Friday Harbor

Chris and I took Owen to Friday Harbor on Monday. The Clipper was offering a San Juans deal that I couldn't pass up. I've spent plenty of time in the San Juans on my dad's boat so I knew that traveling there on the Clipper would be kind of lame.. but nonetheless, the deal was too good to pass up. Logan stayed with my mom and we took off.

Owen thought the boat was very cool. He behaved himself so well, even though he was bored after about 10 minutes. We arrived in Friday Harbor and had a couple hours to wander. First things first, we bought Owen an ice cream cone. Then we wandered over to the marina and said hello to Popeye, the resident sea lion who hangs out amongst the boats. Popeye liked Owen and kept waving at him. When he saw that we didn't have food, he tried splashing us.

After looking at the boats, we went to Rocky Bay Cafe for lunch. We'll definitely head back there again! After stuffing ourselves silly, we headed back to the Clipper for 2 hours of whale watching. We went up around the north side of San Juan Island and caught a glimpse of one of my favorite places in the whole world, Roche Harbor. We continued south down the west side of the island, which is the best place in the San Juans to spot whales.

We ended up finding the J-pod just north of the Lime Kiln lighthouse. We saw about 10 orcas total and watched them for over an hour. However... I've been spoiled by all the boat trips I've taken before and wasn't very impressed with the show. (I know that sounds terrible.. but it's true.) However, Chris and Owen had a good time and that's what counts!

Owen ended up crashing hard and slept most of the way home. I'm glad he did because the strait was very rough and people were getting seasick. I certainly didn't want to deal with a sick toddler!

It was a LONG day but a fun one. I really hope that Chris and I can get back up there again this summer. I'd love to take our bikes up and spend a couple of days camping out of our backpacks.