Our son Jake relocated to San Juan Island when he took a new surveyor job in January. We had never been there and looked forward to visiting Jake and exploring the area. After some delays, we finally got there last weekend.
The San Juan Islands are located north of Whidbey Island in the Salish Sea, a body of salt water located between the US and Canada. The San Juans are US territory and the Gulf Islands north of them are Canadian, but they are all part of the same archipelago. They are popular boating and vacation islands but also have permanent residents.
We were up early Friday morning to make the drive to the Anacortes ferry at the north tip of Fildago Island, which is attached via the Deception Pass Bridge to Whidbey Island. We drove the I-5 freeway.
We arrived at the ferry landing in Anacortes at 7:30 on a beautiful blue sky morning. We set sail for Friday Harbor on San Juan Island at 8:30, navigating for about an hour around and between islands.Friday Harbor is the only real town in the islands , it's where Jake lives, and where we would be staying once we checked into our hotel later.
But since we had all day before that happened, we hopped the interisland ferry and took a little free walk-on cruise around the other islands. The inter-island ferry stops at three other islands, Orcas, Shaw, and Lopez.
Much of the land is rock, with picturesque rocky outcroppings and interesting trees. The water is sometimes green and sometimes blue, and I'm sure it is often gray, but not this day!Back at Friday Harbor we spent time exploring the harbor and the docks. The Coast Salish Indians are the original islanders.This table became base camp on our last day when we were between hotel and ferry.We checked into our hotel about 4:00 and rested until we met Jake for dinner about 6:30. He had a full day of work while we were "cruising" around. And that's Day 1.
You will need several days to look this location over. Nice that they have a free walk on tour.
ReplyDeleteLooks beautiful. What's Popeye the Seal's story? Linda in seal-less Kansas
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely place that kept you quite entertained while Jake worked. Those totems are really interesting.
ReplyDeleteLooks like a beautiful place to visit and to work!
ReplyDeleteWhat a picturesque place. The internet island cruise sounds like a fun way to spend some time.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed these photos. Love the totem poles especially. You know how I love art! Looking forward to more pictures.
ReplyDeleteOh, this is a beautiful spot -- so much natural beauty in the world.
ReplyDeleteYou got beautiful weather. I've never been to the San Juans and need to make that a priority!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful! My son-in-law's father lives on Lucas Island. I have never been to the islands except for Whidbey Island and your pictures do make it a "maybe I want to go there" for me.
ReplyDeleteHow wonderful that Jake is now living in such a beautiful area! It gives you a great excuse to visit him and enjoy the scenery.
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