On day 14 of our epic first annual road trip, we took a ferry boat from Anacortes to Friday Harbor on San Juan Island. The kids and I went to Friday Harbor last week before Chris got here, but we wanted him to see the island too!
We took an early morning ferry so that we would have all day to spend exploring. After doing this once with Julie, I felt like an old pro.
The kids are so over having photos taken.
Lorelei found a friend on the boat.
Friday Harbor as seen from the ferry. When we arrived, we drove over to Julie’s boat so Chris could check it out.
Since we really hadn’t eaten we decided to have an early lunch before setting out to explore. We didn’t want to get out to the beach and have everyone get hangry and have no food in sight! Julie took us to Cask & Schooner in the little downtown area of Friday Harbor and it was freaking amazing. My favorite part was our appetizer: bacon wrapped dates. omg. I need some now.
Logan has been practicing taking photos… Chris obviously needs to work on his modeling skills.
After lunch, we took Chris to the McMillin Mausoleum. Chris was the one who introduced me to the Lore podcast, which is where we first heard about the Mausoleum. (Check out that episode HERE!) It was a bit surreal getting to see this place in person. On the short hike up to the mausoleum, we listened to the podcast again to refresh our memories. Listening to the story while we hiked through an old cemetery was eerie. I was thoroughly freaked out by the time we got there, haha.
In the podcast, they talk about how some visitors to the area feel and see things that some attribute to paranormal activity. They mentioned feeling patches of cold air near the monument or the feeling of hands holding you down if you sit in the chairs. So, of course, we had to sit in the chairs.
Thankfully, we did not feel anything strange. Our hike, with the podcast going, seemed like the beginnings of a horror film… and I was not in the mood to battle any ghosts today.
We finished up at the mausoleum and headed over to Lime Kiln State Park. We had heard through the island grapevine that a pod of orca whales had been spotted swimming by the lighthouse area. We hadn’t seen any whales yet, so this was something that I really, really wanted to do!
When we got there, we were told that the whales had already gone by 3 times that day. We decided to sit and wait to see if they would come by again. While we waited, the kids showed Chris all of the creatures that live in the tide pools.
And Julie and I got a major case of the giggles.
We waited for the whales for a while and nothing. We were hiking back to the truck feeling super defeated when a woman ran past us yelling that the whales were back. Julie and I took off running for the beach and made it just in time to see the pod swim by. These photos do not do this experience justice. It was so freaking magical.
After our whale encounter, we took Chris over to South Beach. He built a house out of drift wood with the kids and we played in the rocks and the water.
We ended our day with dinner at Downriggers and then headed back to the ferry. Unfortunately, the ferry that I reserved left Friday Harbor at 10pm but didn’t make it back to Anacortes until midnight (it’s usually only an hour ride). I had accidentally reserved the ferry that goes to all of the islands before making its way to the mainland. Whoops.
