San Juan Islands, Washington

The San Juan Islands was officially our first stop in our journey across the Pacific Northwest. Since we're based in Atlanta, we took a Delta flight into Seattle, stayed the night at the Hilton Seattle Airport Hotel (booked through Hotwire), and rode the 6 AM Bellair Airporter Shuttle from the Seattle airport to Anacortes. Just in time to catch the westbound ferry to San Juan Island, Washington.

All the travel went according to plan, and we were able to admire the scenery along the way as the sun rose.

 
We were picked up in Friday Harbor, the main town on San Juan Island, by our B&B host, who provided a wonderful experience.

 
She made me vegan chocolate chip cookies that were to die for (and with a recipe that she came up herself)!

 
Both mornings we had a seated breakfast with the other lodgers, and it was simply divine.

 
The view from our room in the morning was refreshing and serene. Andy and I rented a little car on our first day and drove an entire loop around the island, visiting American Camp on the southernmost tip of the island. This became one of the highlights of our entire trip. In just a short span of space, one can go from prairie to rocky beach to deep evergreen forest.

From there, we drove in a clockwise direction around the island, stopping at Lime Kiln Point State Park, English Camp, and Roche Harbor. Useful maps and resources can be found at the San Juan Island Chamber of Commerce.

We found that dining on the island was terribly expensive, so we stocked up at the Kings Market each day for snacks, lunch, and dinner. We were saving our dining dollars to spend in Vancouver later on in the week.

On our second day, we took the ferry at Friday Harbor eastbound to Orcas Island. We rented a car right in Orcas Village straight up the hill from the ferry dock, and continued our drive on Washington State's newest scenic byway.

We made our first stop in Deer Harbor, then to Eastsound Village (stopping at a grocery store for lunch), and drove into Moran State Park. Up the narrow, zig-zagging road to the top of Mt. Constitution, we went up over 2,400 feet to catch the spectacular view that extended all to way to Mount Baker.

We spent the evening back in at the Trumpeter Inn with our new Portland-based friends over some scotch and food from Kings Market. They gave us tips for the Oregon coast portion of our trip which would be the final leg of our journey.

Our next time to the San Juan Islands, I hope to visit Skagit County (on the mainland), Lopez Island (which is part of the SJIs), and Langley on Whidbey Island.