Washington, Oregon - Day 8: San Juan Islands

A change of plans today. We had thought about heading south towards home, but since we have no set itinerary we looked at a map and decided to turn north and visit the San Juan Islands.  The San Juan Islands are a group of Islands located between the Washington Coast and British Columbia, Canada.  They are part of the state of Washington, but accessible only by plane or boat.  Washington State Ferries services the four main islands, which consist of San Juan (the largest), Orcas, Lopez and Shaw.

Under the usual overcast skies, we left Oak Harbor and headed north to the town of Anacortes where we would catch the 9:30 AM ferry to San Jaun Island, our first stop.

Getting on the ferry.

Heading into the San Jaun Islands.

A ferry heading back from the islands.

The ferry was pretty empty, not surprising considering the season and weather.

Val enjoying the crossing.

Arriving in Friday Harbor, San Jaun Island.

Friday Harbor.

Upon arriving in Friday Harbor, the largest town on San Juan Island (or any of the San Juans) we headed down to the southeastern part of the island.  Even though San Juan Island is the largest of the San Juans, it is still quite small and only takes 15 minutes to cross the island or 30 minutes to drive it lengthways.  Our first stop was South Beach, a driftwood strewn beach looking over at the Olympic Peninsula.

Piles of driftwood at South Beach.

The mountains of the Olympic Peninsula.

From South Beach we journeyed on to Cattle Point, the southeastern most point on the island.

Looking north from Cattle Point.

Looking south towards the Olympic Peninsula.

From Cattle Point we head west across the lower part of the island.  This area had many beautiful old farms along the way.

As we traveled west, we made a stop at False Bay.

False Harbor.

As we reached the west side of the island and turned north the terrain changed from fields to forest and it also started to rain.  We also began to see a bit of fall color.

We also found a small pond among the trees which was beautiful in the mist and rain so we had to stop.

We continued north making a brief stop at an alpaca ranch.

From there we went on to the northern end of the island where we stopped in the town of Roche Harbor for a delicious lunch of fish and chips.

An old hotel in Roche Harbor.

The Roche Harbor Marina.

After lunch it was still raining, so we turned south and headed back to Friday Harbor where we are spending the night.  After exploring the town a bit we called it a day and spent the evening relaxing and planning tomorrow.

Friday Harbor from our hotel.

Our drive through the farmland and countryside of the island was wonderful.  The scenery was stunning and the scattered light rain made it even more wonderful with all the fall color.  It was a picture perfect fall day.

Washington, Oregon - Day 7: North Cascades National Park

The weather forecast for today was mostly sunny, but as we know, weather forecasts are not always accurate.  When we woke up this morning the skies were overcast with no sign of sun and the temperature was 40 degrees.  We left Winthrop and headed northwest on the Cascade Loop towards North Cascades National Park.  Even though it was overcast, the scenery continued to be spectacular with the fall color, rivers and mountains.

Soon we were climbing into the mountains into the national park.  We were never actually within the park today as the road goes through a corridor of national forest with the national park on both sides.  I believe this is because there are many hydroelectric dams on the Skagit River along the way which probably wouldn't be allowed in a national park.  As we got higher in the mountains, the temperature dropped into the 30's and we begin to see snow.  Most of the trails and park facilities were closed due to it being so late in the season so we mostly saw the park from the car.  It was a beautiful drive.

We did make a few stops including Diablo Lake.

 Another stop was Gorge Creek Falls.

That was our last stop in the park area.  We continued our drive west through the fall color until we reached the town of Concrete where we had lunch.

After lunch we continued west and completed our day's drive in the town of Oak Harbor on Whidbey Island.  We had some intermittent sun as the day went on, but it's raining tonight so I don't know what tomorrow will bring.  So far though, the weather hasn't been a deterrent, and in fact we have enjoyed being able to see the scenery under something other than sunny days.  We're not sure what we're going to do tomorrow so we'll decide in the morning.  The end of another great day on the road.

Washington, Oregon - Day 6: Scenic Byways

Our next major destination for the trip is North Cascades National Park and to get there we are not looking for the fastest way, but the most scenic.  Val downloaded a booklet of scenic byways published by the Washington State Tourism Department as part of the national All American Road and Scenic Byways Program.  It is a great pamphlet with many routes crisscrossing the state so we have tried to use them as often as possible.  Today we took several of these routes.

We left Yakima early and traveled up through Yakima Canyon following the Yakima River.  It was mostly cloudy, but there was some patchy blue sky and sunshine.  The fall color was again outstanding.

Once out of the canyon we continued north through rolling hills, rivers, lakes and spectacular fall color.  The forests were replaced by smaller stands of trees, but still very scenic.  This is apple growing country and there were orchards everywhere.  We stopped at a stand and bought some apples to snack on and they were fresh and delicious.  As we traveled north the weather turned cloudy again and we had intermittent rain showers the rest of the day.  The weather stayed cool in the high 40's to the low 50's.

We followed the Columbia River for awhile until we reached the town of Chelan which was a big tourist destination centered around the long and narrow Lake Chelan.

We stopped for lunch in the town of Pateros and enjoyed the view of Lake Pateros as we ate.  There is just an incredible amount of water up here with lakes and rivers everywhere.  Coming from dry Southern California, we are amazed.  Our goal for the night was the town of Winthrop so after eating we had about a 40 mile drive to complete our day. The countryside was ablaze in fall color and in this rural farming area of rolling hills it is especially beautiful.  Winthrop is another small tourist community which is know for the town center area made to look like an old western town.  We were pretty skeptical as to how it would look, but it really is nice and quaint, and isn't overdone or over the top.  We are staying at a great place called the River's Edge Resort on the Chewuch River which is just outside of town.  We didn't really need the space, but we ended up getting a two bedroom cabin on the river with a fireplace, hot tub on the private deck and as a bonus - a washer and dryer so we could wash our clothes.  This is a great time to travel as it is the off season so lodging prices have been pretty low, especially in places that cater to summer recreational travellers.

Our cabin.

The Chewuch River from our deck.

The last part of the day today we were on a route called the Cascade Loop which is a series of county roads and two lane highways forming a loop through the Cascade Mountains that starts and ends in the Seattle area.  Tomorrow we will be heading north towards North Cascades National Park and the good news is, it's supposed to be sunny and warmer over the next four or five days.  We'll see.

Washington, Oregon - Day 5: Columbia River Gorge

Our plan today was to cross the Columbia River on the Hood River Bridge and continue our trip east through the Columbia River Gorge on the Washington side of the river.  We needed to be in Richland, Washington around lunch time to meet with a friend from my working days who was now living in Washington.

We left Hood River around 9 under overcast skies, but no rain.  As we drove east, we went through patches of low fog which made for some eerie landscapes.

Despite the overcast and occasional fog, it was a nice drive along the river.  The further east we went, the dryer the terrain was and we left the forests and entered the dessert climate of Eastern Washington.

Roadside vineyards above the river.

One thing we had planned to do along the way was to stop at the Maryhill Museum of Art which was out in the middle of nowhere.  The museum was the former home of Sam Hill, a wealthy businessman in the Northwest who loved the area and built this large home in this isolated area.  He lived in it from the mid 1800's to the early 1900's and upon his death his home was converted to the art museum.  The building looks more like a fortress than a home, but it is very interesting with beautiful grounds and just a real oddity when you consider the isolated location.

The Maryhill Museum of Art.

Some of the fog shrouded grounds.

The entrance.

Val's head at the entrance.

Exiting into the fog.

Even though art museums are not usually one of my favorite things, it was actually a very interesting visit, and well worth the stop.  Just up the road is another oddity of the area compliments of Sam Hill.  In 1918 he built a replica of Stonehenge as a war memorial to the servicemen of the area who died in World War I.

Stonehenge, Maryhill style.

Val inside Stonehenge.

Inside Stonehenge.

We were running late so from Maryhill, we did a straight run to Richland arriving around 1 PM.  

The foggy drive east.

We met Rob and Judy and they treated us to a tasty lunch at Famous Dave's BBQ. Thanks Rob and Judy!  Rob retired about six months before I did and decided to move to the Richland area to be closer to Judy's family.  They had their home built and finally had been able to move in just two weeks ago.  After lunch we visited their home and it was beautiful.  They had everything built to their specifications including a large workshop for Rob which I am very envious of.  They love their new home and area and are doing great in retirement.

After visiting with Rob and Judy for a while it was time for us to hit the road again.  Our plan was to stay in Yakima so we headed west and arrived in Yakima in the late afternoon.  Even though there was heavy overcast all day, we didn't get into any rain until just before Yakima.  Once again our hotel room overlooked a river, this time the Yakima.  The fall color continues to be spectacular.  Here are a few pictures Val took from our balcony.

Another great day and more to come tomorrow.