We are wrapping up our longest vacation ever. We’ve been so busy living in the present that it’s feels strange to look back at the posts from the first part of our trip. They seem like so long ago. Did we really do all those things on this same vacation? Amazing!

Yesterday, we returned the bikes we borrowed from a friend in Bellingham. The box with all our bike stuff, bike carrier, helmets, etc will go to UPS this afternoon and then we’ll take the red eye out of Seattle at midnight.

The view this morning from the patio outside our door:

It’s a bittersweet experience as we leave one of the places we love to go to the other.

There are still a lot of places we went and things we did that have not been chronicled here…yet. I fully intend to do that when we get back but, in the hustle and bustle of everyday “normal” life, plans made on vacation seem to diminish in importance. We’ll see.

The night before last, I traveled the eight miles to Deception Pass State Park in hopes of catching the last soft light of sunset illuminating the bridge over Deception Pass. Later, as I was driving to West Beach inside the Park, I discovered something unexpected, the reflection of the after-sunset sky in Cranberry Lake. In fact, the reflection looks so perfect, you may be tempted to think that it’s a Photoshop trick but it’s not. (click on the image to see a larger version)

PS: A special thanks to Pam and Jerry, our hosts in Anacortes, who so graciously endured our company.

Every year, we spend some time at Deception Pass State Park. It’s one of most beautiful State Parks imaginable and only eight miles from where we stay in Anacortes. Park Facts: 4,134 acres, 14.5 miles of saltwater shoreline, 38 miles of hiking trails, over 300 campsites and three lakes with 6.5 miles of shoreline. Below is a picture of what the Park’s Bowman Bay looked like yesterday afternoon while some boats waited out the thick fog in Rosario Strait that had crept into the bay as well.

The bridge at Deception Pass State Park connects Fidalgo Island and Whidbey Island. It consists of two spans, one over Canoe Pass (511′ long) and one over Deception Pass (976′ long) for a total length of over a quarter mile! The bridge is about 180′ above the turbulent water below. The exact height depends on the state of the 14′ tide. Caution: looking straight down from the bridge can be a little scary. In the picture below taken from a park trail, you can see a rivulet of the fog sneaking in under the main span of the bridge.

At peak current (sometimes reaching 9.5 mph), there’s a 4.5′ water level difference from one side of the Pass to the other and almost 900 million gallons of water rush through with every change of the tide.

By evening, the advection fog in Rosario Strait had dissipated so I went up to the ridge at Marine Heights to photograph the sunset. The building lot where I took this picture is available for $499,000! I think it’s worth every penny since my picture only represents about a fifth of the overall panoramic view from the spot where I took it.

The image below is the full 180° panoramic view from Marine Heights. Hold your arms out sideways – the view in this panorama extends from your left hand all the way to your right. Click on the image to see a larger version.

“Lopez Island is a wonderful place to ride a bike; some say it’s the best of the San Juan Islands for cycling. It’s not very hilly, like Orcas Island. It’s smaller, flatter and more intimate than San Juan. And it’s the first stop on the ferry from Anacortes.

“Pauline Leedy, a fit and trim 80-year-old rider who cycled Lopez in late August with her husband, Clayton, also tanned and toned at 82 says, ‘It’s basically level and the {Lopez] village is neat.’” From an article by Greg Johnston – Seattle Post Intelligencer Reporter

Below is a photo gallery of the ferry ride from Orcas Island to Lopez Island. You can click on any thumbnail to see a larger version and then move forward or backward by clicking on the arrows.

I think that “not very hilly” and “level” are subject to debate. We walked our bikes up a number of these “flat” places. Below is the elevation chart for a one-way trip from the Lopez Ferry dock to Shark Reef. The beginning, middle and the end of the ride to Shark Reef Sanctuary are at sea level or close to it. All the hilly action happens in between – up and down, up and down, up and…. (Click map to enlarge.)

Below is a photo Gallery of the sights we saw along the way. You can click on any thumbnail to see a larger version and then move forward or backward by clicking on the arrows.

It’s been kind of hazy this summer due to drought-caused forest fires in the back country but, as our ferry arrives to take us back to Orcas Island, the summit of Mt. Baker, 51 miles away, is clearly visible.

Greg Johnston’s complete article on biking Lopez Island is here.

The only way to get to our place in Olga is to drive though Moran State Park and along the shore of beautiful Cascade Lake that’s part of the Park. It has 5250 acres and includes 5 mountain lakes, 30 miles of trails, and 2400′ Mt. Constitution. It’s one of the nicest parks for hiking and camping that we have ever seen, old growth forests, mountain lakes where swimming and boating are encouraged and a panoramic view from the tower at the top of Mt. Constitution.

Click image for more details and pictures about Moran State Park

From our cabin, we can drive to the summit of Mt. Constitution in less than 20 minutes so if we see a pretty sunset forming, away we go!

We’re staying in the little waterfront community of Olga on Orcas Island. It lies at the foot of Entrance Mountain. For excitement, there’s the Olga Store but it closes around five, a Post Office, a nice restaurant a couple of blocks up the road and an oyster farm about a mile away at Buck Bay. We came not for the excitement but the quiet and the great view looking down East Sound. In the distance, we can see he ferries going by in Harney Channel. Olga is also close to Moran State Park, more on that later.

Topograhpic Map of Olga and vicinity.

The Olga Store - Free Wireless - No Gas!

The Society of American Travel Writers named the Washington State Ferry ride from Anacortes to the San Juan Islands as the fourth most exciting ferry ride in the world.

“Orcas is considered by many to be the most beautiful of the San Juan Islands.” We arrive at Orcas Island for a six day visit.

Seen on the way from the Orcas Ferry dock to our cottage in Olga.

When we are in Anacortes, we walk the trail that meanders through Washington Park almost every morning. It’s not exactly a trail but a 2.3 mile one lane paved road that’s closed to cars until 10 AM. We always go around counter-clockwise so we can see the 7:45 AM Washington State Ferry leaving for the San Juan Islands.

“Washington Park sits on a peninsula at the west end of Fidalgo Island. The 220-acre city park features camping, a boat launch, and day use picnic sites.”

Washington Park in Anacortes

All of islands in this area are mountainous and Washington Park on Fidalgo Island is no exception. The elevation gain is almost 500′ in the 2.3 miles of the trail and, since you finish right where you started, the elevation loss is 500′ as well!

Washington Park Scenic Loop Elevation Chart (counter-clockwise)

“A scenic 2.3-mile loop road winds through the park’s forested hills and meadows with views of the San Juan Islands and Olympic Mountains.”

The road through the not-quite-but-almost-old-growth forest of Washington Park

And finally, there are the panoramic views from the scenic overlook that is high above Burrows Channel. Pictured below is Burrows Bay with Mt. Erie in the background.

On this year’s PNW vacation, we experienced more than a week of poor weather which is unusual for August but yesterday things got back to normal. The air was clear, the sky was blue and the reflection of the sky on the water was unbelievably blue so it was time to take the annual “view from our parking spot” picture.

When we’re in Anacortes, we stay with friends on the west side of Fidalgo Island in the section known as “Skyline”. They live high on a hill overlooking Burrows Island. The views out our windows, from our patio and even from our parking spot are all truly priceless. Maybe Budget should reimburse us for the fantastic view that their car is currently enjoying.

The view at sunset wasn’t bad either!

Guemes Island (“gwee’-mus”) is just a five minute ferry ride from Anacortes. It’s quiet there, laid back, with great views and little road traffic, perfect for a bike ride.

Guemes Island - Our Proposed Bike Route is highlighted.

What we didn’t fully appreciate was how hilly it was. The southern end of the island as viewed from Anacortes looks so flat!

It turns out that our planned 15 mile ride had almost 2000 feet of vertical elevation gain!

We rode up the western side of the island, across the top but then scooted straight down the middle skipping the last stretch over to the southeast corner. We ate our lunch on a driftwood log while waiting for the ferry to take us back to Anacortes, happy, tired, sore and maybe a little wiser!

An empty tanker heads for the Anacortes refinery as we wait for the ferry to return.

An article “Guemes Island: This unspoiled San Juan island is a laid-back retreat” by Greg Johnston – Seattle P-I Reporter says that “the riding is pretty much flat” and includes this picture of flatness.

How would you like attending a meeting every Wednesday morning at 6:30 AM, year round? It might be tough getting up, huh? Would it make it any easier if this was the place where you were going to meet?

6:00 AM at the Skyline Beach Club Cabana Building on the South Shore of Burrows Passage in Anacortes, WA

Besides needing coffee, you might have to fight the distraction of passing sailboats.

Sailboat in Burrows Passage approaching Rosario Strait

…but there are more important reasons for the meeting beyond breakfast and the beautiful location; fellowship with fellow Kiwanians, the planning of public service projects and a weekly presentation by an interesting guest speaker. This week, it was Lynn McDugle.

Lynn McDugle of Anacortes, a volunteer who works with Wheels for the World,
has made four trips to Ghana to distribute wheel chairs.

Ever since her son decided to collect wheel chairs for the handicapped in Ghana for his Eagle Scout project 17 years ago, Lynn McDugle has been involved in collecting and distributing them herself. She told us there are two kinds of people who come for help when she is in Ghana, those who crawl to the distribution site and those who are carried. All of them are outcasts from society because of their disability so no one but family members will help them but many of them have been abandoned by their families. Their stories are truly heart wrenching.

The distribution team meets with each person to determine their particular need and outfit a wheelchair accordingly. They let the recipient know that the wheel chair has been given to them in the name of Jesus. To date, more than 54,000 wheelchairs have been donated and distributed in Ghana.

I was really moved by this presentation and hope to find a way to help. “Wheels for the World” is a ministry of Joni and Friends’ International Disability Center. Information is available here.