Lavender + Rosemary Buttermilk Blueberry Pancakes
Over the summer I went on a three week road trip across the US and up the pacific coast. I’ll save the why and how for another time but let me just say the US is huge and diverse. I don’t think it’s really possible to know just how huge and diverse unless you drive the whole thing. When you drive, you feel the distance and changes in between destinations. But that can make for the best times because the in-between allowed us to spot things we didn’t plan to go to or know about, and then make some of our favorite memories.
My parents and I were headed to Mt Hood along the north side of the Fruit Loop when we saw signs for Lavender Valley. We still had a while ahead of us on a long driving day. We needed a break. My mom and I convinced my dad to follow the signs. I didn’t really expect lavender for a hot second because hipsters name their locales all types of fancy and evocative words, but this place was legit lavender fields. My first time in a lavender field! And the smell! I’d imagined the smell would be like sticking my whole face into a heavy sticky perfume but it was fresh, delicately aromatic. The women working at the products stand were kind to let us walk into the fields wherein we had a view that outdoes anything Provence’s fields can offer. Provence can suck it, Provence can’t see a volcano from its fields (I’m kidding, I’m just upset I can’t afford to travel there). In the late afternoon light, bees going to town all around us, natural beauty in abundance, I fell in love with lavender all over again.