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!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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.