We had several hours to burn before we could check in at Lakedale Resort and so decided to see the sights.
We checked off our first attraction: the San Juan Island Sculpture Park on the north end of the island. The Park was cool and quirky and somewhere I would recommend stopping by when day-tripping to San Juan Island.
4:00PM. Check in time had arrived. Lakedale Resort is privately-owned and surrounded by three picturesque lakes. There are a variety of lodgings, from rustic log cabins for families to modern canvas tents for semi-glampers. We opted, or should I say Bob opted, for the pricey yurt.
I had dreamt that my first yurt experience would be on the steppes of a Central Asian country, huddled around a blazing fire, sipping on yak butter tea (or at least trying to). Not this. The setting was idyllic enough but the experience left much to be desired. The reservation office called to confirm our stay and advised that should a yurt become available, we could check in earlier. What a joke. No one else was staying at any of the other yurts! To add insult to injury, we were still charged full price ($308 a night). I tried to be sympathetic but the thought that a business would forego more occupancy by keeping their prices the same during a time of economic hardship was downright greedy. How many employees did they have to let go to cut costs when they could have dropped the price and kept staff employed?
Maybe a good meal would calm the fires of indignation. The first thought that comes to mind while on an island surrounded by water? Seafood. Salmon, crustaceans, bivalves should have all featured prominently on every restaurant’s menu, in a dozen different preparations. Sadly, not the case. If the third-rate cheeseburger ($13) or overly-salted french dip ($17) during lunch was any indication of the price and quality of the meals on the island, we sure as hell was not going to pay $19 for three pieces of cod at The Bait Shop. What happened to the PNW’s locavore, farm-to-table movement? Was San Juan Island the last hold out? The land is teeming with flora and fauna that could have been showcased at the local restaurants.
We felt like food hostages. The few eateries that were open (during dinner time) had all the same types of food (burgers, sandwiches, pizza). The restaurants that offered anything of interest were overpriced and fully-booked. What was a couple of hungry guys to do? They put on their big girl panties and head to the local grocery store, Kings Market. That evening, our 2021 vintage Gold Peak slightly-sweetened iced tea accompanied a silky store-made corn chowder, a can of lightly-microwaved Progresso calm chowder, and a piquant bag of Tim’s jalapeno potato crisps.
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