San Juan Islands

The TTT's at Mt. Rainier

Amye sent the above picture to me so you can see at "Sunrise" at MT. Rainier. We are so close to the mountain that it looks so much smaller when you see it from Seattle. Some remaining snow can be seen behind us.

We are staying at my daughter's friends on Camano Island which is about an hour north of Seattle. The first morning out, we headed to the Camano Island State Park. We walked the stony beach where Joan was leaving "no stone unturned". She found several pretty colorful small shells, but managed to lose some between to large driftwood logs. Amy found some "Goldfish" there. (The kind from Pepperidge Farms!) She also found her version of a new shell..aka plastic water bottle cap! What a great sense of humor and imagination!!! The island is is rather small so it didn't take us long to tour it. It is amazing how many people live here though and what fantastic views of the San Juan Islands they have.

We ventured off to the local Costco in Smokey Point before heading back to the island and a cocktail party in Stanwood at another of my daughter's friends. Their home sits high on hill and overlooks a valley and out to Port Susan. The valley is mostly farms. One can hear a train from miles away coming through the valley. It kind of reminds one of a toy training running under one's Christmas tree as it looks so small from where we were enjoying a pit fire, a margarita and smoked salmon (done by my son-in-law). Yummy!

It is now Friday and we are taking one of the Washington State Ferries from Anacortes to Friday Harbor on San Juan Island. We have to be there 1-1/2 to 2 hours ahead of a scheduled sail at 8:45 am. So it was early to bed last night as we had approximately an hour drive to Anacortes.

Sign Noting the British Camp

The ride over to the island was somewhat overcast and foggy, but we still enjoyed it. Getting off the ferry into Friday Harbor , right in the business district, kept one on their toes to find the right street to get out of town. All traffic when the ferry docks is one-way. We find our turn and head out into the country. We find a neat winery and across the road in a field is a camel! Who would have "thunk it?!" We found a fawn eating foliage on some one's front lawn in a quest to find a beach. Our map noted a British Encampment, so down the road we headed. An American soldier had killed a pig belonging to a Brit and it started a war. Tomorrow (Saturday) they are doing a re-enactment of the battle. While at the encampment we viewed an Osprey and her nest through a telescope the Park had set up.

Our next stop was at the Lime Kiln Lighthouse and a place to watch for Orca whales.

Limekiln Lighthouse.

No whales today! We did see trees that really amazed us. Their bark was really red. My daughter said they are called Medrone (sic) Trees. We went back to the booming metropolis of Friday Harbor for lunch. Restaurants were so busy that we waited an hour AFTER ORDERING for our meals to be served. And because we had to be in line for the ferry two hours ahead of sail, we moved the car to the loading lines, locked it up and headed for some shopping. I don't think any of us bought a thing. Except...for the ice cream cones! The sail back to the mainland was bright and sunny. When we got back to Camano Island, my daughter and son-in-law cooked us a scrumptious dinner of broiled salmon, corn on the cob, potato and tossed salad. If one didn't like salmon, one ate baked chicken. Great two days!