This morning we got up early and decided to head up to the Lime Kiln Cafe for some breakfast (and one of their famous donuts). Breakfast was good. The salted caramel donut we shared before breakfast was really good. 🙂
After breakfast we headed over to the harbormaster's office to pay for our night of moorage (they were closed at 5pm when we got in last night. Roche Harbor slip moorage with electricity and free Wi-Fi was $31. I think that's the cheapest one yet! After we paid up, we walked around the grounds of the resort a bit:
Wow. Fancy kayak docks:
The little chapel (the only privately owned Catholic Church in the United States, apparently):
Old schoolhouse:
We decided we really should walk up the hill and see the highly rated mausoleum (highly rated in the "you've never seen anything like it" kind of way).
There's a LOT of signage to get you to this place:
The entrance (kind of):
Past this entrance sign there's a little trail that leads you past a bunch of old graves:
And more signage:
It's like the Wall Drug of mausoleums (and every bit as quirky when you finally arrive):
You really need to read this sign though to get the whole flavor of the place:
Yesterday I gave you a little history of Roche Harbor and the McMillan family (here's a link if you need a refresher) but this mausoleum will give you a whole 'nother view into this family.
I kinda dig this idea — the ashes of family members being buried in chairs around a big table like this. It paints a nice picture of an imaginary family dinner, complete with arguments about politics and health care and whether marijuana should be legalized…going on over, and over, and over, and over again for all of eternity.
Oh. But no alcohol allowed. Well then nevermind.
We left the mausoleum and headed back to the marina (with a fairly quick walk through the sculpture garden) next to the airport. Nineteen acres of rolling hills containing about 120 sculptures dotting the landscape…pretty cool. We carved our names into the "friendship totem." They encourage you with a sign (put your name and where you're from), and they even leave you a little engraving tool plugged into a very long extension cord. Neat!
We loved Roche Harbor and its quirky, picturesque vibe! We'll be back!
