August 7, 2021
La Conner, WA is a charming village located along the Swinomish Channel in Skagit County. We stayed at the La Conner Marina and RV Park just a few blocks from town. It was a bit tight, but it made for easy walking to the waterfront and restaurants.
On our first afternoon, we went to Bay View State Park to take a walk on the trail along the shoreline of Padilla Bay. It's a two-mile out-and-back trail.
When we started our walk, it was low tide.
They had lots of good choices. We chose the Raspberry Wheat and the Nitro Porter.
What's better with beer than wood-fired nachos.
Day 2 was a leisurely day. I was determined to catch up on the blog since WIFI was available. Lee went for a bike ride to explore the area. Later in the afternoon, we took a stroll along the channel walkway. From there you can see the Rainbow Bridge that crosses the channel at the edge of town.
Today, Day 3, we treated ourselves to breakfast in town. We had lined up a place the day before as we walked along the waterfront. The breakfast at the Calico Cupboard was delicious.
We took a post-breakfast walk to get an up-close look at the Rainbow Bridge.
Looking across the Channel to the Reservation, you can see the three Cedar Hat Pavilions.
This afternoon the 21st annual Classic Car Show was held in town. There must have been 50 cars of all makes, models, and years.
Lee is standing next to a 1968 Chevy Nova SS. It brought back memories of his '72 version. He loved that car!
Day 4, after a couple of days of clouds and on-and-off rain, we hoped for a nice day for a day trip to the San Juan Islands. The forecast promised to be good, so off we went to the ferry terminal in Anacortes. We got on the 9:05 ferry and arrived in Friday Harbor on the island of San Juan. Since we didn't take a car or bicycles, we chose this island. The ferry terminal is right at the town, and you can take the hop-on hop-off trolley to get around the island.
Before we caught the trolley, we took a walk around town. We watched our ferry leave the harbor from an overlook in town.
Here's Lee sitting and chatting with Edward Warbass, the founder of Friday Harbor, and his dog, Bob. Edward was quite a busy man as you can see by the inscription in the plaque below.
After our walk, we hopped on the 11:35 trolley to explore the island. Our driver was a fourth generation islander, whose family had donated a lot of land to the island. She was also very heavy on the gas peddle. She would tell stories about points of interest as we flew by them. It was challenging to snap pictures from the moving trolley, but I tried. A couple turned out.
This was one of the original homesteads on the island.
This is a view of Roche Harbor from above before we arrived at the trolley stop. Our driver called this "the money shot" as she slowed down for about 30 seconds.
We got off the trolley at this stop. It was noon, so we grabbed a sandwich from the grocery store and found a picnic table out on the dock to have lunch. Friday Harbor is the only town on the island. Roche Harbor is a resort. We were told by our driver that the waiting list to keep your boat here is 30 years!
This yacht belongs to Shaun White, the American professional snowboarder. Note the name of his yacht, "Snow Bored". I guess he got tired of it.
The trolleys run every hour, so we hopped on the 1:05 to continue our tour. There are two trolleys that alternate runs, so this time we got a different driver. She wasn't quite as heavy on the gas. In all fairness, they have to keep to a time table, but the roads are narrow country roads with very little shoulders. I fear for the cyclists that also use these roads. We decided we had made a good decision, not to bring our bikes. Not only are the roads narrow, but the island is definitely not flat!
This was an interesting bit of history about the possession of the San Juan Islands.
We read that the best chance of seeing whales from the island was from the cliffs at Lime Kiln State Park, (also called Whale Watch Park). So this is where we hopped off the trolley to spend the rest of the afternoon. You can walk along a path on the cliff overlooking the Haro Strait on the west side of the island.
This is a view of the coastline with the lighthouse in the distance. It is no longer a working lighthouse. It is used as a research facility.
The Oystercatchers nest and feed among the rocks along coastlines. They are well-camouflaged among the dark rocks.
As I looked out in the strait hoping to spot a whale, what did I see instead, a Gull rafting down the water on a piece of driftwood like Huck Finn. It was an amusing sight.
We had been seeing these trees in several other places in Washington, and we finally learned what they are. They are called Pacific madrone in the USA and arbutus in Canada. They are a broadleaf evergreen with orange-red bark that naturally peels away to reveal a greenish, silvery color underneath. They are very striking to see.
We spent an enjoyable few hours along the coast, then hopped back on the trolley and returned to Friday Harbor. We had a little more than an hour before we had to catch the 6:30 ferry.
What better way to top off the visit than to find the San Juan Island Brewery and try a local brew.
We went to the ferry terminal to find that it was going to be late. When it finally arrived a half-hour later, we learned that they were delayed by a pod of whales in their path. Oh, the irony!
The light on the return trip was beautiful as we watched the sun go down.
It was a beautiful end to a fun day. Today, August 9th, we're heading east to the North Cascades for a few days. We can't wait to explore another National Park and see Mount Baker up close!
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