A Get Away

One of the great things about marrying into Kevin's family is a placed called K. If you know me very well, you have probably heard me talk about this place. The year that Kevin was born, his parents bought a cottage on a little island in Howe Sound off the British Columbia coast.

First of all, growing up on a farm in South Dakota was an amazing childhood, but I have to say, it was landlocked. Our experience with water was going to Orman Dam or my grandparents' pool in the summer. We were very blessed to have the pool, it was actually in ground and the deep end was eight feet deep! Not every kid gets that experience growing up. The summer I was to go into 7th grade, however, everything changed for me. That summer my parents took us on a Florida vacation. We went to Disneyworld, Busch Gardens, Kennedy Space Center and many other fun places. The best place for me, however, was the beach. We stayed in this great hotel on the beach for a few days and for me it was love at first sight. I had never seen the ocean before that trip, and after we left I declared to my mother that my life's ambition was to be a beach bum. She laughed it off, but at the time I was serious! It felt as though I was leaving a little bit of myself behind when we had to leave and I knew that some day I would live close to the ocean and now I do!
We currently live less than a half hour's drive to the ocean. I love this area. It is truly one of the most incredible places on Earth. Although we live in the mountains, we can get to the ocean in a short amount of time. When I moved here a whole new world of ferries and bridges was opened to me. Although I sometimes detest the bridge that I must drive over to get to work and back every day, most days I look off into the horizon and think gorgeous. I have also had a whole new world of fun opened to me! One of my favourite activies now is going along the seawall. This is a 10k path that goes around Stanley Park in Vancouver. I can walk it or bike it and recently I have even starting jogging sections of it! The views along the Seawall are incredible! It is always nice when we go, because believe me, you do not want to do it in the rain! I have experienced that and it wasn't fun! Most days the sun is out and when we head around it I can feel the sun on my back, smell the salt of the ocean, and hear the waves crashing up against the rocks. It is truly the most incredible feeling. Meanwhile, I get to see scenery that rivals all that I have seen in my life!
What about K? Well, it is one of the best parts of all. This new world has been opened to me, but of all of the places I can go, K is my favourite. To get to there, you either have to get a ride on a private boat, which we have done with my friend James:
or you have to ride the ferry and a smaller boat. Most of the time we take the ferry. I LOVE riding ferries! I think it is because I never experienced this growing up. I recently talked with my friend Chris about this. She lived in Seattle for a bit and she grew up in South Dakota as well. She and her husband just moved to California and she said she still can't bring herself to throw away the ferry schedule, because that means she won't be riding it anymore. Getting on the ferry is an experience all in itself! It truly is fun. We always head into the gift shop, even though we don't want to buy anything, and some people even eat at the on board restaurant. I truly love riding the ferry! Once we get to the ferry stop, we have to make our way to another smaller boat. This is the boat that takes us to the wharf on K. Once we are there, it is less than a two minute walk up to the cottage!

Just stepping onto the Island is like entering another world. It is quiet, there aren't many vehicles on the Island because it is difficult to get them there in the first place. We walk everywhere! I love that I can hear the ocean from the deck and it is fun to sit out there for hours. This summer Kevin and I spent time just sitting on the deck putting together a puzzle.

Every year Kev has a much anticipated "Guys' Weekend" at K. He and his lifelong buddies head up on the last Friday night ferry and spend the weekend doing who knows what in the cottage. It's time for them to get away and just be men and every year his friends begin to question him way in advance about which weekend will be the "One." Last year I also added a girls' weekend! I had some friends that I had walked in a Cancer Walk with come up for a night. We played games, went for walks, and even had breakfast on the deck!

This summer, I get to open this world up to my little sister! In just a few short months she will be coming to visit and I can't wait to take her to there. We are going to head up with a few close friends of mine and have a crazy, fun, giggly girls' weekend. We will have the opportunity to go for walks along the coastline:

we will be able to eat a lot of good food, we can play games, and we can just have fun together. I haven't had a chance to do that with my little sister in several YEARS! I am looking forward to this time more than I can say. One of the things I am most excited about, however, is opening up this world to someone from my family. It will be so wonderful to have someone from my family that understands why I love going to K so much. I hope that over the years I will have an opportunity to take everyone up there, but for now it will be great to be able to have Candace understand that. She can't wait to go there and experience it either!

Watch out K! Here we come!