August 31, 2016 - San Juan Islands & Anacortes, WA
Erwin was the first one up, woke Edith up because he wanted her to see the crack of the dawn. We got ourselves ready for the trip to San Juan Islands, WA. We got a bag of extra clothing to take along in case it rains while we are visiting the island.
On our way to the ferry terminal Erwin picked up donuts at a bakery shop in downtown Anacortes.
We made it to the ferry terminal at 8:10 am, showed the confirmation via IPhone. The guy was going to charge us $77 but we told the agent we are seniors... Down to $63.70 (round trip fare). Then next booth the lady asked us where we were going, then told us to proceed to lane #2. It started to drizzle, then it rained. There was a police guy walking a dog to sniff out vehicles for drugs.
Waiting in line!
Lines of cars waiting to get on the ferry
While waiting for the ferry Erwin took his time to enjoy a cup of coffee while gazing at the water
The GPS works over water!
Raining!
We finally boarded the ferry at 8:49 am. The ferry left the terminal at 9:05 am and it was right on time. It was very cloudy all the way. We went outside for a short while, but it was so cold and windy, so we chose to spend time inside the ferry. We did not see whales along the way.
Inside the ferry
Leaving Anacortes, WA
On the ferry
Sailing across Griffin Bay
The ferry arrived at Friday Harbor, San Juan Island, WA at 10:05 am. We made a beeline to Lime Kiln State Park where there is a lighthouse.
Lime Kiln Lighthouse is also a famous spot for whale watching. We were hoping to see some pods of Orcas, but none showed up. There were reports that some pods were spotted yesterday at 7 pm. We stayed a while, then went inside the information center. There were pictures of pods. There was one picture of 3 generations of Orcas.
Pacific Madrone
Watching for Orcas
Lime Kiln Lighthouse
Pacific Madrone
Big Leaf Maple
After leaving Lime Kiln State Park we checked out San Juan Park, took a look around before heading to Alpaca Farm where they raise alpacas for fur. There is a gift/clothing store, but almost everything was little too pricey.
Alpacas
Asking price was $19,500
We went to Friday Harbor town, found a place to park our car at the courthouse area (8 hr limit parking). In the town center the parking time is limited to 2-3 hours.
We walked down to the marina area to look for something to eat for lunch. Had lunch at Friday's Crabhouse. Erwin had grilled salmon and Edith had Dungeness crab cakes.
We took a quick stroll around the town before returning back to the courthouse parking to wait for the zipline guide to meet us at 1:45 pm.
The ferry arriving at Friday Harbor terminal
Over 125 year old graft of Asian Elm and American Elm
Interwoven and tangled branches!
Mountain Ash Berries
Ivan and Laura were in the van waiting to meet us. Ivan walked around looking for us and he spotted Erwin, asked him if he was waiting for the tour. Ivan told us we can follow the van to the zipline area, about 5 miles. On way Erwin thought he saw a camel, wasn't sure if it was his imagination or it might be a statue. After getting there there were 7 passengers coming out of the van. We were quickly outfitted with harness, cables, helmets, gloves, etc. Edith brought her GoPro camera and fastened it to the chest harness she had with her. There was a quick course on proper ways to zipline. Once everyone of us were familiar with it we then walked to the first zipline. It was fun. The guides, Laura and Ivan, were very friendly, took their time to make sure everyone of us was comfortable. We were the only Americans in the group. The rest (7 of them) were from Europe and Japan.
There were eight ziplines and one suspension bridge. The shortest zipline was 45' and the longest was 612' which is as long as Space Needle is tall.
After leaving zipline we wanted to check out if there was a camel on the island. Yes, there is a camel on the island! There is a nice old church across from where the camel was. On the side of the road next to the church is a winery.
Yes, Erwin's eyes weren't playing tricks on him!
We went to Cattle Point area where there is another lighthouse. Edith told Erwin to pull over because she wanted to get pictures of the landscape and the clouds. When she opened the door to step out she got stopped in her tracks when she saw a fox that was resting by the interpretive signs. It was looking for handouts and we did not give it anything. While Edith was busy checking her camera she didn't know that the fox was coming close to her. She was startled briefly, but then started to take pictures when she was close to the fox. Edith then decided to put down her camera to allow the fox to take a look at it. After checking it out and sniffing it peed on the lens!
The Inspector!
Peeing on Edith's camera!
Apparently, it was upset that it was not
something it could eat
The fox left its mark on Edith's lens
The fox was looking for handouts, but these guys did not give it anything
Anytime a vehicle slow down or pull over the fox would walk over with hopes of getting foods. None of them had anything. The fox wasn't not too afraid, but wouldn't get too close either.
We took a brief stop at Cattle Point area where there is a small lighthouse, but we didn't take a walk to get close. A lady was playing a violin in the vacant building and the echoes were awesome, adding beautiful sounds to the violin!
Erwin suggested that we go back to Lime Kiln Lighthouse for sunset photography. When we got there there were few people waiting to get pictures of the sunset. We were hoping to see pods of Orcas, but none showed up. A guy, walking his dog, informed us that a pod of Orcas were passing by the lighthouse at 3 pm and we were ziplining at that time!
We went back to Friday Harbor, but we realized we were going to miss the 6:30 pm ferry to Anacortes, WA, so we spent some time walking around downtown. We were hungry and many restaurants were already closed early. We finally found a restaurant that was open late.
Friday Harbor downtown
This is where we had late supper before catching a 10 pm ferry back to Anacortes, WA
We boarded the ferry at 10 pm, with two stops at Orcas and Lopez Islands before arriving back to Anacortes at midnight. We were so tired, but were happy that we had a great time at San Juan Islands, WA.
We walked down to the marina area to look for something to eat for lunch. Had lunch at Friday's Crabhouse. Erwin had grilled salmon and Edith had Dungeness crab cakes. 
We went back to Friday Harbor, but we realized we were going to miss the 6:30 pm ferry to Anacortes, WA, so we spent some time walking around downtown. We were hungry and many restaurants were already closed early. We finally found a restaurant that was open late. 
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