San Juan Island

Phil, in a stroke of utter genius, took me to the San Juans for a weekend. Saturday we woke up early, drove to the ferry in Anacortes, parked the car, and hopped on the ferry. It was chilly and overcast, typical of a Seattle morning. But by the time we pulled into Friday Harbor, the day was brightening up. As we stepped off the boat, I couldn't help but notice a gaggle of teenagers all wearing "Ask me - I live here" buttons. Little welcome ambassadors. Cute.

We walked the half mile or so to our B&B, which was a converted 1907 craftsman home, to drop our bags off. I love the old craftsmans around Seattle, so Phil really hit a home run picking this place. (Plus, the breakfast the next morning was to die for.) We then walked back into town, and caught a shuttle to take us kayaking for the day.

Kayaking was a blast. Because it was a bit windy, paddling out was really tough. The fact that it was chilly didn't help either. But that made the return trip, which was calm and quick by comparison, a pleasure. Even though we didn't see any whales, we did catch a deer and an eagle. ;o)

We had dinner out that night at a cute restaurant, and I learned that people there don't really dress up. Which didn't stop us, but is something to consider when I go back.

Sunday we rented mopeds and drove around the island. This was my first time driving a moped, and I was really nervous when we started. In fact, I changed from a skirt/flip flops into shorts/sneakers because I was so paranoid. But you know what? After I got the hang of it and once we figured out that we could leave them around and people really wouldn't steal them, it was a LOT of fun. We went past an air strip, to the other side of the island, to English Camp, and the lavendar farms, and to see llamas. Yes, llamas.

We got back just in time to grab some pizza and take the return ferry.