Washington Part I: Seattle & the San Juan Islands

Our trip to Washington was everything I needed - it was relaxing, invigorating and adventuresome. The perfect combination of activity, travel, and downtime. We started our trip in Seattle, with just one day to spend in the city. We met a few of Alex's friends for breakfast (he went to college there) and then perused Pike's Place Market a bit before heading up towards the islands for the first part of our little adventure.







The following morning, on the ferry to San Juan Island, we saw orcas, which I thought was a good omen despite the threat of rain. As soon as we arrived in Friday Harbor, it started raining... we headed down to the beach to pack our kayak and get instructions in the pouring rain. But about 30 minutes after we got on the water, it cleared up and we had gorgeous weather the rest of the time out on the ocean. The people we rented the kayak from had made up an itinerary for us to follow - eating lunches on the beach, island hiking, and camping on state park islands. The itinerary was perfect: long-ish days (at least for people not use to actually using their arms for something other than raising cheeseburgers to their mouth) on the first and last day and a shorter day in the middle. We saw lots of seals, a few birds (including 12 bald eagles feeding on a deer carcass), mink, black-tailed deer, starfish, and lots of other tidal life. We were there during the greatest tide fluctuation of the year (i.e., most drastic change from low tide to high tied ~ 11 feet)... and we lost our kayak to the tide on the second day. Luckily, Alex spotted the drifting kayak just as it was rounding the corner and on its way out into a mile-wide channel. He dove in and swam for the kayak, saving us from becoming stranded!

After a shower and a night with a roof over our heads, we headed to the Olympic Peninsula. More on that soon...