Anacortes: part 7 --- Cruisin' Time

 

Friday Harbor, Washington

Roger here...  We knew that a ferry ride through the San Juan Islands would be a big deal for us during  our time in Anacortes.  This all-day excursion to Friday Harbor on San Juan Island is the topic of this post.

We were to cruise on a very large Washington State Ferry that departed at 9:05 a.m.  We arrived early to buy our walk-on tickets (drive-ons require reservations) and waited to cross a series of catwalks onto an upper floor of the ferry.

Before we could sail, all of the cars, trucks, motor homes, etc.  unloaded from the arriving ferry.  This was followed by all the vehicles loading from Anacortes.  The ferry held a remarkable number of vehicles.  If you look at the top of the photo, you can see the walk-on passengers on a catwalk waiting to embark.

As we zig-zagged between the islands we met another ferry, featured in the video below.  Notice how smoothly it slides through the water.

Dogs are usually supposed to ride on an outside deck, but the crew member who scanned our tickets told us we could sit inside if the dogs behaved, which they did beautifully.

The crossing lasted a little more than an hour.  I moved to an outside deck as we arrived to take the pictures below.

There were no catwalks at Friday Harbor, so we exited from the automobile level.

As we disembarked, one of the first shops we noticed was the San Juan Coffee Shop.  Dianne watched the traffic in the harbor with the dogs while I went inside to get mocha flavored lattes.  Dianne proclaimed hers as the best she had ever tasted.

Caffeinated and ready to go we haphazardly wandered through the attractive town.

We watched two couples take off in rented scooters.  They were having so much fun.  They also attracted quite a bit of attention.  Lots of smiling pedestrians.

Dianne bought a t-shirt with a printed design and then found a book shop for browsing.

We eventually found ourselves back at the harbor.  

We started looking for a restaurant with outdoor seating and views of the harbor.  We found it!

The view from our table at Downriggers was exactly what we had hoped for.

Dianne was happy!

Our food was scrumptious.

While we were eating, we were fortunate to see a ferry gliding out of port.  We would be on one of those soon.

When we arrived back at the dock for our 1:55 departure we encountered a few disgruntled travelers.  Evidently our scheduled time had been canceled.  Evidently, there was no Coast Guard boat available for the route.  The next ferry back to Anacortes was at 3:40. We had some time to kill.  So.... we wandered back to the San Juan Coffee Shop where we each had another mocha-flavored latte.  We also bought two black and white ceramic mugs that were covered with whales, reminding us of our earlier whale watching cruise.

The weather was perfect, so we found a bench where we could watch the traffic in the harbor and the pedestrians in the street.  

When the 3:40 ferry arrived, we found outdoor seats at the back of the vessel where we watched an endless line of vehicles driving into the bowels of the vessel.  Eventually, we departed and arrived in Anacortes around 5:00.  It was a wonderful and memorable day.  What a unique and beautiful part of our country.

Our month-long stay in Anacortes was winding down.  We only had four more days before heading east to the Bavarian-themed town of Leavenworth in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains.  We utilized those four days doing the necessary mundane preparations for leaving --- groceries, laundry, reorganizing, etc.  We also revisited a few of our favorite stops:  Greenbank Farm, Washington Park, the Anacortes Farmers' Market.  

So, farewell to the sea, hello to the mountains.

PET PICTURES OF THE DAY...

These are pictures of Poquita on the Ridge Hike at Ebey's Landing.

Anacortes: part six - Hiking in the White Stuff

 

Roger here...   This post begins with a statue on Rosario Beach of a "fabled" Indian maiden.  She and a chief of the underwater people fell in love and married.  She then lived underwater where she provided food from the sea to the people of her former village.  I eliminated all the squabbling, famine, and family feuds and went straight to the happy ending.  So they lived happily ever after.

Today's post highlights three interesting hikes in the white stuff (the fog that had descended on our perfect weather).  What did you think I was referring to?

ROSARIO HEAD AND BEACH HIKE...

We returned to Deception Pass State Park for this dream-like hike in dampness.  It was foggy at the trailhead on the beach.  It was foggy when we climbed to the top of Rosario Head.

It was foggy when we walked along the trail at the top of Rosario

Head.

 A mysterious island that floated out of the mist below:

 

It was a white, white day.

EBEY'S BEACH - BLUFF-RIDGE TRAIL (Whidbey Island)...

Bandido here...  I liked this hike so much that I decided to take over the blog.  We all got in the SUV and rode to Whidbey Island.  We did not stop at Deception Pass State Park like we often do.  We continued on to Ebey's Landing State Park.  I cried in my crate the entire way.  Mom says I cry because I am excited.  Dad says I cry because I don't like the crate.  Wanna know a secret?  I cry in the crate because it irritates the bejeepers out of both of them.

When we arrived at this thing called a trailhead, Mom and Dad read this sign thing.  Yada yada yada. So boring!

 It was then that I saw what we would be doing.  

They expected me to climb up all those steps at their slow pace.  They are so slow.  Mom is faster than Dad, but neither one of them can match Poquita and me.  I think they both have a genetic problem.

After Mom and Dad stumbled up the steps, they showed me what the rest of the trip up to the ridge thing would be like.  It kinda squiggled like a worm. Looked like fun to me!

About half-way up the squiggly part we looked back and could see the parking lot (little ant-like dots in the middle of the picture) and the SUV that contained my crate.  Good riddance!

I remembered everything.  I had walked this trail as a young pup in 2013.  Mom and Dad took me on a ferry ride to this cool place from a place called the "Olimpac Pensala."   (Dad taught Bandido to spell -- D.)

This is where I peed in July, 2013.  The odor had faded but because it was my pee, it was still very strong.  Oh, the memories!

Dad is all the time taking pictures.  He seems to like that stuff. He needs to get a life.  He told Mom and Poquita to look at him and smile.  So, of course, they did. Smarmy! Ugh!

He begged me to turned around and smile.  NO WAY!  I turned my head part-way and glared. 

I really did like the views up there, though.  Look at all the water in "Puke Jut" Sound.  (Not a very good name).  

Since I have been here before, I remember those lagoonies. They are bigger when you get down to 'em.

I really, really, really like watching the insects on the beach walking below.  Dad said they were peeple.  I said maybe birds, but not peeple.  Dad said no, they are peeple.  They were gone when we got there.  I guess we'll never know.

The trail at the top was not flat.  I love it!  It went up and down; up and down!  Oh boy!  Look, more steps up there.  Dad used a phrase that his mom used to use, "You gotta be kiddin' me"!   I said, "Let's do it!"

After a while we seemed to be going down.  Then the trail wriggled (Dad said zig-zagged, funny word) to the bottom.  There were logs in front of us, so we could not get to the beach.  I said that they looked like the logs in Pet Sematary and there was no way I was going to cross them.  

Dad was frustrated because we could not get to the beach.  We all wanted to be on the beach.  He tried to find a crossing place while mom kept us safe.  He did this over and over. 

We had to walk on the trail next to the smelly lagoon.  None of us liked it.  We wanted the ocean.  It was so close.

Get me outta here!

Mom, my ultimate hero, pointed to a good place to get over the logs.  She checked it out.  She signaled us to follow her.  We made it to the beach!

The walk along the beach was fun for all of us.  Mom and Dad looked for rocks that they wanted to bring home.  Why? Please tell me why?  They always do this!  Poquita and me were more interested in crab legs and kelp.  Time to turn this back over to Dad.

Thank you, Bandido.  You are so perceptive.  

SAND DUNE TRAIL (DECEPTION PASS STATE PARK)...

Roger here...  After three days of clouds and fog, the atmosphere seemed to be clearing.  We decided to take a short hike on the Sand Dune Trail near West Beach on Whidbey Island. 

The first portion of this oval shaped loop trail shadowed the beach front along the Juan de Fuca Strait.

At the turn-around point we wandered into the woods.

We took a short off-shoot to see an amazing 850-year-old Douglas fir growing out of the sand.  Wasn't this the tree that ate the Weasleys' car in one of the Harry Potter movies?

We took another detour to see the wetland behind the sand dunes.

As we arrived back to the beach we enjoyed watching kids (not pictured) play with the driftwood

 at the shore line.  I think they were building a fort.

The next post will include a ferry trip through the San Juan Islands with a fun stop at Friday Harbor.

PET PICTURE OF THE DAY....

Bandido found another tennis ball, this time at the dog park.  He brought it home and dropped it on our campsite before I even knew he had it.  

(He's all worn out from writing the blog -- D.)