Harbor Breeze & Gardens

Harbor Breeze Inn was clean, cheerful, and comforting… the perfect place to land after a day on the beach. Hot showers with good water pressure and scrumptously clean towels, clean-​smelling bar soaps, crisply made beds, and delicious food in the morning.
Jim and Marie were excellent hosts, even taking the trouble to make us Earl Gray iced tea, the way we have it at home, merely by us mentioning that that is the kind we made.
Breakfast included yogurt parfaits, fresh fruit salad and freshly baked breakfast pastry. This was served in a small, immaculately clean dining area which was set up café style with several small tables. Outside, a small, clean pool awaited those who preferred that to a beach swim.
The grounds were manicured meticulously and included a slate-​paved walkway to a labyrinth, a spiritual pathway that sits beside a small Ecumeical Catholic chapel called St. Mary of Magdala. Nearby, small fairy households sprouted up from the mulchbeds, and bees grazed in the herb blossoms.

i stayed here for 3 nights this July with my son, daughter-​in-​law and their 2 kids, ages 3 and 5. we all had a great time! the owners, Marie and Jim were as helpful as they could possibly be. the rooms were large, very comfortable, Cape Cod cute and clean. they did smell a bit damp and moldy, but I like that smell. My son and his family are vegan and Marie went out of her way to make breakfast food for them from coffee cake to soy milk and cream cheese to soygurt parfaits. kids loved the pool. Great spot!

Harbor Breeze Inn and Gardens:
It’s a regular Cape B&B inn from May-​October — motel-​type rooms with their own outside entrance, and a central dining/​living room where you go for your breakfast. Little display full of flyers for local attractions and boat charters.. . the usual. My room was clean, fresh and neat, with a bunch of giant, comfy, excellent pillows on the king sized bed. Each room has a small TV and small fridge (bigger than a cube) Free wifi. Nicely landscaped grounds; the whole place is very well maintained. There’s a pool, and some rooms have Jacuzzi tubs and their own deck. It’s a 10 min walk to the beach, and not far to a large Star Market/​Osco and the center of town. It’s about a block from Allen Harbor. Run by Jim and Marie. Nice people.
Evensong by the Sea Ecumenical Retreat and Spirituality Center:
Harbor Breeze Inn does business as Evensong from November — April. I chose this place after long, hard searching for.. .. .ANYPLACE within a day’s drive that was OPEN the week of Christmas, had a reasonable price tag, and would feed me without me having to go to a restaurant for every meal. Enter a 4 night «silent individual retreat» at Evensong by the Sea. $ 95 a night for 3 meals a day (dinner your first day, breakfast and lunch your last) and a nice room. They don’t have any religious agenda for visitors, lucky for me. And them. They totally left me alone, which was the idea, considering my misanthropic cranky-​pants attitude of late. And until the last day, I was the only one there anyway. On their silent retreat, you can choose to meet with someone for «spiritual direction”(didn’t do this); OR Marie is a Reiki master and offers treatments (did this). Silent just means no unnecessary speech; you can ask where things are or give important information (I appear to be on fire, pass the water please.. .) I listened to music in my room. Silent means you don’t have to feel weird not making small talk, and no one will be offended that you are ignoring them.
Food:
Simple, nourishing, home cooked fare. 3 square a day. Available ²⁴⁄₇ in the dining area: coffee and tea, cereal and breads, peanut butter, butter, jam, (nonfat) milk, (nonfat.. oh god.. why) cottage cheese, and juice. They also had nonfat half and half. So.. half what and half what? I sat at the table furthest away from it, and thought «half nonfat milk and half sunshine and rainbows» to make myself feel better. HOWEVER –The truly important thing is they had REAL BUTTER — so I still like them. Some kind of margarine crap and I would’ve had to call it quits.
Highlights:
They left a vase of fabulously fragrant white roses at breakfast on Christmas, for me to take back to my room. Pan fried trout with green beans. Really Good chocolate zucchini bread — which I covered in butter, making it Great. Excellent turkey-​vegetable soup. They tried to hide some tempeh in it, but I won’t hold that against them. Roasted chicken with mashed potatoes and gravy. A very well done split pea soup with ham. A seven circuit labyrinth. A Reiki treatment that left me so far out in lala land that I couldn’t even FIND my body for about 5 minutes when it was over, let alone move it. That was wild — and intensely relaxing. An owl that who-​whoooed me to sleep.
Experiential Overview:
Damn. Hell of quiet. Scary quiet.. . but then.. .wow, I like this quiet. Settling into more sleep than I’ve had in months — complete with crazy, vivid dreams. Writing and reading totally uninterrupted. Other people making ME food. Throw in some Reiki, naps and long walks. Sleep, eat, walk, repeat.. . I’m starting to understand why dogs are so happy and waggy. If I just get neutered, I’ll have everything I need here. Jim and Marie.. .can I move in?
Well.. .no, Kathy.. you, um.. .no, you can’t.
Sigh.
*Back to life.…back to re-​ality.. .*
Everyone says I look rested. :)