Anacortes, our gateway to the San Juan Islands

Day 17, Tuesday June 14 (a full month ago now) was another moving day for us. Promptly at the crack of noon, we hit the road headed for Anacortes our home base for ferry trips to the San Juan Islands. After an easy 90 minute drive we called it a day and pulled into our new home. The RV park was in a wooded area with nice wide lots and clean gravel at our site. There were lots of trees around the perimeter and good placement for satellite reception. We snagged us a dandy spot for the week.

Fred and I drove a couple miles into the town of Anacortes and found a quaint marine town, more beautiful scenery, with temperatures in the low 60's. The views across the water to the other islands were just breathtaking and everywhere we looked it was green, lush, and beautiful. The front yards were bright green and ringed with flowers in full bloom. We took a picture of a deer munching on someone's carefully landscaped lawn.

By the end of the day we stumbled into a restaurant called Adrift and were rewarded with dinner and a show. You never know what you are going to get when you choose blindly in an unexplored town. We sat at the bar, overlooking the kitchen and the three male cooks. One guy was from Tempe and they chatted with us while they cooked with flames a blazing and sauces sizzling. The food was unique and tasty. If a visit to the San Juan Islands is a dream for you like it was for me, eat at “Adrift” for a guaranteed taste of local charm.

This week was mainly a working week for us but usually by 4:00 we venture out to see the local sights. Fred loves trains, planes, boats, buses, heavy equipment, dams and bridges. He photographs all these things and then leaves it to me to slog through hundreds of pictures to find the few that I think will interest you. We drove to an area called Deception Pass which we crossed via an impressive bridge.
 

We stood by the bridge and watched colorful kayaks down below as they darted in and out of the rapid, swirling currents. In person, the water and surroundings were stunning. Although a photograph can never convey what the eye sees, I am going to include some of the pictures Fred took and hope you can get some sense of the beauty we enjoyed. We proceeded to the beach and strolled along the water's edge to pick up several nice memento rocks. I liked the beach, Fred liked all the jets flying around from the local Naval Air Station.

By Day 19, Thursday June 16^th, Fred decided to buy parts for our leaking water pump. I suspected he wanted to wander through the boat yard and the boat parts store so I let him explore on his own while I remained at the bus. He had a fabulous few hours and ordered parts, excited that he could return to the parts store the next day. I am not going to share the pictures he took INSIDE the parts store. He loved that place so much he took me back the next day thinking that I too would be thrilled. I pretended to care and to not notice when he flirted with the very knowledgeable sales gal. He does love a smart girl who knows her parts.

So I was treated to a truly (not) exciting trip to the marine hardware store , then a second antique hardware store, and then to Ace Hardware; that's THREE hardware stores in one day in case you ladies are counting. Fred finally had his fill and we took a walk up the street and poked our head into the Majestic Inn, a large, 5 story hotel built in the late 1890's. The desk man waved us in and suggested we take the elevator up to the cupola for a view of the town. That's where Fred took a lot of the town pictures that you will see.

We saw a notice posted about a concert in the park which sounded better to me than nuts and bolts so we went to check it out. Turns out it was a youth music festival being held by some church group in a small but pretty park down near the water. It was interesting however we felt like the grandparents of dinosaurs. We left in search of an adult beverage suitable for two antiques.
click for more pics...

From the road:
-robin