No biting the personnel

One of our New Year’s resolutions is to get out of town one weekend a month. This past weekend was our first attempt. We left Seattle ~1:30 PM on Saturday, reached the ferry terminal at Anacortes just in time to miss the 3:00 PM ferry – yeah we should have looked at the schedule – but caught the 4:20 PM one. Sadly, that one follows the long route through all the major San Juan islands; it stopped by Shaw, Lopez and Orcas before arriving at Friday Harbor at ~6:15 PM.

We stayed at a wonderful Bed & Breakfast. The Tucker House has probably been around for a few years now although new owners had just moved in that day. They also own the Harrison House Suites next door. It was a great experience. I’m always surprised, having traveled a bit in Europe, how different the B&B concept can be in North America. Their off-season rate is 140USD per weekend night. That’s more than many hotel rooms in small towns. Friday Harbor has many such B&Bs with charm, luxuriousness and great location in the village. Was it worth the price? The room was wonderful and breakfast… breaskfast… breakfast was, in order, fresh orange juice and coffee, granola with yogurt and honey, baked grapefruit with brown sugar, southern scramble wrap with beans and chocolate coffee cake with sour cream icing. They offered to serve it all to our room. We decided instead to eat in the kitchen of the Harrison Suites. We got to see a bit more of the property but forgot to take pictures. It’s gigantic and can sleep 48. If you fly in, they can pick you up at the local airport. They have spare bikes for client. They can arrange diving lessons. We’ll happily go back.

Friday Harbor however was dead. Most of the restaurants and stores were closed. As the owner of the B&B put it “the grocery store is the most happening place in town” this time of year. Tourism certainly plays a big role in this community. But I’ve been there in summer; it’s crazy. Going this time of year was quiet and relaxing. Bring a book, go to the lavender cafe (from the folks that own the Pelindaba Lavender farm), walk about the American or English camps, visit the lamas (1), camels (1) and alpacas (too many too count) and stop by Roche Harbor to realize just how much the island is changing.

We left with the 4 PM ferry on Sunday.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 24th, 2006 at 8:49 am and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.