Anniversary Trip To Orcas & San Juan Islands - February 19 - 21, 2017

(from the It's Always Better In The San Juans department)

Hi everyone,

This President's Day weekend was our wedding anniversary. We decided to celebrate by taking a quick trip to the San Juan Islands. Rose was beyond excited - and bounced around the house just thinking about it.

We left for Anacortes at 11:00 AM on Sunday, Feb 19, to catch the 1:50 ferry. We made great time and arrived in plenty of time for our ferry reservation. (Yes - you have to reserve your Washington State Ferry now.)

There was quite a weather system developing, and for one of the first times I can remember, the ferry boat was noticeably rocking in the ocean swells. It wasn't too bad - but it was a little unnerving considering how smooth ferry rides normally are.

(Dana pic!)

Our first stop was Orcas Island, and the Outlook Inn in the community of Eastsound. (There's no official cities on Orcas - only communities.)

Our room was amazing:

and so was the view:

There was even a nice treat in our room, courtesy of the Outlook Inn:

That night, we taught Rose how to shoot pool in the local tavern.  We're so proud!

(Dana pic!)

The next morning, we decide to explore the west side of Orcas - we'd seen a lot of the east side on our last trip. We started near Westsound and a small marina near the Orcas Island Yacht Club:

(By the way - these panorama photos I'm posting were auto-generated by Google Photos on my new Android phone. Basically, if you take a series of photos in a short time period, the album software creates them for you. I've really liked the results so far!)

We explored around a bit - and saw this:

(Dana pic!)

We continued on to Deer Harbor:

One of the interesting things about the San Juan Islands is the history. There's a lot of old wooden structures on these islands that you don't find elsewhere. The theory I heard is, since the islands were isolated by the Puget Sound, they weren't ravaged by the forest fires that periodically sweep the mainland. Makes sense to me.

We saw one of these buildings in Doe Bay - the Post Office:

Attached to the side of the Post Office was a tiny, hand-carved book library:

(Dana pic!)

(Dana pic!)

It's a replica of this building - the Deer Harbor Community Club, built in 1905:

(Dana pic!)

Across the street from the Post Office, they were restoring another old building:

We traveled around the west side of Orcas for a while, then headed back to dinner at the Outlook at the New Leaf Cafe:

Then - I noticed the plaque inside the doorway:

Yup - history!

The next morning, we bid a sad farewell to our hotel room (and the in-room Jacuzzi!), and caught the inter-island ferry to Friday Harbor on San Juan Island. (Friday Harbor is the only incorporated city in San Juan Island county.)

We were on a mission. We wanted breakfast/lunch at Ernie's Cafe.

Ernie's Cafe is something only the locals know about. You'd never causally find it - it's hidden in the Friday Harbor airport, and not easily visible from the road. Named after the famed aviation author, and San Juan resident Ernest K. Gann (The Aviator, Band Of Brothers), it's the kind of place where you can walk in after after a couple of years away, and the owners recognize you and say "Hello". (True story)

We managed to get one of the amazing homemade pop-overs. They bake only 12 per day - if you want to buy more than two, you have to call the day before! (And I think it has to be before 11:00 AM!)

Suitably recharged, we headed over to Roche Harbor to get freshly made donuts (yum!) at the Lime Kiln Cafe and look at the boats:

(Dana pic!)

We finished up the day in Friday Harbor:

(Dana pic!)

and had a non-eventful ferry ride home. We actually even manged to finish one of the infamous ferry boat puzzles. (And - yes - we know about the missing pieces. There was a warning on the lid.)

All in all - a perfect way to celebrate!

Cheers,
Paul

Trip to Orcas Island & the Outlook Inn in Eastsound, WA - Feb. 21st to Feb. 24th, 2014

(from the All Snowed In department)

Hi everyone,

We took a family trip to the San Juans last weekend.  Dana got a great deal at a place called the Outlook Inn in Eastsound, WA located on Orcas Island.  I have been to San Juan Island (and the city of Friday Harbor) many times, but I've never been to Orcas Island. 

Orcas Island is interesting.  It's the largest of the San Juans, but it has no cities.  There are towns, but they're "unincorporated communities", if you will.  Eastsound is relatively large for a town - there are grocery stores, cafes, restaurants, gift shops, etc. - but there are no streetlights.  When the sun goes down - it gets DARK! 

We arrived in Eastsound on a Friday afternoon, and were rewarded by the scenery:

(Note:  The island you see just offshore is apparently called Indian Island)

Very nice indeed.  We checked into our hotel:

and got this view from the balcony:

(This was taken Saturday morning - too dark on Friday.  No streetlights, remember?)

The next morning - Saturday - we set off on an Orcas Island adventure.  Orcas Island is basically shaped like a lowercase "n".  Eastsound is at the apex, so we traveled down the right leg towards Rosario resort, Moran State Park, Mt. Constitution and Doe Bay.  We had lunch at Doe Bay - it was wonderful.  Here's a few photos of the cafe and Rose enjoying "The Best Hot Chocolate Ever!!!":

(Hot chocolate - locally sourced!)

Outside, there was a cool statue overlooking the fog enshrouded water:

As we headed back to Eastsound, we took a detour to the town of Olga.  This is it:

 There was a third building, but it burned down:

Coming back through Moran State Park, it started to snow:

Sadly - the road to Mt. Constitution was closed.  Probably a good thing too, with all the snowfall.  But it was clear by the time we reached Rosario Resort:

We had a great tour inside Rosario Resort and Spa - we got to see the museum, and hear the pipe organ.  Then we headed back to our hotel in Eastsound, dodging a snow flurry or two, unware of the surpise awiting us tomorrow morning:

Yes - that's right.  Snow on Sunday.  It totally transformed the landscape.  We were planning on heading back, but based on the cars we saw slipping around, we decided to stay another night and head back on Monday.  So - we ventured out into the snow to explore Eastsound:

(Get ready for snowballs.  Rose threw them at us non-stop)

It was pretty miserable out there:

But - luckily - Darvill's bookstore was open and they had hot chocolate!  We warmed ourselves up at the bookstore, then headed back to our hotel room to watch movies, do puzzles and enjoy the fireplace, while the snow fell silently outside.

Still - it was a lot of fun having a "snow day".  The weather reports were saying that the snow would start melting around 4:00 AM, so we figured that tomorrow morning there wouldn't be much snow left.  Instead:

Yeah - there was more snow.  The weather service updated the alert to 4:00 PM and mentioned more snow was expected.  Dana & I figured that we better try to catch the noon ferry.  The roads had been freshly plowed, the air wasn't nearly as foggy and there was better traction with the fresh snow. 

It was kinda white knuckle driving - Dana is an awesome driver - but we made it to the ferry terminal in Orcas Village.  And - yup - no snow:

All in all, a great family adventure!  Here are some parting thoughts:

Cheers,

Paul