Trip Report
We had a fine long weekend on San Juan Island. It didn’t start out looking very promising, as it began raining just as our ferry left the dock at Anacortes:
Click any photo to engorge
We had a brief respite upon landing in Friday Harbor on San Juan Island, and we dawdled around, ate lunch, shopped for groceries and headed for the campground. We got our tent set up and walked over to some friends’ campsite just as the sky opened up with a hellish downpour. Fortunately, these friends had just set up a large awning tarp, and we sat glumly while a seemingly impenetrable wall of water imprisoned us there for the better part of an hour.
And then, it was over, for pretty much the whole weekend, and we enjoyed a very pretty evening, as the sun peeked out in time for a misty sunset.
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I was startled to see this FedEx truck pull into the campground (that’s our blue tent in the background). I hadn’t been expecting a package. I knew they were good, but it was rather beyond the call to track me down on an island campsite. Actually, the driver just pulled in to use the rest room.
There were something like 20 adults and 16 kids in our loosely-affiliated group. The connections between us were a combination of kayaking, and a Seattle elementary school where most of the parents had met each other. The kids were well-behaved and their parents were very attentive, and they formed their little coalitions as kids will. The log below was a sort of impromptu playhouse. Kids would tell their parents that they were going off to play with so-and-so, and the response was often, “You can go to The Log, but not to the beach unless you’re with an adult. An adult you know.” There are actually three distinct kid ecosystems in the log picture below left: the upper left group just jumping off, the group underneath, and a slightly older group upper right. It was a really versatile facility.
I love the picture on the lower right, all the guys yukkin’ it up and roughhousing (I think the girls are preparing for a post-prandial talent show). They’re waiting for marshmallows, chocolate and graham crackers to make their appearance.
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The sunset Saturday night was pretty spectacular.
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On Sunday, the weather improved such that we could see the Olympic Mountains. Mrs. Perils and I got out for a sweet little voyage before we broke camp and headed for the ferry.
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On the ferry ride back to Anacortes, Mt. Baker was visible from time to time as we weaved between islands.
