San Juan Islands Trip
September, 2008

Introduction

[I've put all the text and images on one page, so you might need to wait a while for them all to load.  If you see big blank areas, it means the photos haven't loaded yet.]

No, the San Juan Islands aren't off the coast of Venezuela, they are in Washington State.  The people of Washington ran out of Indian names like Snoqualamishmi, and are now going through names from South America.

Here's a closer shot:

Anyway, we'll drive up the coast, take a ferry to the islands, stay at a bed and breakfast, and each day we'll ride around one or more of the islands on our bikes.

Day 1: From Home to Washington
(Sunday, Sept 2, 2008):

Instead of the fast, boring, interstate 5 route up the coast, we chose the slow, scenic highway 101 coastal route.

This next picture is entitled "Hey Lena let's take a picture of the dinosaur statue no we're not stopping now so just take it while we drive by."

Here are some boats at Port Somethingorother:

Followed by lunch in Bandon:

The problem with the coastal route is that it's pretty slow.  At around 8:30, after traveling for more than 12 hours, we needed to find a place to pitch the tent, and we had only made it to Washington.  Our plan was for some "quickstop camping," which means finding just any campsite to set up the tent, sleep, then get up and go the next morning (AKA too cheap to pay for a motel).  We were shooting for Lake Sylvia near Montesano, WA but saw a sign for a county park near Bay Center, WA, and made the turn.  It took a while, but we finally came to a totally deserted campground.  It might have worked, but the only restroom was out of order, and there was an overpowering smell of diesel fuel.  There was also a strong Deliverance vibe to the place.  I actually don't think anyone has stayed there for several years.

Luckily, there was a KOA around the corner, and we crashed there.  KOA still doesn't quite get the camping thing: there was a bright street lamp on all night, so you couldn't see the night sky.

Day 2: Willapa Bay to Lopez Island

Here's a morning shot of our quickstop campsite:

Twenty minutes to pack up the tent (Lena want breakfast), and we're off before sunrise

After a stop at a Subway and grocery store (so we wouldn't have to eat any of that expensive ferry food), we lined up for the next boat to Lopez, and the loading went smoothly.

 

This expression means Lena's having a good time:

I'm giving a thumbs up here because the boat is floating despite the rusty hull.

A quick drive from the ferry terminal, and we check into the Edenwild bed and breakfast.  "Edenwild" is Old English for "Martha Stuart on Steroids."  Everything is so immaculate that they had to wrap me in a garbage bag before I could come in. 

I took a quick 20 mile ride to get the dust off my bike,

 

and we got some fish tacos and cauliflower cheddar soup at Buckey's.

Then we watched the sun go down.

Day 3: Lopez Island

We wake up around 6, but breakfast doesn't start until 8:30, so this is the time for updating this web page, and email checking.

We are the only ones at the B&B so far, so we have all the breakfast to ourselves.  It really is an excellent meal, with everything from kippers to cinnamon bread.  The owners are friendly, but strangely, they aren't people persons.  The woman always seems worried about whether she should be talking or not, and the man is uncomfortable looking you in the eye.

One other thing about the B&B is that every light in the house, and there are a lot, is on 24/7.  Hard to resist not turning them off.

We hit the road around 9 on another perfect day.

The hills aren't bad on this island.

I used to have a rule about taking pictures while riding, but that is out the window.

This one is called "I can take a picture over my shoulder of Lena riding behind me."  Not bad, huh?

This is Agate Beach.

 Lena didn't find any agates, and if she can't find them, no one can.

Lunch was at Vita's where we split an eggplant, red pepper, and feta cheese sandwich.  Best I've had in many years.

 

We headed to the other end of the island after lunch, and hiked down to "military beach."

This house was built by the owner 38 years ago.  He invited us in and told us all about it.

Our mileage total was 40 miles today.  For dinner we walked to "The Galley" restaurant for some great halibut tacos.  We split, but there was plenty of food.

This shot was taken from our table:

The moon on our walk back to the B&B:

Click here to continue to Day 4