Cape Cod Lavender Farm – Harwich MA

By now we were running out of ideas of places to go and were hankering for something a little different. That’s the thing about travelling, at first you’re happy with anything and everything but eventually you get jaded and the desire for novelty sets in hard. This time around we decided to check out a lavender farm. Why? Mostly because we’d never been. So, we packed up the cat in her protective bag so we could stroll through this beautiful setting with her.

It was a gorgeous (if not oppressively hot and humid) day and finding the farm was somewhat tricky. We went from full civilization, to a very house filled neighborhood, to a couple one lane dirt roads (driveways?) with arrows pointing the way. Before we knew it we were in the woods. It was crazy. We drove up and there was an adorable little gift store, signs to be careful of dogs while parking, and there was a little path to the lavender field. We took that first and before we knew it we were standing in front of the most whimsical and charming little fairy castle which looked over the whole field. We’d missed it blooming this year but it still smelled very much of lavender. Normally lavender gives me migraines but on this particular day I had come prepared as I already had a migraine before arriving! You might think this would have made for a miserable experience, but I’ve had so many of these damn things in the past few years I was determined not to waste another day sitting on my ass waiting for it to pass and this delightful fairy friendly farm was soooo wonderful. It was worth the drive where I came *this* close to pulling over and puking in the breakdown lane three times. SIGH. (I have learned my lesson – I did push myself too far this time.)

Better still there was a path you could walk down that led us deeper into the woods which just got more whimsical looking the more we walked with trees covered in lichen and arching across the path. I was so incredibly at peace here. And the cat was too. She was sprawled out in her bag purring up a storm and allowing herself to be carried place to place like a tiny furry queen. There were even birds to watch as mourning doves were everywhere making their haunting little calls. My companion thought they were owls at first (because of the noises they were making.)

We stopped in at the gift shop before we left. There was lavender everything there – from the expected soaps to lavender maple syrup?? Odd but interesting! A teenage boy ran the counter and seemed very happy to be there. I bought a book of other plant nurseries and gardens throughout New England figuring it’d give us something else to check out.

This was a very small place that didn’t take us long at all to explore but if you happen to be in the area I definitely recommend checking it out. It’s a slice of a fairy tale. Absolutely stunning.

National Petrified Forest – Arizona

I didn’t know what to expect from the National Petrified Forest. I knew I wouldn’t be walking into a bunch of trees, then again, maybe these trees were really scared.

I drove into the gift shop first. It was not actually in the park but outside of it. This place was a huge gift shop filled with every sort of fossil, mineral, rock, and shiny thing you could have ever asked for, all at double the prices as Sedona. Still, they had neat things like marbles, (for $4 per marble…) and lots and lots of petrified wood in every variation…. Big pieces, little pieces, polished pieces, rough pieces, pieces with bark, slices, giant slices made into tables, whole segments of tree, and in every color and series of colors under the sun. I looked around and walked out again.

I drove on to the Petrified Forest, paying $10 for the Jeep. I was told not to take any of the petrified wood and given flyers stating that taking any would result in $375 fine and that they could search our cars. Its just as well, most of the pieces lying on the ground here were enormous stump-sized chunks. You couldn’t drag one of those off without a forklift. It was basically a field of these shiny pretty rocks lying dead on the ground. There were paths weaving in and out you couldn’t leave. All and all it was rather unimpressive. I returned to the gift shop and bought a few tiny colorful pieces, both rough and polished. I left realizing the gift store was far more impressive than the actual forest (not to mention it had a virtual graveyard of geodes in the back, I mean thousands upon thousands of the suckers all thrown in giant piles.) It was interesting, and I was rewarded by seeing a teeny tiny jackrabbit baby springing away from me. Real cutie. SIGH.

If you are enjoying Catching Marbles please consider adding a dollar or two to my limited gas money fund so I can continue going on adventures and sharing them with you! Thank you!


 

 

 

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