As our ferry nosed into the dock, we noticed the handsomely painted Victorian house, adorned with window boxes bursting with petunias, sitting directly across the street. The one-room studio at its top -- Yakima Suite -- was to be ours for three nights with check-in by means of a lockbox code anytime after 4pm. We congratulated ourselves on our timing, even managed to locate a parking spot just a block away (no small feat but there's no designated parking space for Ferry Landing Suites), hauled our luggage up the steps and then after struggling awhile with the combination lock that had been put on upside down, opened the door to...a mess! A housekeeping slip-up apparently; the manager at Lakedale Resort suggested we get some dinner, and all would be in order when we returned in a couple hours. Hot, tired and cranky, we ambled up A Street to Backdoor Kitchen where crankiness dissipated. Finally it seemed "safe" at 7:30pm to return to our third floor retreat.
Ah...much... more