Friday Harbor... Day Five...

I am having such a fun time reliving my vacation as I chronicle it for you... I do hope you are enjoying going along for the ride! 

Day five was our least "touristy" day so I have fewer pictures... Ironically it was one of the best and for me at least one of the most meaningful days of the trip! 

When I booked our hotel I opted for the "rise & shine" option which included having pastries and coffee delivered to us every morning... I thought 2-4 muffins... Hahaha... I was so wrong!

This is what showed up morning one (I took this picture AFTER Paul helped himself!)!! When we checked in we placed our "coffee order" and two piping hot lattes arrived with this box! 

Those almond scones are so good they have forever ruined me for other scones! SERIOUSLY!!

(Nina... Seriously, call the inn and find out the bakery and eat one of their scones every day! I am so jealous that you can!!!)

Our day was spent with my sweet bloggy little sister Nina and her family... 

Paul & her husband hung out and watched the boys (remember, she has two... One did not get in the picture!) letting us have a much anticipated girls day!! 

We decided to explore the little shops dotting the downtown area of Friday Harbor, a lot of which she hadn't explored herself being a fairly new resident herself. 

There were cute shops up and down this street and the shopping was quite fun! 

I had my "art glass" from Seattle but was on the hunt for something distinctly "Northwestern" and the "Arctic Raven Gallery" did not disappoint! 

I saw a piece as we first entered and as beautiful as everything else in the gallery was I kept going back to that one... I am very glad I chose this piece...

It even fits the spot I had in mind perfectly! 

Most of the rest of my shopping was for other people... I don't need anything so I limited most of our souvenirs to art pieces we could remember the trip by but it was time to gather some items to spoil some of the people we love back here and Friday Harbor did not disappoint! 

I found the cutest items for my grand baby in this shop! 

and the little kitchen in the window was hard to pass up, but alas Katy is glad this did not arrive in a box as she is a bit young at 10 months to play with it! 

When I say "arrive in a box" that's what our vacation did... I discovered early on that almost every place will ship your items for you (some for free) so you don't have to lug them back! I took full advantage of this and our "vacation spoils" arrived within a few days of arriving home... It was very exciting! 

We stopped for a "girly" lunch at the "Bean Cafe" and continued what we had been doing all day and that was talking non-stop! The visiting and sharing was truly the best part of the day! 

(photo: google.com)

After lunch and a bit more shopping we headed back to our hotel and made plans for the evening... There was some confusion as to how we could get out to the other side of the island where she lives since the guys were there already with two napping kiddos and the only taxi on the island refused to make the 20 minute drive! Ha!! So we dropped into the "English style pub" next to our hotel for a late afternoon aperitif... It was at that moment I realized how much older then Nina I am since the waitress took my "cocktail" order without question but literally carded her for a club soda! 

After a bit the boys were able to come retrieve us and we stopped into a grocery store to get some dinner fixin's and headed out to their place for dinner.

While at the store I spotted this beer... Paul doesn't drink much beer (or anything else for that matter... Actually neither of us do, but it was vacation after all!) but back when we lived in Montana from 1992-2000 this was his favorite and occasionally when we'd go out for dinner he'd get one. (It wasn't bottled at first back in the day!) So when I spotted it at her little store in Friday Harbor I decided to surprise him! (He said it made his day... Awwww!) 

Nina cooked an AMAZING and HUGE dinner for us and we all visited like long time friends! It was an amazing time and one I will treasure always! 

It was hard to say our "goodbyes" as they dropped us at our hotel that night, but I my heart is fuller knowing them. In fact getting to spend time with them and Julie & Kerry earlier in the week are by far the most meaningful part of the trip! 

Tomorrow I will share the last installment of our little adventure... It will cover days six through eight but since day six is the last official vacation day and the rest of that is travel I promise it won't be too long! 

Thanks for listening,