Anacortes and Ferry Fun

A placid August morning on the Puget Sound, heading for
Coupeville from Port Townsend, WA.

The tide is high and the sun is on it's way as I catch the ferry for Coupeville so I can drive up to Anacortes, WA. A dear friend and I have planned a couple of days of riding on ferries in the sunshine with some good food and other entertainments as they manifest. 

The approach to Coupeville is serene; great for anyone
making their first docking. I don't know if there was a new
captain on board, but that's what I was thinking when I
took this shot.

Mt. Baker rises up from the Cascade rim.

With such clear skies, the opportunity for taking some good photos is more than likely. And Lady Baker has lifted her cloud skirts so we can see her fulsome beauty. 

I opened up my sunroof and the side windows and cruised along with a fresh cup of latte to my destination. I was thinking, "Everything is going just great in my world!"

And so it continued.

Carol and I met in person almost exactly four years ago at the Chihuly glass museum in Seattle. This was a nice way to commemorate our friendship and to celebrate some of the least expensive fun things to do in Washington: ride the ferries around the San Juan Islands. It was only about $6 to be a walk on passenger and it lasted all day!

Friday Harbor... boats...

We caught the 11:45 ferry to Friday Harbor, walked around, saw art stores, museums, boats and folks.

Self-contained island near Orcas Island in the San Juan Island chair in
Washington. The dock is on the other side of the island.

Then the 5 p.m. ferry to Orcas was a quick stop, another at Shaw Island and finally we got off at Lopez. Not so much by choice as by requirement; the inter-island ferries do not go to Anacortes.

Shaw Island is the smallest of all.

Lopez Island ferry dock seen on approach.

Arriving at Lopez Island, WA in the San Juan islands.

Lopez Island ferry dock has a whimsical flower display.

Mount Baker as seen from Lopez Island ferry dock.

Our wait at Lopez was too long to be idyllic and too short to either walk or get a ride into downtown Lopez. So we chatted with the ferry folks, met a former coach and his wife who were there for a wedding, took some pictures and enjoyed the fact that it was warm, but cool in the shade where we found seats.

By the time the big ferry arrived to return us to Anacortes, the air was cooling down and we were lagging in our steps. (I logged over 10,800 steps on this day alone!)

View from the ferry as we were arriving in Anacortes, WA.

Sunday morning was another sunny day, but the wind chill was brisk with a small craft advisory. Nevertheless, Carol had it in her mind to drag me out of the hotel and take a drive up to Cap Sante to watch the sunrise. And I got some great shots; here are a couple of them.

Cap Sante, Anacortes, WA at sunrise, August 14, 2016.

Another Cap Sante shot at sunrise.

On our way to have lunch, we saw this interesting sight.
It appears to be the hull of a wooden ship that has been put
on the rocks to make a breakwater and harbor.

Here is a closer view of the prow of the old ship... wow.

 It was well worth it!! Even if I was still in my pjs! (True!)

We returned to the B&B (breakfast was not worth mentioning there) to shower and prep ourselves for our 'religious education' portion of the trip.

The delicious Crab and Bay Shrimp over Linguini with a
lobster cream sauce, bread with cheese could have been a little
more crisped under the broiler... but very good overall!

And the treat I liked a lot: a restaurant lunch overlooking the water so we could see boats of all kinds moving against the tide and wind while we enjoyed bay shrimp and fresh crab in linguini with a lobster cream sauce, followed by a key lime pie and now, a diet.

That was enough to hold us through the rest of the day and so it was a drive to the top of Mount Erie to view the entire area with some side visits and lots of photo opps.

Back up to Cap Sante for a closing sunset shot...

Anacortes at sunset, Sunday, August 14, 2016. This was
taken with my Samsung phone.

Now I have a very thorough view of Anacortes and its environs and can easily see why my friend Wes enjoys it so much. And could even think about relocating there with all the water and mountain views. But affordability for me requires a rather large influx of cash and Source hasn't delivered that yet.