San Juan Islands

It was kind of a rainy day, but it got better as the day went on. I was surprised by how many people live on the islands -- and the prices of the houses for sale! I'm sure people love living there, but I kind of question the development of these "natural crown jewels" of the United States. But I guess the building has been going on for a long time. Lopez Island is called the "friendly island" because everyone waves at passersby (if you know them or not.) The man working on the ferry boat told me that Lopez has a lot of "artsy people with alternative lifestyles, you know." I'm not really sure what that means, but he also told me that if you move there, you have to start waving at people. I got off at Friday Harbor on San Juan Island. Since I didn't take my car, that was one of the few places I could get to as a "walk-on." The huge semis coming out of the ferries kind of surprised me. But, how else do you get building materials to the islands? But with all the natural beauty of the islands, the huge diesel trucks looked out of place.

Beautiful sunset pictures on the way back to Anacortes from Friday Harbor.

The ferry coming into port at Friday Harbor.

On the ride to Friday Harbor, it was pretty cloudy and rainy.

Deception pass between Anacortes and Oak Harbor.

I took this from the bridge at the Deception Pass. All the cars driving by scared the crap out me though, so this is one of the few pictures I actually got around to taking on this side of the road. The two pictures above were taken from the other side of the road, which wasn't nearly as scary!