My Little Slice of Paradise!

Fair Warning! - All of my other articles have been very work-related, and this one is too in a way: It's about my favorite way to rest and recharge. Many of you know that I'm a dual citizen (Born in Canada, Acquired US Citizenship) - but in fact, I'm actually a Tri-Citizen (Canada, US, and UK) on account of my mother being born in Wales. That little fact has little to do with this article topic, but I share it because it makes me pretty versatile as a global employee - I'm able to enter all 3 countries easily without a lot of questions about my work intentions as I'm legally entitled to work in all 3 countries. I only wish Brexit hadn't happened because before Brexit that flexibility extended to the entire EU!

On to the primary topic: How we rest, relax and recharge. I lived in the Vancouver area back in the Early 90's, in fact, it was the last place in Canada that I lived in prior to relocating back to the US! One of the places that I discovered during that stay in Vancouver is a little piece of Washington state known as Point Roberts, WA. Back in that era, like many other Canadians from the lower mainland, I went to Point Roberts with friends to spend Saturday nights at The Breakers! The Breakers was one of the largest Bars in Washington state at the time and they enticed the 20-somethings of the Vancouver area across the border with a combination of benefits that were hard to find in Vancouver: Classic Rock Bands (Often Canadian, but not always: I saw April Wine, Doug & The Slugs, Trooper, The Commitments and many others at the Breakers over the years), Cheap Beer (I remember $5 Pitchers), and No food purchase requirements on Sundays (Back in this era BC had a requirement that your Food bill exceeds your Alcohol bill on Sundays). Well that was my primary experience with 'The Point' for many years, but probably about 15 years ago, I stopped in to see what was happening on the Point these days.

My first realization was a bit of disappointment in discovering that The Breakers had a fire and was permanently closed sometime around 2002. However, this led me to drive around the rest of the Point and discover the hidden beauty of the area that had escaped me in my 20's. There was the Marina:

A park on every corner of the Point: Monument Park, Lighthouse Marine Park, Lily Point Marine Reserve, and Maple Beach Park. The parks are all on the water with varying degrees of Pacific Northwest-style beaches and lots to do from hiking down a trail to the beach at Lighthouse Marine Park to the ruins of the old Alaska Packers fish canning plant, to Kayaking in the Straight of Georgia at Lighthouse Marine Park, to hanging on the Beach and catching a band at Maple Beach - or just viewing the "Border Wall" with Canada at Monument Park. It's a great place to relax, unwind and disconnect!

There's also a Golf course, and lots of wildlife - Deer, Coyotes, Bald Eagles, Owls, and other birds of prey. I really haven't visited the area without encountering wildlife in its natural habitat. The area is famous for its population of Bald Eagles - one of the largest in the United States! There are Clay Cliffs at Lily Point where the Eagles nest and you are guaranteed to see Bald Eagles if you make the effort to hike down to the beach at Lily Point. The shot above was taken on the 4th of July a few years back - I made my daughter and her friend make the hike to see Bald Eagles in the wild on the 4th!

Above is a link to a video from my Ring Doorbell Camera - I'm treated to a video like this every day or two - This one has 4 Deer walking by the front door of my Cabin, but sometimes it's coyotes and every once in a while we catch a raccoon. When we go up to visit it's pretty common to catch a Coyote or two hanging out.

Well, the point of my article is: We all need time to rest, relax, and recharge and while we do that differently: (Even spending a week or two working from home at my Cabin works for me) - You can't be effective if you are always on! I think sometimes the American work ethic stops us all from realizing this.

My recommendation is: Figure out where and how you want to take a break and take that downtime a couple of times a year! - You'll find that when you come back your energy, enthusiasm, and Passion will be recharged and you'll be more productive. My place to do this is my Cabin in Point Roberts - Yours could easily be somewhere or something else!