Glamping in the San Juan Islands

Back in March, I planned my birthday weekend. Yes, I understand that it was a bit early (my birthday is at the end of August), and that maybe I should've let Graham do this. But see, I really wanted to spend a night in a Canvas Tent on San Juan Island, and these things book super early. The summer was already half booked when I looked in March. This was before I ever heard of the term glamping, but it's totally what we did. 

No setting up the tent, no inflating the air mattress, no trying to roll to the other side in your mummy sleeping bag. Don't get me wrong, I love all of these things as well. But it was nice to pull up, bring our bags into the tent, and be set. To have the perfect amount of dry wood, kindling, matches and newspaper to start the fire, right there at our door step. Comfy chairs to read and sip wine in, looking at the lake. Finally getting to know the big secret in this book, which I devoured. But truly, the best and most amazing part was the "toasty toes service": around 8pm, hot water bottles delivered to your tent, to place in your bed and keep you warm all night. Graham didn't want his, so I jumped into bed, one hot water bottle behind my back, one under my feet, and read for hours, at times glancing at the campfire outside. It was amazing. 

We spent two days exploring San Juan and Orcas Islands, and I was ravenous the entire time. House smoked salmon and avocado bennies, berry scones, key lime shortbread cookies, Coho salmon Po Boy, and thin crust pizza are only a few of the delicious things we ate. There seemed to be so many great options, and I wanted to (and did) try it all (almost). We loved the farmer's market on Saturday morning on San Juan, the Market Chef, Pizza at the Dock, the New Leaf Cafe, this bookstore, and driving around the islands, stopping at parks and lighthouses on the way, finding alpaca and lavender farms as well as sunbathing seals. It was a leisurely weekend, blessed with ferry luck despite the long weekend, and we fully slowed down to embrace the island living.