Talk about a flawless travel day…Margaret, Claudia and I check out of our hotel and get to the airport just in time to greet Nancy whose flight arrived exactly on time. An easy shuttle to the Enterprise office, our rental SUV is ready for us to pile in, and miraculously, we are able to cram all our luggage into the back after only two tries. The two hour drive to the ferry terminal in Anacortes flies by despite some stop and go traffic through the Seattle area.
The weather? Well it’s the Pacific Northwest. 60% chance of rain evidently means clear blue skies.
The ferry ride is a little over an hour. I can’t get enough of the greenery. And all that water. We pass island after island. There are 170 islands in the San Juan Island archipelago. San Juan Island, where we are bound, is one of the biggest. We muse over whether we’d want to live on one of these islands. Could we? Would we?
We dock in Friday Harbor, the only town on the island. Population, 2162. Elevation, 56 ft above sea level. One tsunami would put this all under water. Too late to worry about that now.
First stop off the ferry is Kings Market. We are in search of goodies for a no-cook dinner. Cheese, olives, baguettes, crackers, fresh cherries, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, and the most important food group – wine. There are vineyards on the island so we make a couple of local choices. The store staffers are more than willing to give recommendations. One guy points to a Rosé called Afterglow. Another guy hands us a bottle of Trenchant which he says is better and cheaper.
There is now a slight logistical issue. The back of the vehicle is crammed full of luggage. Where do we put 10 bags of groceries?
Thankfully for the back seat passengers, the drive to our rental house at the north end of the island takes only 15 minutes. At the end of a long, steep driveway is our house.
The house is nicely laid out. A well stocked kitchen, a dining room with a large table in front of tall glass windows facing onto a wooden deck overlooking the bay. Two comfy sofas and a huge screen TV in the living room. Four bedrooms, each with a king sized bed. Three bedrooms are spacious with views. the fourth is where you’d stash the kids. It is smaller and has no bay-facing windows. Oy. Who goes where? We draw numbers and promise that whomever draws bedroom number 4 will get waited on as compensation for the remainder of the week.
We pour our wine, take our smorgasbord of food delights onto the deck, and settle into the Adirondack lounge chairs facing the bay.
What’s for dessert? A search of the kitchen cupboards has netted a Costco sized box of brownie mix. Nancy volunteers to whip up a batch. While the brownies are cooling, we decide to go for a walk.
And then the magic. A sculpture park is just down the road. There are trails lined with whimsical creations and sign posts with thought provoking quotes. We decide we will come back again and more fully explore all the delightful ponds and paths.
Right across from the sculpture park, there is the local airport.
And the Roche Harbor resort. We wander in and huh… what the heck is this? Has Disneyland snuck in? That’s exactly what we ask a young couple walking by. It turns out the guy is a local guide and as he warms to the subject, we are treated to quite a discourse on the geography and history of the area. It is a little hard for us to clearly hear him because a military band is playing, well, military music down on the dock. The young man says “oh, that’s a white man colonial event”. Um, Hmmm.
It’s now nearly full dark so we head back to the house where the fragrant aroma of brownies and more wine beckons.