San Juan Island Trip

We visited my parents on the San Juan Islands, off the coast of Washington State for a few days in the house they plan to retire to.  It was an amazing trip :)  Caution....lots of pictures!!

We flew Southwest (amazing airline by the way....super friendly and roomy) and were lucky enough to snag an exit row so we had lots of leg room for the 6 hour flight!!  The flight was good and thanks to our new obsession (One Tree Hill) we got to watch 8 episodes...really helped the time go by fast :)

 

We decided to do some Seattle sight seeing once we arrived (Pike's Place, REI and lunch) since my parents new place is a 1.5 hour drive and an additional 1 hour ferry ride from Seattle (well worth it).  Notice the clothing below as we left BWI at 110 degrees with the heat index (sundress appropriate) and arrived to 60ish degree weather in Seattle..chilly butwhat a nice change :)

After a great afternoon in Seattle (the REI was amazing) we headed towards Friday Harbor on the San Juan Islands.  The ferry ride was pretty fun....EXPENSIVE.  Keeping in mind that it is high season it was $87 for the car and passengers to ride the ferry to the island!!  Here are some fun ferry pictures!

We don't have too many pictures of my parents house because as my mom likes to put it, it is a work in progress.  That being said, it looks great and has so much potential.  The guest quarters were superb and you CANNOT find a better view from the large wrap around deck....AMAZING!!  All the pictures below were taken from their deck with my crappy camera!!

The entrance to the front door of my parents new place :)

We took a short ferry ride to Orcas Island to do some sight seeing one day.  Unfortunately  the weather was overcast so we didn't see too much but nonetheless had a great time hiking and eating :)  We didn't bring raincoats with us (I should have known better since I lived in Seattle..oops) so we had to buy cheap poncho's :)

There were so many different things to see on the Island....we went to an El Paca farm and saw the eagles and an otter swimming.

The highlight of the trip (other than visiting with the rents) was seeing the Orca Whales.  The swim up and down the straights all day long and we can see them from my parents deck.  The standard plan was to spot them from the deck, run to the car, drive down the street to the water and run out on the rocks.  If you used binnoculars you could actually see the whites of their bellies.  The whales would jump, spray water and swim along.  The one time we didn't have our camera a whale was swimming so close that we could see the whales eyes as it "spied" us watching it on the rocks....I cannot express how cool it was to see!  Here are a few pictures where you can see their fins coming out of the water....again not the greatest but you get the idea!

 The whale body is on the right (enlarge it and you can really see it).

TJ brought his bike so that he and my Dad could tour the island on two wheels.  There were lots more hills for TJ to tackle, but they had a great time and TJ loved the biking weather :)

My mom and I figured we too should tour the island in style :)  Introducing the Scoot Coupe....OMG....so much fun.  We giggled, honked, waved and had a blast scooting our way around the island.   TJ and Dad even gave it a try cause it looked so fun!1

It was a great trip and excellent way to get away from everything.  We were able to sleep well and clear our minds and spend some time with two of our favorite people (Mom and Dad).  I'll end this post with some miscellaneous pictures.  We CANNOT WAIT TO GO BACK and visit again!!!

 Mom and I on one of our many walks to see the whales :)

 TJ getting some sleep on the ferry ride to the airport!

The island does not have trash pick up so you have to either burn your trash or take it off the island.  My parents burn what they can, but we had to ride in the car with the trash in the back.  This is me and Mom being silly about the smell of the trash in the back of the car...it really wasn't bad!!

I'm also went on another summer adventure... more to come on that next post.  Until then, please say a little prayer for me as I officially start my new job tomorrow!!