Friday Harbour, San Juan Island, Washington

 Happy July 4th!  Our Airbnb is close to town, so we walked over to the main drag that would host the parade.  We were early - but folks were already claiming their spots along the road.

 

We didn't have any folding chairs so we walked over to the marina and passed some time just wandering their docks.  Large marina that looks very active.  I'd say more power boats than we're used to at home....absolutely zero sailing catamarans.  Amazingly, several Hunter sailboats....they're a long way from home as I believe they were made in Florida and aren't considered "blue water" ocean-going boats by many.

The sides of the street was packed awaiting the start of the parade.

 Grand Marshall car, of course!

 

Lots of small-town "floats".

 

I was a member of 4-H in my teens.  I didn't realize it was still around.  

 

Some fun displays!

 

My favorite - the University of Washington Marching Band.  Unfortunately, we were on the wrong side of the street for a full view.

 After the parade, everyone would proceed to the nearby fairgrounds.  This band would be playing later in the day there.

 

 And the Keith Highlanders Pipe band was also a treat both at the parade and later at the fairgrounds.  (Apparently there were Scottish settlers here in the late 1800's...)

 

 After the loooonnnng parade was over, we headed on foot over to the fairgrounds.  Good family fun!!!

After grabbing a yummy chicken/artichoke pizza slice from a local food vendor, we listened to a local celebrity give a talk about the "Pig Wars" - true story about a standoff between British and American forces in the 1800's that started with a pig being shot.... 

 

Lots of folks that marched in the parade were in attendance, still in costume.

 

The bag pipers were added entertainment.

 There was also good fun for the kids...a sack race.

 And an old fashioned cake walk.  Instead of chairs like I remember, they had numbers on the ground.  Good idea.  Fun to see the young lady's reaction at the end when she wins.

 With all those festivities done, we wandered back the mile or so towards our Airbnb.  On the way was a tractor exhibit so that was a fun little side-bar.

 

After a nap and dinner, we headed out at 10PM towards the harbour for the fireworks show.  The sun was still setting at 10:15PM.....we snagged a really good spot on the hill above the harbour.

 

The fireworks show did not disappoint.  

 

I won't bore you with photos....but they really were nicely done.

 Great July 4th!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Friday Harbour, San Juan Islands, Washington

 We stopped by the Deception Pass Bridge State Park for a bit of a tour on the way to catch the ferry.

 

 There is a walkway on both sides of the bridge for pedestrians.  Beautiful views from the bridge.  

 

 

A walking path beneath the bridge on both sides.

 

We took a trail down to the beach area.

 

There are strong currents here - but we were at almost slack tide so it wasn't too evident.

 Onwards to the ferry dock in Anacortes.  We had reservations at 2pm so we arrived an hour early - Friday July 3rd in the middle of the day was a prime time and we wanted to make sure we were queued up and ready so we didn't miss our spot.

 We had our lunch while waiting - wonderful temperature.  With little to do, I looked up the origin of the town's name.  It's actually a made-up word in honor of the founding father's wife's maiden name - Anna Curtis.  

 

As usual, the ferry system is quite efficient.  Underway just 3 minutes late.

 

 Lovely 1 1/2 hour trip.

A ferry offloading at a different island....not sure which, but it's either Shaw, Orca or Lopez.

 

Not too many sailboats out.

 

Comfy inside the ferry.  I wandered around a bit just to have something to do. 

 

Close to our destination - Friday Harbour on San Juan Island.

 We'll be in the islands for several days, looking forward to the small-town July 4th festivities.

Glacier, Washington

 Today is our final day in the "mountains"....

First, I had read about a county park - Little Mountain Park - that offered vast views of the Skagit valley near Mount Vernon.  Unfortunately, we weren't lucky with the weather.  Just a little too hazy/cloudy.  The views were spectacular, it just doesn't convey in the photos.  Farming land in the valley with views over to the San Juan islands.

Views eastward - you should be able to see Mt. Baker but it is obscured by the clouds.

 

So we enjoyed a short trail and the views before heading north and east to the Mt. Baker National Forest.

 

A couple of hour drive to the forest entry.

 

First stop in the forest was the Nooksack Falls.

And driving on the curvy road, the views were wonderful even with all the cloud cover.

 

This is Picture Lake near the Mt. Baker visitor center.  On a calm wind day, you are supposed to see a perfect reflection of the mountain....

 

Majestic snow capped peaks.

 

Views from the Artist's Point trail.

 

While the views were beautiful, we were constantly saying "this would be spectacular on a sunny day"!

 

Did I tell you it was cold??  July 2nd - 52 degrees and breezy.

 

Quite a bit of snow left along the trail.

 

There are a couple of ski resorts on the mountain, the chairlifts were all closed though.

Tomorrow we'll head back to the west to catch a ferry over to the San Juan Islands.