Olympic Peninsula

: Image via Wikipedia

When you are on a long vacation, seeing all that can be seen, often there comes a time when you need a vacation from the vacation. If you plan your excursion right, you can do that while visiting the San Juan Islands. Port Townsend, which is a short ferry hop from Whidbey Island on the Olympic Peninsula, and Friday Harbor on San Juan Island, are perfect stops to park the car and get back to civilization for awhile. Plan your trip right and you can hit both between your exploratory jaunts.

Port Townsend is loaded with relaxation based palaces to go. It is a small historical town with Victorian homes, many of which can be toured. There are bed and breakfasts, art galleries, and Centrum, an arts foundation that gives you the chance to absorb jazz, classical music and even fiddle festivals. Fort Worden, one of three 19th century forts on the Puget Sound, houses a museum and a theater. An interesting note: the film, Officer and a Gentleman, was filmed here. It is a town in which you can relax and have some fun.

Friday Harbor? Luxurious in a tucked away setting. Hotels, cottages, bed and breakfasts, fine restaurants. It’s all there: hot tubs, in room massages and pet friendly. Interesting mix. They know what you need. And in case you are one who can never just relax: sea kayaking. Once you dry off, Friday Harbor has its own historic district and museums. The town has some history, being started by the Hudson’s Bay Trading Company in 1845, beginning as a salmon curing station. Ask a local about the “Pig War”, a skirmish between Canadians and Americans at the time. Yes, it was a long time ago and quite humorous.

Finished with these two towns but want more of the same? Roche Harbor is your next stop. But don’t let the evening regalia there surprise you. Every night at sunset the colors ceremony commences with anthems and cannon. The cannon is there to wake you up from your vacation away from the vacation and get you kick started again!

Beginning in Canada, a drive up the coastline toward Whistler, BC will fill your eyes with some of the most shocking and literally cliff-hanging roads that you have ever witnessed. Lion’s Gate Bridge will take you from Vancouver and into a region that looks devoid of most human life, with the mountains literally dropping straight into the water as you drive on the edge of land and sea. The drive itself is worth the trip. Whistler and Blackcomb? That’s desert! Have some spare change in your pockets. These are the most prestigious resorts in North America. But they are worth the expense if only you get to explore what they offer just once in your life—winter or summer.

Head back across the border and into the U.S. for an island delight. There are a number of jump-off points to the San Juan’s and the Olympic Peninsula. Anacortes is the shortest route to Orcas, San Juan and Lopez Islands. These islands are the main three of an entire collection of smaller ones, with beautiful channels between each. Some of the Washington State Ferries travel these waters slowly enough to make the trip on the ferry alone the sightseeing tour of the weekend.

Further south you will find the small town of Mukilteo with a ferry adjoining Whidbey Island to civilization. South again is the Edmonds-Kingston ferry run to The Olympic Peninsula which by itself can create several summer vacations.

Do you like the idea of visiting volcanoes? Go east into the Cascade Range to find easy access to Mount Baker, Mount Rainier and of course St. Helens, the furthest south of that run of mountains until you hit the Oregon border which is another wonderland worth delivering to your exploratory soul!

The Seattle, Washington and Vancouver, BC regions of the Pacific Northwest are an outcrop of the most beautiful scenery on the planet. Nestled between two mountain ranges with the Strait of Juan De Fuca and the Puget Sound as buffers to extreme climate, the lush green area is unexplainable to people who have never seen it. Beginning in Canada, a drive up the coastline toward Whistler, BC will fill your eyes with some of the most shocking and literally cliff-hanging roads that you have ever witnessed. Lion’s Gate Bridge will take you from Vancouver and into a region that looks devoid of most human life, with the mountains literally dropping straight into the water as you drive on the edge of land and sea. The drive itself is worth the trip. Whistler and Blackcomb? That’s desert! Have some spare change in your pockets. These are the most prestigious resorts in North America. But they are worth the expense if only you get to explore what they offer just once in your life—winter or summer.
Head back across the border and into the U.S. for an island delight. There are a number of jump-off points to the San Juan’s and the Olympic Peninsula. Anacortes is the shortest route to Orcas, San Juan and Lopez Islands. These islands are the main three of an entire collection of smaller ones, with beautiful channels between each. Some of the Washington State Ferries travel these waters slowly enough to make the trip on the ferry alone the sightseeing tour of the weekend.
Further south you will find the small town of Mukilteo with a ferry adjoining Whidbey Island to civilization. South again is the Edmonds-Kingston ferry run to The Olympic Peninsula which by itself can create several summer vacations. Do you like the idea of visiting volcanoes? Go east into the Cascade Range to find easy access to Mount Baker, Mount Rainier and of course St. Helens, the furthest south of that run of mountains until you hit the Oregon border which is another wonderland worth delivering to your exploratory soul!

San Juan Island Rest Stops

Delivering Your Soul to Beauty

Categories

Recent Posts