Out Spokin': Circling the U.S. Chapter 38: The San Juan Islands

Saturday, September 14 - Friday, September 20, 2019

It feels like summer ended without ever beginning. We did go for a swim in many of the lakes we've passed by, but it rarely felt truly hot, more like an extended late spring. And now it's autumn. The leaves are changing colors, not like New England, so it will be interesting to see what autumn looks like here in the Pacific Northwest.

We spent six days exploring the San Juan Islands with some rain, lots of clouds, and occasional sunshine.

What we lacked in mileage we made up for in hills. Lopez was our warmup, Orcas was a hill monster, and San Juan offered more rolling terrian with the occasional hill to keep us in line. We explored each island as tourists, stopping to wander along cliffs, have a beer or a cup of tea, and learn about the little known Pig War. Mostly we rode unencumbered by our usual heavy loads.

Our journey to the San Juan Islands began after spending three relaxing days visiting our friends Shona, Jared, Isaac, and Alec in Mt. Vernon.

We enjoyed an outing to Bellingham with Isaac, Shona, and Alec.

Rob had a chance to rekindle his parenting memories spending time playing with and reading to three-year-old Isaac.

Jared sent us off Saturday morning with homemade blueberry waffles topped with maple syrup, a truly delicious treat.

We passed this scene on our way to catch the ferry.

Washington State has many islands and many ferries. The ferry ride to any of the San Juan Islands begins in Annacortes. As a foot passenger or bicyclist, once you pay to go to any of the four islands served by the ferry - Lopez, Shaw, Orcas, and San Juan - you don't have to pay again, unless you are going on to Victoria in British Columbia.

The view from the ferry to Lopez Island on Saturday afternoon. When the sky looks like this, we're just happy it isn't raining.

Passing the time on the short ferry ride to Lopez Island, perusing a newspaper, the first I've read in months. Not much new.

We passed a farmer working his field just outside the Spencer Spit State Park on Lopez Island. I don't know what religious sect he belonged to, but we've seen quite a few horses and buggies during our travels. This was the first horse-drawn plow.

After setting up our tent at the state park we set out for a short bike ride past the main village on the island.

Lots and lots of driftwood, especially large logs, can be found everywhere on the islands. On Lopez Island we saw many of these lovely beaches along coves, but we couldn't stop to take a walk along one of them or sit on one of the logs to take a rest and soak up the view. They are all private.

We've seen countless abandoned cars in front yards and fields. Rob says maybe the owners consider them lawn art. Or maybe the cars are memories their owners just can't bear to part with. I especially liked this one.

We were thankful for a shelter in the campground where we could cook our dinner Saturday night without worrying about the rain that threatened all day. It held off until we were in our tent for the night, and stopped before sunrise. Even so, the morning sky did not look promising.

Sunday morning we rode to the southern end of Lopez Island, to Agate Beach, where a small piece of shoreline was set aside for the public to enjoy. Rob and I sat on a big driftwood log while we ate lunch and admired the small bit of blue sky trying to break through. The extended forecast for our time in the San Juans had called for rain and clouds with no sun in sight.

After lunch we hiked out to Iceberg Point. We don't know why it's called that. We didn't see any icebergs and I don't imagine any ever find their way there. But I could be wrong.

The literature touts Lopez Island residents as being friendlier than those on some of the other islands. Supposedly they have a signature two-finger wave they give you as they drive by. I don't know about that. All I saw were signs basically saying, don't touch my property.

Many of the houses attached to the private beaches are quite modest.

"Private Beach & Tidelands." In New Hampshire, the only private beaches are above the high tide mark.

We bicycled to Shark Reef Sanctuary where we found, not sharks, but many lazy Harbor Seals just hanging out.

When we returned to our campsite we gathered what we needed for dinner and walked down to the waterfront. We'd picked up some chicken and apple sausage in town which, along with a yellow pepper and an apple we bought at a farm stand, we added to an instant Spanish rice dish. It was delicious, one of our better camping meals.

Several deer joined us for dinner as we watched the ferry pass by in the distance.

This is another version of the above scene. You can still see the ferry in the distance but I wanted to capture the driftwod in the foreground. Hundreds of logs littered the beach. How they got there one can only guess. Logging trucks dumping their loads? Logging operations gone awry?

Rob wanted to go out to eat but I insisted on eating here. You couldn't beat the ambience. Then again, Rob always does the dishes.

Monday morning we had four miles to ride back to the ferry terminal. We passed a lovely cove along the way.

"Port Stanley is that way and, oh, by the way, don't even think of setting foot on my private beach."

Here's an idea for what to do with all those extra baseball caps.

Residents collect the driftwood to make random beach sculptures. Maybe that's why they put up all the No Trespassing signs, so meddling tourists don't come along and mess up their handiwork.

Once on Orcas Island we had about nine miles to ride to the town of Eastsound where we had a Warm Showers place for the night. Right off the bat from the ferry we had a killer hill that we both succombed to and walked our bikes up the last bit. Even so, we added a short detour to Deer Harbor where we stopped for lunch.

We had codfish burritoes for lunch at the end of this pier in Deer Harbor on Orcas Island. Notice the blue sky. With all the cloudy weather it was nice to feel the sun.

Eastsound sits in the middle of Orcas Island. We arrived mid-afternoon with time to wander and sit outside at a restaurant on the water with a beer (Rob) and tea (me). Then we found the local grocery store and picked up spaghetti and vegetables for dinner, and a bottle of wine. Our warm showers host, Jessica, lives on the outskirts of town. She had plans for the evening but told us to make ourselves at home.

Rob was very excited to find an affordable Merlot with the Happy Camper label. We enjoyed it while anticipating a night sleeping in a comfortable bed.

When Jessica came home Monday night and told us that we were in for rain and high winds Tuesday, we decided to take the day off. But after sleeping in and being lazy for a while, the weather didn't look so bad. It was one of those frustrating days when the forecast didn't match up to reality, but whenever we thought about getting on our bikes to explore the island, it either started raining or the wind got fierce. We went into town and got lunch and ice cream. The rest of the day we hung out at Jessica's, which wasn't such a bad way to spend a day.

Wednesday we set out to explore the eastern half of the Orcas Island. Our granny gears got a lot of use; I considered it practice for the California coast. For those of you reading this in New Hampshire, the hills had Bow Lake beat.

The San Juan Islands are a very popular bicycling destination for both individuals and groups. We saw these signs often on the big hills.

We rode out to Doe Bay Resort where we looked forward to having tea and a treat while enjoying the view at the Doe Bay Cafe. But traveling in the off-season when the crowds have gone home means that seasonal businesses curtail their hours. The cafe was closed. Sadly we had to forgo the hot tea. But we raided our food bag for our own treats and enjoyed the view. When we're rich and too old to bicycle we'll come back and stay in style at the resort. It's a beautiful place.

Just a few miles past Doe Bay, on our way back to Eastsound, we came to the Catkin Cafe and Art Gallery. It didn't have the fine view of Doe Bay, but it was open. We shared a pot of tea and a peach scone outside on their back deck. It was almost lunch time, but when we hit the next steep hill, I was thankful for just the right amount of energy that scone gave me. I never would have made it with a full stomach.

Rob wanted me to take this picture of the cafe sign, but I think he should have looked happier about it.

We made it back to Eastsound with plenty of time to have a picnic lunch, pick up our stuff at Jessica's, and stop in town for ice cream before starting out for the nine-mile ride back to the ferry. While we were outsie enjoying our cones, the couple sitting at the next table asked us about our bicycle trip. "Do you plan days off?" the woman asked.

"Days off kind of just happen," I said. "Like yesterday. With the rain we didn't go anywhere." I asked them where they were from.

"I'm from Denver and he's from Boulder," she said.

"Where in Boulder?" I asked, since we have a condo and spend quite a bit of time there.

The gentleman seemed taken aback, but answered, "Marine Street."

At that point, Rob, who had been facing him, said, "I think your son played baseball with our son."

That was back in 2011, and we've all aged a bit, so it wasn't surprising that it took us a while to recognize each other. We had fun reconnecting, catching up on what our sons have been up to, before Rob and I set off to catch the ferry to San Juan Island.

Our ride to the ferry took us through this lovely valley along Crow Valley Road.

I was intrigued by this partly loaded logging truck parked in front of a modest house across the street from where I stopped to take the previous picture.

The ferry terminals on these islands are modest affairs.

Rob likes to get to a ferry an hour ahead of time. I don't mind aiming for that as it builds in extra time for a flat tire or other unknowns, such as running into the father of a kid your son once played baseball with. We arrived with less than an hour to spare but it was still plenty of time to enjoy some time to relax and enjoy the beautiful day.