April 18-19
Matt and I had such a great time exploring the San Juan Islands together. We wanted to take a little 'babymoon' before baby girl comes, and we were overdue for a trip together anyway. Thank goodness we had Grandma Karen to hold down the fort and watch the kids while we were gone. They were loved, spoiled, entertained, well taken care of and happy by the time we got back. It was nice not to have to worry about them, and be able to just enjoy ourselves. The first day was mostly travel. We left for the airport early in the morning before the kids even woke up. I think that helped Lucas to not be as upset about us leaving. I guess he had a couple of breakdowns where he wanted his Mommy, but other than that seemed content to have Grandma time! I'm pretty sure the girls hardly noticed we were gone. Emilyn might have a bit, but Matisyn asked to go home with Grandma when we got home! We flew to Seattle, then rented a car to drive down to Anacortes to catch the ferry to San Juan Island. The ferry ride was beautiful and gave us a taste of the views we would enjoy for the week. We arrived in the late afternoon, had a nice dinner at the Cask and Schooner across from the ferry, and then drove down to the edge of the island to our lighthouse rental. It was just a small room, with a bathroom, and a sun porch, but it worked perfect for what we needed. There were two chairs overlooking some grasslands, the lighthouse, and the water with occasional visits from animals. What more could we need?!!! We lucked out on weather for the time of year. It was beautiful almost everyday, and poured the day we left!
The second day we spent from morning to night exploring the island. We just drove and stopped at places that looked pretty or interesting. We started at a couple of beaches, just walking and exploring. The views are beautiful from all angles.
We stopped to explore both the American Camp and English camp which were both beautiful, and had interesting history. I found this little summary to describe why the camps were there.
In 1859 an American shot an Englishman's pig which kept breaking through a fence and rooting in his potato patch. This incident erupted into the Pig War, an international dispute over whether Great Britain or the United States owned the islands of what is now San Juan County.
From 1860-72 both countries occupied the island - the American Army at American Camp and the Royal Marines at English Camp. The Pig War was conducted in a very civilized manner at conference tables with final arbitration by Kaiser Wilhelm I of Germany awarding the island to the United States.
Thus the only casualty of the war was - one pig! And that's the story behind the island's two largest parks, American Camp and English Camp (also called British Camp).
Part way through the day Matt spotted an Orca whale breaching a ways out in the water while we were driving. We pulled over and ended up spending over an hour just watching groups of Orcas swim past. It was at the top of our list for things we hoped to see, and they didn't disappoint. I wish we could have been closer, but we were just happy to get to see them. April is the beginning of the season, so they can't always be found at that time. The binoculars helped to get a better view.
We spent part of the day walking around the prestigious Roche Harbor. We had to walk around all the docks and check out the billion dollar boats so that Matt could dream a little. Then we had lunch at the little cafe right by the water. We couldn't pass up their homemade donuts! We also stopped at the very unique statue garden, where we found some fascinating and very expensive sculptures, as well as a gigantic slug!
At the end of the day we walked over to the lighthouse by where we were staying and listened to the sea lions and watched the sunset.
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