San Juan Island

San Juan Island is about 80 miles north of Seattle.  The San Juan Islands are made up of three islands, Lopez, Orcas and San Juan Island.  All three are famous for their views and whales. The place is extremely famous for whale watching.  The drive really took about an hour though so it was bad.  The view of Mt. Baker and the Cascade Mountains   made it extremely enjoyable.   We arrived in Anacortes, Washington around 9:30am.  Our ferry from Anacortes to Friday Harbor, San Juan Island wouldn’t be leaving until 2am so we spent free time getting breakfast and hiking.

The hiking was one of the highlights of our trip.  We stumbled upon Mt. Erie which was a recommended lookout point over Anacortes.  We started to follow trails and ended up on a mini-hike with beautiful views of the water and mountains.  We took a ton of pictures before having to head over to the ferry landing.

The ferry ride from Anacortes to Friday Harbor was incredible and a short 45 minutes long ride.  We didn’t see any whales but the view was incredible!   We spent the entire time on the deck before arriving at Friday Harbor.

When we arrived we were pretty overwhelmed with the town and the hotel.  First, the town so cute!  There were tons of little seafood restaurants along with island shops and breweries.  We decided we would check out the hotel first as we booked it last minute and were somewhat hesitant/nervous to see this place.   We stayed at the Earthbox Motel and Spa (http://www.earthboxmotel.com/).   By far, the cutest hotel we have EVER stayed in!  The hotel had a contemporary ‘euro’ design and most of their features were ‘green’.  We would completely stay there again if/when we come back!

We went out to the main pub area before having a nice dinner on the port at a place called “The Place”.  The day went by fast!  Completely worth the drive!

-Natalie