A Midsummer Coastal Escape

From our ferry, watching a ferry cruise past us as we head to San Juan Island.

Central Oregon is hot in July and wildfires are burning throughout the state, but then hundreds of places in the US are hot and battling wildfires. Fires have become a part of life in the west. Climate change. Global warming.

To break up the summer, get out of the heat, and visit some family, R and I headed to the Oregon coast and then made our way to the San Juan Islands to cycle and finally on to Victoria, BC. I’ve learned that when we are on the road, I must pack some food which I did for the first day or so and that as we move from place to place, I need a list of restaurants that serve safe, gluten-free food.

How’d we do? We stayed two nights in Astoria, Oregon where I safely ate at the Bridgewater Bistro  (www.bridgewaterbistro.com) though apparently I was so hungry I failed to snap photos. The Bridgewater Bistro offers excellent seafood, including delicious gluten-free fish cakes and gluten-free bread (extra charge for the bread).

From Astoria, we headed to the Swinomish Casino & Lodge in Anacortes, a nice place to stay when one is booked the next day on an early ferry to the San Juan Islands.

The lodge, located about 20 minutes from the ferry port, has an excellent, though pricey restaurant, 13Moons. I ordered a salad, beautifully grilled halibut with fresh vegetables and we enjoyed a view of Swinomish Channel while eating dinner.

Pricey, fresh delicious halibut. 

Off we were the next day on an early ferry to Friday Harbor on San Juan Island, a place known for its seafood and easy living.  Who knew we’d find a great restaurant with lots of gluten-free, plant based options in this island community. Mike’s Cafe and Wine Bar (mikescafeandwinebar.com) offers an excellent menu for people like me. Both times we ate at Mike’s I ordered sweet potato tacos, yummy tacos of seasoned potato wedges, black beans, corn, and vegan sour cream. Yum. Really, you cannot believe how good these tacos are.

Unbelievable sweet potato tacos. Looking forward to making these at home…..

Our other favorite at Mike’s was the Thai Crunch Salad, a combination of cabbage, onion, and edamame tossed with peanut sauce and peanuts. Heavenly.

We also enjoyed huge, fresh prawns at the Cask & Schooner.  The service was good and the servers knowledgable about celiac.

After several days of cycling and eating on the islands, we headed by ferry to Victoria, BC. Truly, it is probably difficult to have a bad meal in Victoria, whether you are a gluten- free, veganish-pescatarian or not. Some faves were Cafe México (cafemexico.com) were I ate superb salmon tacos and vegetarian black beans and The Tapa Bar (tapabar.ca) a place we shared prawns, both spicy and garlic, prepared with a Spanish flare and washed down with delicious Tempranillo.

We loved the Tapa Bar and these spicy prawns. And the wine wasn’t bad, either.

On our last night in Victoria, we enjoyed a more intimate meal, this time with our aunt (my side) and uncle who, as always, treated us royally. That evening included wine, sautéed scallops, a view of Vic harbor and lots of catching up and chat about travel and life. Best meal of the trip.

My beautiful aunt Toots, 83 years young.

 

Wistful Thoughts of Spain and Living Life in a Time of Political Chaos

 

Beautiful Spanish Poppies.

I loved our time on Spain’s Costa Brava, cycling, eating grilled seafood and crusty gluten-free bread, taking in beautiful sights, living slowly, blissfully removed, at least temporarily, from the disturbing political chaos of America, a place, many days, unrecognizable by me.

Outside the unusual Salvador Dali Museum.

On one warm, sunny afternoon ride, I pedaled along side Jorge, one of our guides. So enchanted was I with this charming Spanish region I started quizzing Jorge about places R and I could live as ex-pats, even if just for a few months at a time.

Beyond our political discussions with each of us attempting to make some kind of sense of our countries, we deliberated approaches to living life. Jorge, a single father of two children, lives his life in a simple, “just enough” kind of way. He works just enough to support his life and his pursuits and lives slowly. When not working during tour season, he cycles, tends to family, enjoys; in the off season, he takes his kids skiing in the nearby Alps.

Back in the states, reluctantly sliding back into our lives, I thought about Jorge and his approach to life.  Simultaneously, I noticed more and more articles pertaining to living life differently and was especially interested in one on NYTimes.com — The Case for Having a Hobby (5/10/2018).

When I worked, I never thought about having a hobby. I exercised, cycled during the season, traveled when we could, saw a few friends and worked and worked.  I never considered how ambition and the pursuit of productivity related to the absence of hobbies or how challenging I found leisure time.  In retirement, I’ve learned how challenged I am.  As I learned when reading this article (though I already knew this), I was a member of “an achievement-oriented culture.” 

The experts quoted in the article agree that one can cultivate an appreciation for leisure and even view work as a means of supporting leisure rather than the reverse. By creating space for leisure in your life, one can, in the words of one of the experts “sink into the wonderful experience of being alive.”  At this moment in America for a majority of us such a feeling might really be impossible. But I’m trying to feel hopeful about the future.

Appreciate leisure is a new retirement goal for me and I’m fairly sure protesting and resisting are hobbies but probably not leisure.

A little Saturday evening protesting