Friday Harbour, San Juan Islands, Washington

 Well, today didn't turn out as I'd planned at all....we planned to hop on the intra-island ferry for the 8:30AM trip over to Orcas Island.  I had an entire day planned of hiking and touring cool spots before jumping back on the 4PM ferry to go back to Friday Harbour.  We went over to the ferry dock and waited, only to eventually be told that the ferry wasn't going to run that route because of some difficulty.  We could come back for the 11AM ferry.  We decided that wouldn't give us enough time to do anything comfortably so we just scrapped the idea.  

There still were a few things we hadn't seen on San Juan Island, so we headed back over to the American Camp area. 

 

 

 We hiked the Mt. Finlayson loop for a little over 3 miles.

 

About 1/2 of the trail was exposed grassland.

The Cattle Point Lighthouse in the distance.

 

About 1/2 of the loop was this lovely forest.  Quiet and cool.

 

We went down to South Beach for a nice beach walk.

 

Some of the kelp had washed ashore.

 

I got a close up of the kelp.  Such a weird other-worldly plant.  I touched some of it - not slimy at all.

 

We had a very nice long walk on the beach - amazingly - not a single piece of trash/plastic/glass was found!

 

Leaving the beach, view back towards the mainland.

 

And the last thing we did was find a lavender farm.  This one lets you "cut your own".....

 

It's lovely - I expected it to smell nicely - but it was pretty odorless.....

 

Oh, happy birthday to Duane!!

Friday Harbour, San Juan Island, Washington

 Today's mission was to explore San Juan Island by driving around the perimeter.  First, we pulled into a state park when we saw the signs (we look for the brown road signs!)  Lovely views.

 

 

And we unknowingly witnessed someones proposal on this rock formation!  I assume by the laughter and her looking at her hand with the ring on...that the answer was yes.

 

Lovely beach there.

 

We drove on north towards Roche Harbor on the north side of the island.  There is a very active grass runway there.  Lots of folks coming/going to the huge marina there.

 

I had read about a "mausoleum" built by a wealthy family about 100 years ago....

 

A little weird...6 family members are buried beneath these concrete chairs with the seat backs being their gravestones...interesting but a bit creepy.  A lovely trail though.

 

And on to the marina - it's huge!  Lots and lots of large power boats/yachts.  Very few sailboats.

 

A real tourist spot with lots of vendors and places to stay.

 

We wandered the dock a bit...and were particularly interested in the seaplane comings/goings.  

 

We sat on a bench in the sunshine and watched several land/taxi.

 

 It was amazing how many big boats were there.

 

 

Our curiosity sated, we took a trail around a historical limestone quarry.  Saw this lovely buck in the shadows.

 

The view to part of the marina from the quarry trail.

 

Next up on the agenda was to tour the "English Camp" of the Pig Wars fame.  A lovely garden and some buildings are left.

 

Continuing our travel around the island, we took a trail to the limestone kiln ruins.  Interesting to read about turning limestone into quicklime by burning the rock for days.  This three story kiln was right next to the water for easy transport at the time.

 

The trail to the lighthouse nearby.  You can see kelp floating in the water.

 

Rather small Lime Kiln lighthouse.

 

Lucky timing, there were rangers there that allowed us to go up the stairs to the top of the light.

 

Looking down from the lighthouse to a kelp field.

 

The day was winding down....on to the American Camp on the other side of the island from the English Camp.  Not much remains of the American Camp as it was not as well funded or supported at the time.

 

On the south side of the island was another small lighthouse - Cattle Point.

 

And a lovely beach nearby with lots of bird activity.

 

And that was about it for the day!  Over 20,000 steps and we saw lots of island history!

 

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!