Biking on San Juan Island

Friday morning we jumped out of bed (sorta) and rode the tandem to the ferry dock, around one mile from our campground. Just as we got to the Ferry terminal, three couples wheeling six sea kayaks walked up. Really cool to see them, they were going to do a three day kayak tour from Friday Harbor (and claimed to have 12 bottles of wine stashed in the various kayaks . . . they must know our friends). After an hour long ferry ride we reached Friday Harbor on San Juan island. Very nice marina, pretty seaside tourist town.

We jumped on the tandem and headed off to ride the perimeter of the island, and our first interesting sight was a camel eating weeds along the road. Really not what we expected to see on this ride. Our first stop was Rouche Harbor. I assume that if you live in Seattle or Portland, have excessive amounts of money, and like to boat, you probably hang out in Rouche Harbor. Really steep downhill into the harbor, then tons of very large boats. Really beautiful place. They even have an airport. After wandering the boat docks, we got back on the tandem and went up the hill, maybe the steepest thing we've climbed this summer. Over hill and dale we traveled, until we came to Lime Kiln State Park, the favorite whale watching location among the islands here. Very nice park, but no whales today. We did see a sea lion's head bobbing along, and also checked out the light house.

We made our way back to Friday Harbor and enjoyed a deli lunch looking over the marina (very good). We wandered the town a bit and then decided to ride some more rather than shop. We rode along the coast on a different road and came to a cute little city park on a bay and soaked up a little vitamin D. Then back to Friday Harbor for some hand scooped ice cream. We really ride so we can eat ice cream whenever we want.

As we were waiting for the ferry to dock, I looked up and a plane was flying straight at me. He gently glided down and landed in the harbor right in front of us. We were so surprised we didn't grab the camera until he was about to dock.

The last picture is our way home . . . via tandem and ferry.

Really nice day, 44 miles on the bike and many smiles along the way.

~ Enjoy