal clear skies, bright warm sunshine, a view of the snow-capped mountains that was beyond spectacular, and my fluffy puppy riding shotgun, the drive up to La Conner was quite delightful. Not long after I turned off I-5 at exit 221 onto Fir Island, I came across a picturesque, century-old, little, country church, Fir-Conway Lutheran Church. It was so beautiful in a full beam of sunlight streaming down from the “heavens”. I only stopped for a second as I had a definite purpose for the day; to capture the blooming daffodil fields with the sugar-white, snow-draped, mountains as a backdrop. Plus, I also wanted to explore and learn more about La Conner — a quaint little seaside fishing and artistic town that I had stopped briefly at in my explorations during last year’s spring break.

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New Brakes, Washington, Christmas, and Homeward Bound

Yesterday, as we were going down the mountain around numerous hairpin curves leaving Sequoia, our brakes went out! Hubby had pressed on the brakes and they went right to the floor, no resistance and no braking at all. As I was quietly suggesting,   calmly encouraging,  frantically yelling to Hubby to turn into the upward side of the mountain to avoid careening off the drop-off side, he started pumping the brakes and was able to slow our descent. We coasted up to the main entrance/exit gate to the park. There was a ranger checking passes, so we told him our dilemma. He said it would be hard to get a service/tow truck up where we were especially being as it was so late in the afternoon. He suggested driving slowly down the road about 15 miles to a small town, Three Rivers. I remembered driving through it on our way up. It was a cute little town, but I remembered it being at the bottom of   a l-o-n-g curvy road. Hubby said, “Ok” and started driving down the road.

“What! Hold on here. Have we considered all options? What about the National Guard or the fire jumpers or maybe the ski patrol? Would they be able to help?” Hubby gave me that “look” and I knew we were going for it, end of discussion! We drove slowly and coasted into the hairpin curves instead of using the brakes. We didn’t go careening off any edges and I even realized after awhile, that holding my breath until I turned purple, didn’t slow us down.

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