Last year, when Thanksgiving decorations gave way to elaborate Christmas displays in our residential neighborhood in Seattle, when there were inquiries for our current address from family overseas and the first greeting cards arrived, my husband and I admitted to each other, that neither of us felt like having a traditional holiday this year. Instead of a tree or presents we neither need nor want or too much sugar and stress, we decided to run away--just the two of us--to San Juan Island.    And what a great decision it turned out to be!

In the sylvan heart of San Juan Island, overlooking a serene pond, in a cedar shingled house, overgrown with grape vines, find the Duck Soup. Duck Soup, now in its 39th year and originally built as a woodshed, has been a Farm-to-Table restaurant since long before the term was coined and is taking the concept to its next logical level.

The cute, coastal, tourist town of Friday Harbor offers an abundance of unique gift shops, as well as restaurants, bars, boutiques, galleries and museums. But that’s not all. There is also an array of distinct places selling antiques, second hand clothing and previously owned books, musical instruments, furniture, arts and crafts and odds and ends.

With kids in school and 9 to 5 jobs you are most likely going on vacation when everybody else is; in the Summer, on weekends and holidays.  Everything is crowded, takes a little longer and is more expensive. Not so on beautiful San Juan Island.

Visiting San Juan Island’s Pelindaba Lavender Farm is always a treat. The serenity and beauty of this place with its rolling lavender fields, speckled with gorgeous sculptures, adorable, historic farm store and snow covered Olympics as the backdrop, makes for the perfect spot to indulge all your senses. The only thing better is coming for the annual Lavender Festival on July 15 & 16 during the “height of purpleness”.

Beautiful San Juan Island, nestled in Washington State between the Olympic Mountains and Vancouver Island, lays in the so-called Olympic Rain Shadow. Where Seattle is drenched in 58 inches of rain per year, San Juan Island experiences 250 sunny days per year with only 29 inches of yearly rainfall. And when you come visit on day number 251? Do not worry! Friday Harbor and San Juan Island offer an abundance of things to do, rain or shine!

“Is not the kiss the very autograph of love?” – Henry Finck

What can be more romantic than visiting a small island with breathtaking scenery and staying in a cute small town, where you can walk to everything? Kissing in such a place is more romantic. I have to admit I’m biased. Friday Harbor and San Juan Island are about the most romantic places in my world. My husband proposed here. We got married here. We visit often and retrace our steps…and kiss, with eyes and hearts wide open.

Winter is spectacular on San Juan Island. The Olympic Rain Shadow allows for crystal clear, sunny days to make you feel at times like you have landed in the Caribbean, but without the palm trees.

San Juan Island, with its fertile valleys kept sunny and warm by the Olympic Rain Shadow and its fresh air and clean water, is a culinary paradise. Our busy island farmers, fishermen and foragers tirelessly produce and catch ingredients that our talented island chefs whisk into a Locavore’s dream!

Winter is the time for romance, relaxation and rejuvenation on San Juan Island.