Going, Going, Gone...Travels through Washington and Beyond

San Juan Island, Washington - Day One

Last weekend, we took off for San Juan Island, one of the San Juan Islands off the coast of Washington (east of the San Juans) and Vancouver Island (west).

We took the ferry from Anacortes to Friday Harbor, about a 75 minutes trip, and checked into our lodging in Friday Harbor.  We stayed at the San Juan Island Inn Collection, in the Roche Harbor Cottage, a ground floor accommodation with a bedroom, bathroom, living room with fireplace, kitchen with dining nook, and a hot tub.  That's the entrance behind us.

We dropped our bags and headed out for some lunch.  The property was a very short walk down to the town of Friday Harbor and there were a lot of eateries with harbor views.  We settled for Downriggers and enjoyed a unique fried calamari appetizer and then fish and chips.  I've only ever seen calamari served as rings.

Lunch over, we headed back to the cottage to pick up the car and drove off to the southern end of the island.  We stopped at the American Camp, part of the San Juan National Historical Park.  San Juan Island was occupied jointly by the British and Americans since 1818.  The two camps co-existed until a dispute over the shooting of a pig threatened to erupt into an armed conflict.  Both governments sent representatives to contain the affair and both countries continued their joint but separate occupation until an 1871 ruling that determined the islands belonged to the United States.

We continued our drive south, hoping to visit Cattle Point Lighthouse but access was difficult so we headed back to Friday Harbor.  We were both pretty tired so we ordered takeout from Friday's Crabhouse and were in bed by 8:00pm.  It was a long day.

Note for future reference:  Unleaded gas $5.40/gallon

Next week - Day Two