West Coast Steins: West Beach Resort

Part way through my chemo treatment Sarah and I thought about taking a vacation to Hawaii. I had never been there before, and we wanted to take a tropical vacation. Because of some various things that didn't happen. Another day...or rather I guess I should say another year...or years from now.

Nevertheless we did want to do something. So we looked into our schedules, things that we could do closer by, and since I had never been to the San Juan Islands (other than Anacortes) we figured we'd take a trip. The searching began and we found a little resort on Orcas Island called West Beach Resort. It reminded me of a mix between being at Camp Gray and being at Holiday Acres (with MUCH less craziness - those who know of Holiday Acres know what I mean). It was just what we needed. We took the long weekend, extended it an added day and it turned into a great way to relax relax relax, celebrate being done with cancer treatment, and call it a "babymoon" with one last time to get away just as us --- and Nikki of course. The place was reasonably priced and for only an additional $18 we could bring Nikki with (opposed to boarding her at like $25 a day at least). Nikki of course didn't mind - more to come on that.

The weather turned out to not look very good, but actually Sunday through Tuesday it was just fine. Saturday was a bit rainy and we weren't able to check in until 4, but we still took the second ferry over so that we didn't get stuck in long lines. But then we didn't know what we would do. Off to the "city" of Eastsound we went. As we started walking around we quickly found out that at 10am was registration for the annual pet parade. Your pet would get a goodie bag with a donation, and then at 11 there was a parade around town. Pets were placed into categories, judged, and awards were given - including participation ribbons. Nikki didn't win a trophy but she did get her participation ribbon!!! It was definitely a good way to get some socialization time in for her - but I will also say she was quite the pain in the butt at times too. There were a few times when I wish we left her home - of course glad we didnt though.

Sunday started out a bit overcast and rainy so we weren't able to get much of a view from the top of Mount Constitution, but our hike around Mountain Lake was protected enough by the trees that we didn't notice the rain all that much. Nikki also liked that momma didn't want to do hikes with much elevation (carrying a bit more weight these days with less room for her lungs to expand) so we hiked the perimeter of the lake. Nikki doesn't realize that she is a dog - she really thinks that she is a fish. Anywhere that there is water she will just go out and swim. She will fetch sticks in the water of course, but if there is nothing to fetch, she will still just head out to sea. A few times I enjoyed quoting Finding Nemo with a little bit of a change when I would say "Look!! Nikki's heading out to sea!!" She was such a good girl and did NOT want to come back. Who wouldn't want to just hike and swim all day long right?

It was really what Sarah and I needed too. Both Saturday and Sunday we fell asleep after dinner (about 730 or 8) and didn't wake up until 1130, just to realize "woah, we fell asleep - I guess its time to brush our teeth and go to bed". Nikki didn't even mind since each day she was wiped out from all of the hiking. Not only did we get our rest, but our cell service wasnt' the best so we didn't have emails coming in, couldnt take phone calls, and there was no TV in the cabin. We even left the clock flashing from the last time it was unplugged rather than ever even caring about what time it was.

The unfortunate part was that our camera that we got right before our honeymoon broke. So we have very limited pictures. Here are a few that I took with my iPhone....

Sarah and Nikki out on the dock waiting for the sunset