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.