Anacortes

Rather than do battle on the highways and byways feeding the cities of Tacoma and Seattle, and to shorten our mileage by 100, we chose to take a ferry north to our destination of Anacortes. A short drive from Poulsbo to Port Townsend got us to the ferry terminal, wherefrom we loaded our 53+ feet onto the car deck.


We had glassy seas and a smooth crossing, the ship’s horn blasting at intervals to alert small craft to its presence. Small craft like this beauty:


We rolled off in Coupeville and drove another 45 minutes up through Deception Pass to the Pioneer Trails campground in Anacortes.
Within ½ hour of our arrival our friends Jim and Julie of Imperfect Destiny pulled in. We’d all met back in January in Lake Charles, Louisiana. It was so great that we were able to reconnect in Washington. I cooked up a couple of pizzas and we spent the first of four very pleasant evenings together.


The next day Jim and I pried the girls away from their computers and we all headed on down to town to hop aboard the ferry to San Juan Island. A beautiful archipelago, the San Juans remind me a lot of Maine, covered with coniferous forest and beautiful island homes. Three of the islands are large enough to have several towns and a sustainable farming industry. We drove across the island to Lime Kiln Point state park, walked down to the water and looked for killer whales. The resident pod of orca eluded us that day, but we enjoyed a few hours lounging in the afternoon sun, watching sailboats and kayaks cruise by, and porpoise plying the waters.


Later we went back to busy Friday Harbor, partook in a light meal and some drinks on a rooftop patio, and strolled the docks admiring the beautiful yachts tied up there. On the ferry ride back to Anacortes, Mount Baker hovered over the islands:


The next day I went for a great bike ride on the extensive trail system of the Anacortes Community Forest Lands (ACFL)Trail System. These were the most New-England-esque trails that I’ve come across since we left the northeast. It was nice to tackle trails with a healthy dose of rocks’n’roots. In the afternoon Nancy and I joined up with Jim and Julie and went down to Deception Pass state park, hiking out to a sunny bluff where we basked in the late afternoon sun and contentedly gazed out over Puget Sound. Back at camp J&J prepared tasty fish tacos and beef & bean burritos for our evening meal.

In the morning Jim and I returned to Deception Pass SP with our kayaks and went for a really nice paddle. It was low tide, so the sea-life viewing was excellent. Starfish, kelp beds, pods of baitfish, jellyfish, giant barnacles…


Lastly, we all drove to nearby Mt. Vernon to go to the county fair. Our first order of business was to scarf down greasy delicious fair food, like funnel cakes, sweet potato waffle fries, deep fried cheese curd and soft serve ice cream. Mmmm! Then we wandered around looking…


… at kids showing dogs, kids racing horses, big-balled sheep, earless goats, poofy-headed chickens, and this sow with as many piglets as she had teats! (Heh! Heh! Heh!...He said teats!)


A really excellent week enjoying the company of Jim and Julie. We’re not sure when we’ll meet again, but we are sure that we absolutely must. We very much look forward to it!