The part of camping I’ve always hated is digging into the cooler full of half-melted ice to pull up food that’s probably not adequately chilled to try to make a home cooked meal when you don’t even have a kitchen.  I don’t mind backpacking food.  It’s all dehydrated so you don’t have the bobbing for food situation, and you’re so hungry by the time you make dinner on a backpacking trip that a cardboard box would taste like the best meal ever.  But camping and day hikes don’t produce the same kind of voracious hunger, so on this trip we decided we were eating out.

We had breakfast at the campground, and ate bars and trail mix for lunch, so when it came time for dinner we could splurge a little.  On chilly nights, it was wonderful to spend some time in nicely lit, cozy places before going back to our tent to sleep.  I think this is my new favorite way to travel.  I’d rather spend money on good food, and sleep in my own sleeping bag than spend money on a hotel room and eat crappy cheap food to stay in our budget.  And even with our hearty dinners out, we still ended up spending way less than we would have if we’d stayed in a hotel for the whole trip.

I don’t do chain restaurants.  I remember eating at major chain bar and grill (hint: fruit + arthropods) years and years ago, and asking if they could make me the quesadilla dish on the menu without the bacon.  The waitress went in the back and returned  to say that bacon came mixed with the cheese and peppers, etc. all in one bag, so they couldn’t leave the bacon out.  Gross!  Thanks to the wonder that is the iPhone (which I swore up and down was ridiculous and unnecessary when it first came out) we were able to research restaurants in the area and eat at some great places.

In Bellingham, we chowed at Dirty Dan Harris’.  While a lot of their food isn’t locally sourced, some of it is, and it’s been a part of the Bellingham/Fairhaven economy for 35 years.  Plus, the food was damn good!

While at Dungeness, we hopped into Port Angeles for dinner one night and ate at Michael’s Divine Dining (warning, the website plays music.  Why do websites play music?  Why? Why?).  The restaurant is in a basement with big wooden beams, books, and antiques everywhere, and has something of a speakeasy vibe to it.  The food was fantastic, and the produce and seafood are locally sourced.

In Sequim, (pronounced, according to Lady, Squim), which was about 10 minutes from the Dungeness Recreation Area, we found the Alder Wood Bistro by accident, and it was a happy happy accident.  We were planning to go to a place called 3 Crabs (don’t worry, Aaron, no crab pictures) for a dinner of Dungeness Crabs, but we got there at 10 after 8, and they stopped seating at 8.  Hungry, and getting cranky, we looked up restaurants in the area.

I found a big long list, and randomly clicked on Alder Wood.  It was close to our current location, so we went.  I consider this place to be The Moosewood of the West, and The Moosewood is probably my favorite restaurant of all time.  The food at Alder Wood is local, organic whenever possible, and absolutely delicious!  So delicious that we went back again the following night.  There was a great selection of gluten-free options (including a lasagna made with polenta instead of noodles that makes all other foods seem inferior), and they even added gluten-free crackers in the bread basket after I asked which dishes would be okay for me to eat.  Seriously, if you’re ever in Sequim, eat there.

The portions in all the restaurants were just right.  After a day of lighter eating and high activity, we were happily members of the clean plate club, but weren’t overly stuffed after dinner.

Our local organic food extravaganza wasn’t limited to restaurants either.  Lady and Mr. Lady made a priority of serving local meals at their wedding and the party for out of towners the day before the wedding.  The added so much to both events, and was nourishing in so many ways.

The out of towner dinner was catered by Cinnamon, a friend of Mr. Lady.  Cinnamon, (is there a more perfect name for a chef?), fed us organic chicken, and grain salads, and grilled veggies that were all delicious.

The wedding was catered by La Figa Catering.  Tiberio, the owner of La Figa, is one of Lady’s good friends.  He’s a delightful character, and an absolutely amazing chef.  We dined on fresh salmon, this potato thing that knocked my socks off, and a seemingly endless array of seasonal vegetable salads.

The whole vacation was a reminder in the importance of quality over quantity, the restorative effects of a good meal, and the wonders of food that hasn’t spent a week in the back of a truck to get to the plate.