http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Washington/San-Juan-Islands/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from North America , United States , Washington , San Juan Islands en-us Fri, 05 Dec 2008 00:25:01 UTC Fri, 05 Dec 2008 00:25:01 UTC i leave on friday morning http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Washington/San-Juan-Islands/Lopez-Island/blog-343493.html Bill and I moved to Fildago Island north of Seattle in June. I retired from teaching and we packed up and moved everything into the 940 square foot former rental house on our property on the Swinomish Indian Reservation. We've had a beautiful summer of kayaking friends visiting gardening and of course work on the house We are both bicycling almost daily Bill to get exercise and me to ride http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Washington/San-Juan-Islands/blog-326913.html Here we are again quite delinquent on any recent site additions. What can we say We have been busy traveling on the 'Fahrt'. There has been some internet access issues but mostly our time has been taken up with sailing running and hiking eating ice cream and watching seals orcas and lots of birds. Madison did manage to catch the only fish so far it was ugly too.We left Anacortes on ju http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Washington/San-Juan-Islands/San-Juan-Island/blog-317315.html This past weekend I stuffed my little car with gear and rolled on up to Guemes Island WA to do a little glorified backyard camping. Every summer some family friends of mine rent a tiny house on the water and let whoever feels like it put up a tent in the big yard and enjoy a little semiwilderness playtime. I say wilderness because Guemes is sparsely populated as are the islands nearest to http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Washington/San-Juan-Islands/blog-312559.html Am 12.08.08 um 0530 Uhr war es so weit ich bin aufgestanden um mich bereit fuer meine Orcas zu machen. Um 0645 musste ich am Hafen sein und um 0730 ging es dann los. zu den San Juan Islands .Leider war es auf der Fahrt zu den Inseln sehr gewelkt und daher auch recht kalt zeitweise sind wir sogar durch Nebel gefahren. Aber ich habe fast die ganze Zeit durgehalten und bin oben an Deck geblieben http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Washington/San-Juan-Islands/blog-312102.html So here are some pictures of the fawns and otters. The fawns have various stories although recently they have been suffering from some sort of parasite that causes hair loss. We gave them Ivermectin but one very obviously is showing no imrovement so she may have to be shot again.As for the otters one of them came in with his brother because their mother had been trapped and relocated again http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Washington/San-Juan-Islands/San-Juan-Island/blog-309163.html I've definitely been slacking off on the blogging for the past 3 or 4 weeks. This is mostly due to me not wanting to drive anywhere in order to preserve my car so it will take me safely back to Kansas so I haven't seen much other than town and work. I want to go to the other islands but the ferry landing isn't in town on Lopez or Orcas Isle of the Sacred Mountain so they require a car to get a http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Washington/San-Juan-Islands/San-Juan-Island/blog-307261.html As we began to travel more regularly during the summer of 2007 I decided that along with traveling internationally we needed to make it a point and priority to visit some of the beautiful and interesting places in our own backyard. As Washingtonians we are so lucky and fortunate to have such a plethora of different and amazing places to visit in our state within only a few hours of our home. It http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Washington/San-Juan-Islands/Orcas-Island/blog-302485.html Today was relaxingI woke up talked to Jon and went to brunch fantastic as usual. I then ran to lab fast and met with friends at noon to drive to Cattle Point. Three of my friends here this year have cars which is quite novel. Hannah Tanya Kristen Daniel and myself all packed into Hannah's little car and drove to Cattle Point. We had a lovely walk around the area enjoying the beauti http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Washington/San-Juan-Islands/blog-299390.html I've been super busy Work is long and I've put many hours in but I love what I do. The first week out at Friday Harbor Labs was nutsI basically arrived for the best low tides of the year so I spent the first week working my tail off. Looking back however it's amazing to see how much I really got done in that time period I did predator surveys at three different sites set up choice http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Washington/San-Juan-Islands/blog-298908.html After the parade I ran away quickly to get to Lime Kiln Point State Park by noon so I could go on the tidepool exploration walk. I was the only one there so the guide took me to a more secluded area which I never would have considered going to by myself. The trail included a bunch of rocks that we had to climb down and walking essentially up the side of a cliff. She did it in a skirt though s http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Washington/San-Juan-Islands/San-Juan-Island/blog-295754.html Well I think the only people who don't go to the Friday Harbor Fourth of July parade are dead so I figured I better go. Actually it was really fun and worth it although I could have done without seeing every single firetruck on the island drive by slowly. After the parade was over I drove out to Lime Kiln State Park and explored the tidepools. Pictures of the tidepools will have to wait until http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Washington/San-Juan-Islands/San-Juan-Island/blog-295478.html What a nuts week of travelI've spend more time traveling in this past week than I have in a good long time. Plane from lovely Brisbane to Los Angeles to Boston 30 hours of travel there not including driving time back to Jon's apartment at least another hour and a half. Not a bad flightI managed to sleep most of it and had enough time between flights in LAX even though my luggage was ju http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Washington/San-Juan-Islands/blog-293757.html I take terrible pictures I did not get the good photographer gene shared by my father and sister. But you should sort of get the idea. They look a lot better as thumbnails.Biggest news There is a stray cat hanging out near the apartment. I've seen him out the window for a couple of days but last night he was right on the porch. He is SO skinny I fear it's a case like Emmett's where someone wen http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Washington/San-Juan-Islands/San-Juan-Island/blog-292880.html Isle of WondergtSucia IslandI've been giving this an unreasonable amount of thought lately but I've come to the conclusion that for the Isle of Wonder Sucia island is the only way to go. In Spanish Isla sucia means dirty island and it was apparently given this name because of the craggy rocks and reefs surrounding it. This as we all know is a major characteristic of the Green Isles http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Washington/San-Juan-Islands/blog-290886.html So I've been thinking a lot about the parallels between the San Juan Islands and the Land of the Green Isles I think everyone reading this realizes the Land of the Green Isles is a fictional place from King's Quest VI. Here there is still a ferry running between the islands which is inconvenient because it costs money. I would much prefer a magic map obtained at a pawn shop although I don't h http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Washington/San-Juan-Islands/San-Juan-Island/blog-289752.html Hi Everyone I am sitting at Erin's apartment waiting to head to the Arizona this afternoon. Finishing up on some last minute things. We had a great time on Orcas Island in the San Juans. It was beautiful weather We rode the ferry over on Monday morning and got to Doe Bay in the late afternoon. Just in time to hike up to the top of Mount Constitution in Moran State Park. The views were amazing O http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Washington/San-Juan-Islands/Orcas-Island/blog-289323.html Last weekend I visited Lime Kiln Point State Park which is apparently the best place from land to see whales in the area. I didn't see any whales but I went fairly early in the morning and they might not have been up yet. It's possible I would have had more luck later on but people started coming at around 1100 am so I skedaddled. I was content just to enjoy the nature I did see a couple of http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Washington/San-Juan-Islands/San-Juan-Island/blog-286986.html Well I was hoping to bring you some wonderous photos of Vancouver Island and Victoria but as my ferry departed from Lopez Island I started pulling at my hair in anger just realizing I left my passports in my room. It turned out not a bad day at all getting to learn some masonry work as I got acquainted with San Juan Island by bicycle... http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Washington/San-Juan-Islands/Lopez-Island/blog-266203.html Had quite an adventurous week in fact visiting Bellingham last weekend making funny connections and disconnecting as I returned back to Lopez Island from my weekend. I was able to get all the way to Bellingham about an hour ride from the ferry dock without using any mass transit just my thumb. That really raised my expectations of hitching in the USA which so far has been quite tough. Meeting http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Washington/San-Juan-Islands/Lopez-Island/blog-249420.html It's been a tremendous effort to get over the rain and winds that have been hammering us this last week but it has let up at all the right moments.On Thursday evening the land trust staff and soontobe homeowners of our project met at the Library for a meeting where 6 of the architects from Seattle joined us to watch a slide show presentation on strawbale homes following a description of the ev http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Washington/San-Juan-Islands/Lopez-Island/blog-245394.html A damp week full of movement leaving me surprised satisfied yet fairly dulled down.Apparently a common effect of leaving the city and walking into the middle of nowhere on an Island makes one sleepy. And sleep I have. In fact I've been sleeping quite deeply every night at my newest hosts' home Al and Carol. Residents of Lopez Island for 30 years. Preceding my ferry ride from Northern Washin http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Washington/San-Juan-Islands/Lopez-Island/blog-243343.html Welcome to the new year For me it is the Year of the Corvid as that was the first type of bird I saw this morning too brief a glimpse from a moving car of a distant bird to determine Northwestern Crow or Common Raven. First positively identified bird was a female Bufflehead but ldquoYear of the Buffleheadrdquo sounds kind of ridiculous. Corvid is legit.A delayed trip to Kenya allowed http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Washington/San-Juan-Islands/San-Juan-Island/blog-232363.html Refreshed from a relaxing day of whale watching and driving instead of hiking to the top of Mt. Constitution we were up for the 800 a.m. serving of breakfast at the Kangaroo House and then back out to Mt. Constitution for some hiking. We started at the southwest end of the park and hiked around Cascade Lake. That was a bit more challenging than it looked because of a detour around the Lagoon. http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Washington/San-Juan-Islands/blog-173511.html After two days of tough hikes and long drives we wanted to take it a bit easy and relax on Orcas Island. We started the day with a nice breakfast at the Kangaroo House and then headed downtown East Sound to explore our options for the day. There are three main activities on Orcas Island hiking whale watching and sea kayaking. We decided that hiking could wait a day and since the island looked http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Washington/San-Juan-Islands/blog-173013.html We drove north to Anacortes. We took the Mukilteo ferry to Whidbey Island. Deception Pass between Whidey and Fidalgo Islands is one of our favorite view points in this area. Years ago before we moved to Washington State in the ldquoBig Mosey of rsquo92rdquo we camped in a rented RV in Deception Pass State Park. It was here that our imaginations were first captured by two paddlers in http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Washington/San-Juan-Islands/blog-101090.html We decided to go on an expedition to watch some whales today. So we set out to sea on a ferry north of Seattle to the San Juan Islands. We were told that it was one of the best places to go whale watching and that there was quite a possibilty of seeing killer whales. After a nice and pricey ferry ride to the islands we went on a 3 hour whale watching experience. The weather was freezing so we had http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Washington/San-Juan-Islands/blog-92403.html I must say that Washington for me is the most beautiful place ever.Because of weird scheduling this was the last weekend I got to spend entirely with my parents before going back to college. So I suggested we take a trip to the San Juans because I had never been and it sounded like fun.Let me tell you this is a memory I will not soon forget. The weather was perfect and I was with my mom and http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Washington/San-Juan-Islands/blog-91368.html