When I am king, dilly dilly, you shall be queen

My favorite part about Sequim, Washington - Josh's hometown - is the lavender. Anyone who has ever spent any real time in Washington will know that Sequim, on the Olympic Peninsula, west of Seattle, is famous for lavender farms and for its annual Lavender Festival. This year, for the first time, our visit coincided with the festival and I got to go.

The festival fell on the weekend just after Josh's eye surgery, so he had to spend his days like this:Don't feel too bad for him though; Josh and his family embrace the Cranky Local philosophy of festivals and lavender itself, and eschew participation on principle. Lucky for me, Irish and Steve like plants, festivals, and good live music, so they drove up to Sequim to come along for the day.There they are, Irish modeling the new hat Steve bought her! Behind them are a few of the dozens of varieties of lavender that grow all around Sequim, soaking up the mild temperatures and little rain. We got lucky with the gorgeous sunny day, and the buses to the lavender farms were good for an air-conditioned break. There were a dozen farms on the tour, but once you've seen a couple fields of lavender, you're pretty much set. So we took a leisurely walk through the impressive street fair, where Irish got her hat and we all got some local spice mixes and hazelnut snacks.

I wish I'd snapped more photos of the street fair; it was lovely. There were hundreds of vendors, and everything smelled amazing. There was even a dogsitting arena with private, shaded kennels where folks could leave Bruiser while they visited the farms. Early in the day we stopped for a snack to build our strength. And here, ladies and gentlemen, is where you get to see a semi-obscene picture of me eating an enormous all-beef Polish hot dog. Oh yeah, baby - hot dogs are one of those rare meaty concoctions I actually craved during my vegetarian years. On a hot day in Washington D.C., or walking through downtown Bath, Maine, I'd occasionally catch a whiff from a hot dog stand and just swoon. This was my first indulgence since embracing omnivoritude once again, and it did not disappoint. Mmm!

The rest of the day was much more wholesome, I assure you. I wish Josh could have been there to enjoy the food, the sights, the smells, but he recovered well while we tied up traffic with the rest of the tourists downtown. There aren't too many things Washington state has in common with Provence, but this one made my day.