6-27-17

Once again, even in a hotel, I was awake before the alarm. I slept well but in some ways missed being outside and hearing the birds and seeing the sun. We are a good hotel breakfast and left to catch the ferry by 7:30. It was in the 50's and cloudy which meant we should expect a cold ferry ride. 

It took about 30 minutes to get to the ferry. We checked in and got in line to load up for our 9:05 ride to Friday Harbor in the San Juan Islands. We checked out the beach and took a few pictures and killed some time. We loaded up into the ferry and then got out to grab a seat on the passenger floor. We played cards for the hour long ride. 

Once we were in Friday Harbor, we headed over to the American Camp in San Juan Islands NHP. These island were disputed land between the British and the Americans in between 1859 and the 1870's. The northern end had a British Camp. We hiked the American camp area where the buildings were then hiked down to the coast. We had the beach area to ourselves and marveled at the driftwood which consisted of huge trees.  This beach was also covered in kelp. We walked back up to the visitor center and Lorelei got her junior ranger badge. Number 222. We saw a black fox on the way out of the park but he was too quick for me to get a picture. Google him because he's pretty rare except in this area apparently. 

We decided to skip the British camp in favor of a state park where we heard there was whale watching. We hiked out to the cliffs and climbed among the rocks on on the shoreline and visited the lighthouse. There were lots of barnacles and creatures to poke around and watch in the tidal pools plus it was nice to be in the sun and breathe the fresh sea air even if it was breezy and cool. There were these cool trees called Pacific Madrone. They were beautifully shaped. 

We only had about an hour left until the line up for the ferry was starting so we ate lunch around 2:30 in town. We also got some ice cream and get in line. Back on the ferry we played more cards and watched the sea birds but never saw a whale. 

An hour long drive along the coast has us at Fort Ebey State Park for the night. We setup the tent and ate salad, fruit and rolls for dinner. It's already cool and expected to be around 50 overnight so we are already in our warm clothes watching a movie on my computer. Heading to Olympic National Park tomorrow.