Salt Spring Weekend!

Last weekend both Shane and I took Friday off and went to Salt Spring Island, one of the Southern Gulf Islands in BC. It was a long ferry ride from Vancouver, about 3 hours, though this is mainly because the ferry stopped along other islands in between. The weather was sunny and warm, and I passed the journey reading, sleeping and knitting.

We stayed at Ganges Hill B&B, a loft cottage with its own bathroom and kitchenette. It was bright and very cute.

Every morning we would wake up to breakfast at our door: something freshly baked and still warm, a fruit plate, and juice.

Large slices of apple cake

Cinnamon buns

Caught a plane in mid-air....

We stayed right near Ganges, the little town there. For such a small town, there were four bookstores! Everyone there seemed really relaxed. We saw lots of hippies, young and old. We also saw the writer and artist Nick Bantock at a bookstore.

Pears hanging over the water

The water was so clear you could see right to the bottom. There were a lot of purple starfish, and a few little jellyfish too.

On Saturday we went to the weekly market. It was very crowded and hot that day.

We bought these French pastries from the market. One is a kind of Bretagne cake, and the other is a pastachio macaron. They were both delicious. I especially loved the initial crunch and softness of the macaron.

Fresh Shitake mushrooms!

That Saturday also happened to be Salt Spring's 2nd annual Pride Parade. It was pretty small, but still cool. People were really happy.

That night we had dinner at a writer/publisher's place.

This is their yellow dog, who was very kind and gentle. There was also a black cat who liked to talk to everyone about his day ("meow, mew, mew, meow..."), and a more elusive calico (!) cat

They also had chickens in their yard! The chickens would roam around the back and front yard to their heart's content, but they had to be called back into their cage at the end of the night. These chickens seemed pretty happy.

Happy chickens lay lots of eggs.

It was a pretty great weekend. It was my first time to Salt Spring, and it was lovely. We met lots of people, particularly writers, and I caught a glimpse at a much more relaxing, laid-back life.

We spent most of Sunday traveling back, but we arrived on time to watch the new episode of Mad Men. Hurrah!

I must say, though...going back to work on Monday was particularly hard.