Sunday
We had loose plans to see Snoqualmie Falls before heading out to the ferry and maybe stopping at our friends' house nearby. That quickly went out the window once we woke up and realized we had no energy to even go an hour out of our way. We took our time getting ready in the morning before heading out on the 2 hour drive to Anacortes, WA which is where the ferry to the island is.
We wisely stopped and loaded up on groceries (San Juan Island is a lot more expensive) before making our way to the ferry terminal. We had reservations for a 4:45 PM ferry but got there a little bit before 2, so I thought maybe we could get on an earlier one. As we pulled up the guy at the front station said they were getting close to leaving but thought we could get on the ferry before they pulled away. Of course, as we got closer the second person said they just closed it and we missed it by about a minute. That was unfortunate because it meant we had over 2.5 hours to kill there and entertainment options are pretty limited, unless staring at brackish water and cars is your thing. We were literally the first one in line for the next ferry and after about 15 minutes of looking around and visiting the small shop/visitor center there, we got back into our car. You have to leave your car off while sitting in line but thankfully it wasn't too hot.
After a pretty boring couple of hours, we loaded onto the ferry. The only good thing about being first in line is we were the first car at the front of the ferry so we had a great view right from our car the entire trip. It was a nice ride that took a little over an hour and because of our spot, we were the first car off. Our friends Steve, Cindy and Leah were waiting in the harbor so we parked and met up with them and after dinner, we followed them back to the house, which meant a detour to South Beach to look for whales. As we later found out, that wasn't really close to our house but most trips on the island involved longer routes to look for whales. We didn't see anything in the water but we did get to see some cool foxes and a field full of rabbits before we headed back to the house - at this point it was almost dark - where we hung out for a bit and got a good night's sleep.
Monday
Our friend Cindy is a flight attendant and a few years ago she regularly did the NYC-Seattle route. Because she'd have downtime in Seattle, she eventually got into doing the whale watches (she also does a lot of great photography and has a very nice camera). She fell in love with the orcas that are out there and has been doing whale watches to see them ever since. Even though she's done it a bunch, she still loves seeing the whales every time they're nearby so much of the time was spent with her driving around the island to find out where they were.
I learned a little this week and I guess orcas travel as family groups, and sometimes they travel as even larger pods. Several of these pods stay near Washington and Vancouver most of the year are known as the "Southern Residents". Others that move around more are known as transients. They behave differently and eat different things so scientists love to study them when they can, especially since the Southern Residents are endangered (I think there's only about 80 of them left). At any rate, they tend to come by the San Juan Islands for most of the summer and there's one week in the summer called "Super Pod" that scientists and fans alike come by to see them, study them and give talks. Needless to say, Super Pod was the week we were there so everyone on the island who was into the orcas was very excited.
Cindy is used to sleeping limited hours because of her travel and given the excitement of the whales - they only returned a couple weeks before - she was up earlier than the rest of us each day and ready to go see them. Jess got up with her on Monday and the two of them went out in search of a good spot. The 3 of us who stayed at the house were eating breakfast on the deck when probably 15 minutes after they left, several whales came by right in front of us. They weren't super close but definitely close enough to see clearly and hear. Steve first thought he heard them coming and I figured he was just joking around, but it turns out when they blow there is a very distinct sound and you really can tell where they're coming from. Even though the rest of us aren't into the whales as much, it was really cool to see them in the wild and especially right from our house.
When Cindy and Jess returned, we were thinking they missed the whales and so we were laughing about it but as it turned out, they had a way better experience than us. There's a lighthouse about 10 minutes from the house (which is on the west side of the island, facing Canada) in Lime Kiln State Park where the whales get very close (it's supposed to be one of the best spots in the world to whale watch from the land). A bunch came right near the shore so they got some great pictures of that and our morning didn't seem so cool after seeing pictures of what they saw.
Later in the day we went to one of two San Juan Island National Historic Park sites on the island called the English Camp. Both the English and Americans claimed the islands and there was a border dispute in the mid-19th century so both had encampments there on the island (which is much bigger than I thought it would be). There was a "Pig War" over the killing of a pig and although it lasted quite a while before the dispute was resolved, it was a bloodless "war" that ended with a peaceful agreement that the Americans would keep the island. On the site now, there's some buildings left, a garden and some views of the bay there (and an osprey nest). Leah ate some blackberries and other stuff from the garden which I guess wasn't poisonous since she didn't get sick but she was the only one willing to risk it. Most importantly, there was a passport stamp so Jess got another one! The rest of the day was spent relaxing at the house (except for Cindy, Jess and Leah, who went to the harbor while Cindy attended a documentary with the Super Pod people).
Tuesday
At this point, I should talk about the house we were staying in. This time of year is very popular there for a variety of reasons so everything is expensive and we were lucky to have any house that was right on the water. As mentioned, it was on the west side of the island right above a cliff and you could see Canadian islands from there. It was also in a place where the whales routinely went by (we saw them every day we were in the house). The drive to get in there was hairy since it was down a windy, one-lane road and then you had to back down a steep driveway to park. As for the view and location, there were absolutely zero complaints. Plus we had our friend "Mr. Seal" who would stop by every morning and swim around in front of us.
That said, the house itself looked like it had been built in the early 80's and never renovated (the pictures below, which are similar to ones they use online, do make the inside seem a lot fresher than it really is). We found out later it was actually built in 1996 and is worth over $800k, which was even more surprising. Except for the deck, which looked new (probably because the old one collapsed) the interior was older and looked like it wasn't that well taken care of which means whoever owns it probably just rents it out. All of the appliances were old and some barely worked, there was one 19" TV with a regular antenna (which does nothing nowadays since they stopped broadcasting non-digital signals like 5 years ago), the bedding and towels were well worn and there was no Internet. It looks like they had a dish at one point but since that wasn't active all we had were some DVDs, including Seinfeld Season 4 and Dukes of Hazzard Seasons 5 and 6. We brought a Chromecast to use with our devices but HDMI was still 20 years away when that TV was made so it was useless. Jess and I did get cell service but it was from Canadian towers and since I have no idea how that works cost-wise, we didn't use that at all when we were at the house. While we were there, we were totally cut off from the world which honestly wasn't too bad.
After getting up, we went to the American Camp where we looked at the buildings there, saw an eagle with its nest, a fox practically begging for food like a dog and got our last passport stamp. After we were done there we went back to Friday Harbor, which is the main town on the island. The cell service is great there so sadly, we would go there and just sit around checking our phones for a little bit before grabbing ice cream for lunch and then heading back to the house.
Steve cooked us dinner and then Cindy and Jess went out again looking for whales. When they got back, we played one game of Uno that took 90 minutes in what I assume is a world record. After that it was so late we all turned in for the night.
Wednesday
Today was our whale watch day so we were pretty excited for it. Though we had seen the whales from various locations on the island, it was neat to get out in a boat and hopefully get closer. They only took cash so Jess and I had to run into town to hit an ATM (and honestly, to get cell service). We went down to Snug Harbor (right around the corner from the house) and met the captain and the naturalist for our trip. The boat was small - there were only 6 paying passengers - and because of that it was a bit pricey. Unfortunately, it ended up being a minor bust. The captain and naturalist were fine, but I think Cindy taught me more about the whales than the girl on the boat and the captain was more interested in talking fishing with Steve (so much so that at one point he was steering away from the whales and we had to go around a reef to catch back up). There were some pods of whales south of us (supposedly) but he took us north to see some transients. We did see several whales and it was ok but honestly, we got closer on Lime Kiln and from our house. We also ended up going over an hour north into Canada so it was a pretty long ride and that meant our time viewing the whales was limited.
Once again, Cindy and Jess went exploring that night while the rest of us hung out on the deck and watched DVDs.
Thursday
Thursday was a big day of events for the Super Pod week and it didn't disappoint Cindy. She went off early by herself to hear a talk and spot whales, so Jess, Leah and I decided to go hiking and do some non-whale stuff. We went to Lime Kiln State Park and walked the trails and because everyone stays by the lighthouse to watch for orcas, there weren't many people actually hiking. We went to the actual Lime Kiln and were able to see it and climb down to where they would dump the excess lime over the rock, turning it bright white. That kiln was built in 1918 and used for about 50 years and it's been restored to keep it standing.
We then drove a bit and went to Jakle's Lagoon where you could see a huge snow-capped mountain in the distance. Based on the compass, I'm pretty sure it was Mt. Baker, one of the snowiest places in the world. We tried to do some hiking but the trails weren't well maintained and there were prickers everywhere. Plus that side of the island was pretty hot and we had already been out for a few hours so we gave up after walking a mile to nowhere and headed back to grab lunch.
We hung out in the afternoon with everybody and the whales came very close to the house. We think they were feeding because they just stopped and stayed there for a while and they were behaving a little differently. We also saw lots of tail flaps and one even breached nearby. The whales were moving back to the lighthouse and since there was a Super Pod party later in the day anyway, Steve, Cindy and Leah all went. A couple hours later, Jess and I were getting hungry and wondered if the rest of them were coming back...with no cell service, you forget how it was not being able to reach people easily so we had to drive down there. Sure enough, they're all sitting on the rocks and baking in the sun watching the whales come by. Every time a whale would do anything, people would clap and shout and call out the whale's names (which I think was like 50% accurate at best). It's definitely cool to see a couple times but by that point we were whaled out and so was Steve and Leah. I think when we pulled up and got them, that was the happiest I've ever seen Steve. We knew Cindy would stay until the whales left and festivities were over so we left their car with her and went back to the house where Steve cooked some burgers and we all just relaxed.
While we didn't get any Rook in (the game Steve, Cindy, Jess and I usually play), we did have fun playing "Say Anything", including some particularly hilarious "Free Willy" references, and once Cindy got back - who was so happy because there were so many whales and she got some awesome pictures - she played too. We ended up all staying up pretty late having a good time.
Friday
We hadn't been to the northern part of the island yet so we drove up there to Roche Harbor. There's a huge marina there and a resort but not a lot of parking so we just drove by. We then met Cindy in Friday Harbor where we did some last shopping and then Jess and I headed back to the house. We then went back out to back to South Beach, which has lots of small, smooth rocks she wanted to collect along with a ton of driftwood. It wasn't a good whale watching day because it was so windy and the water was choppy - the rest of the week was like glass so it was very easy to spot the orcas coming up - and with the wind, it was pretty chilly on the water. Our car said 64 degrees but it was in the 50's with the wind chill, which I guess I shouldn't complain about now that it's 90 something in NC.
Later in the day, we went back to Friday Harbor and had one last meal out together. We probably looked like the worst family because it was the first time all week we were sitting down with time on our hands to check on our phones so that's what we did. After we got back to the house, we had to clean as much as we could and pack up to leave. We did get to enjoy one more night of beautiful weather and watch a gorgeous sunset from the house.
Saturday
Steve, Cindy and Leah weren't leaving until very late Saturday night but since our flight was at 2 PM local time, we had to get up early (by 5:30 AM) to catch the ferry at 8. That was fine and the ferry ride was smooth and we even got the airport to drop off our car - which we put 2,217 miles on - in just about 2 hours. Security was crazy but thankfully we had plenty of time to catch our flight. We weren't hungry so we just grabbed a couple sodas - which we later regretted - and waited for a little while before boarding.
At this point, everything was going smoothly. While in the air, they mentioned some weather in Chicago but we still got there early. When we landed and pulled up next to a bunch of planes just sitting in a holding area, we knew we were in trouble. Storms had been moving through and because there was a lot of lightning, they couldn't work on the tarmac. We sat there for about 45 minutes before finally getting to our gate. The whole time I was checking my phone and it appeared our flight to Raleigh was delayed, which was ok because it'd give our luggage a chance to make it and give us time to eat (it was about 8:30 PM CDT). As soon as we got off the plane, we walked a few gates over to our flight and saw it said "Final Boarding". We ran to the restroom and got to the plane right before it was scheduled to take off, which at that point still said the original time.
Of course, we get on the plane and proceed to spend the next two hours on the ground, taxiing to different parts of the airport. The storm was huge and lasted a long time and then there was a logjam on the runway...at one point, we didn't know if we were getting out of there. We did eventually take off and landed in RDU about 1:45 AM, about 90 minutes late. We were starving because we hadn't had a meal all day but were also exhausted at that point. To add to the misery, it took about 30 minutes to get our bags and we didn't get home until after 3 AM EDT. By the time we unpacked just what we needed and went to sleep, it was almost 4.
Sunday
We slept until almost 11 AM today and woke up to air conditioning, TV and Internet. It was nice having all the basic necessities again. We also picked up the dogs and maybe one day they'll forgive us for leaving them for 2 weeks.
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All in all, it was a great trip where we got to see everything we wanted to and had great weather along the way. It was also nice staying in one place for a week with our friends and seeing lots of cool stuff, including orcas, otters, seals, deer and a bald eagle all from the back porch of the house. I don't know when our next big trip will be but hopefully it'll be sooner than later.
As they say on San Juan Island, "The only place better than here for orcas is Sea World." Note: no one says this. And if you say it there, you'll probably never be welcomed back.
