Winter Day in La Conner

We ventured to La Conner yesterday to drive around Jim’s old neighborhood of Shelter Bay.  This drive was followed by the treat of a delicious, hot lunch downtown.  Both activities were fun.  The weather was cold, and rain fell part of the time, but that did not deter our adventure.

La Conner is a tiny town with a fabulous Main Street shopping venue.  Both sides of the street consist of small galleries and stores purveying upscale and unique clothing, gifts, household décor, furniture and more.  It would take the better part of a day to wander through all of these tempting shops, so already I have put the return trip on my to-do-list.

Outside the café windows, we spied a totem pole, which in all likelihood is an historic and authentic rendition of Native American art situated near a museum overlooking Rainbow Bridge.  Tied up to a dock near the museum, a sailboat acts as a sentry for the bridge in the muted light of the overcast day.  The bridge leads over to Shelter Bay, so we had already driven across it and back before lunch.

In winter, you could toss a ball down Main Street without hitting a soul.  Under a thousand people live here according to the 2010 census.  But in the spring, the town is filled with people coming to view the tulip fields bordering La Conner during the Annual Tulip Festival in April.  The rows of multicolored flowers are grown for their bulbs, which are exported to Holland.

This time of year other visitors come to the same surrounding fields.  These feathered visitors are thousands of snow geese, passing through on their annual migration.  Providing seeds for them to forage on, local farmers welcome these birds.  Sometimes so many birds land on the ground together, their bodies turn the fields white  – matching the snow-covered hills surrounding this flat, farmland.

The rural flavor of the area, the small town feel, and the nearby town of Mount Vernon with every convenience readily available make this an area it would be easy to call home.  The RV is warm and we are booked in a Mount Vernon RV park for a month.  The cozy, stay-inside, hot soup and hot cocoa weather make preparing for another year of work inviting.  I think I can get used to winter again.